YEARLISTING IN 2016

Compared to most recent years, when for example I recorded 165 species in the county in 2011, 187 in 2012 and 173 in 2013, this has been a particularly poor one with just 157 species recorded by mid December - one of my worst years on record

YEARLISTING IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE

It's all over - 2012 has come to an end. I managed a total of 187 out of the 198 species recorded all told in Buckinghamshire - 94% of the total - probably my highest-ever annual tally.

The current record is 191 species achieved in 2006 and held jointly by both Rob Hill and Simon Nichols



Tuesday 20 January 2015

RING-NECKED DUCK still just across the border.....

Highlights today (Tuesday 20 January) included this female BLACKCAP in my CHAFFINCH HOUSE garden in LITTLE CHALFONT - only the second winter record since 1987! Also 2 Bullfinches still visiting and the first 2 House Sparrows this year








Thanks to my good friend Don Stone, was able to add COMMON STONECHAT shortly later - a pair showing well in setaside adjacent to AMERSHAM ROAD in BEACONSFIELD (at SU 947 906); also a flock of 33 Meadow Pipits there






In RONALD ROAD, BEACONSFIELD opposite, a healthy population of at least 16 House Sparrows in gardens
 
Then, thanks to some very helpful advice from Adam Bassett, added 4 GREY PARTRIDGES - attracted to food at EMMETT'S FARM GAME CROP FIELDS in LITTLE MARLOW. A very attrictive area to birds with 4 Red-legged Partridges also noted, as well as 14 Stock Dove, 190 Fieldfare, 2 Song Thrush, 4 Greenfinch, 12 Chaffinch, 8 Red Kite and a further 20 House Sparrows around the FARM SHOP.



At SPADE OAK PIT nearby, 4 COMMON SHELDUCK on site, as well as a single injured Egyptian Goose, both Australian Black Swans, 6 Greylag Geese, 211 Teal, 126 Wigeon, 10 Shoveler, 72 Gadwall, 54 Pochard, an impressive 224 Tufted Duck, 46 Coot, 6 Great Crested Grebe, 38 Lapwing, 256 Black-headed Gull and 7 Redwing, whilst both Grey Heron and Sinensis Cormorant were both already nesting and displaying on the island.









Just south of MAIDENHEAD, BRAY LAKE held an incredible 452 Tufted Ducks, with 2 hybrid Tufted Duck/Pochards with them and the drake RING-NECKED DUCK pictured below. At least 90 Pochard, as well as 15 Gadwall, 10 Shoveler, 3 Great Crested Grebe and 8 Redwing






















Thursday 15 January 2015

15 days down.....

THURSDAY 15 JANUARY
The day started fine and dry, with long clear spells and winter sunshine. It then clouded over from the Northwest with the wind increasing....
A day of TARGET BIRDING with my first visit to HOGBACK WOOD in BEACONSFIELD, where a single FIRECREST is wintering as usual. It took a long time to locate but was eventually pinned down to the Holly clump just as you enter the woodland and the Leylandii and conifer trees in Woodfield Road adjacent. It was associating with a single Goldcrest. Also noted were 2 Ring-necked Parakeets, both Green & Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Song Thrush (singing male), 10 Blue Tit, 6 Great Tit, Coal Tit, Jay, 2 Common Magpie, Red Kite and a flyover Greenfinch.


Moving on to CASTLEMAN'S FARM, to the south of Beaconsfield, EGYPTIAN GEESE numbered 98 in the chicken fields, with 15+ Red Kite in the area and 4 Moorhen and a Pied Wagtail.








At BURNHAM BEECHES NNR, a total of 11 MANDARIN DUCK was present on the Upper Pond (6 drakes), with Red Kite, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jay and a singing Coal Tit also encountered. Not too far away at BLACK PARK COUNTRY PARK LAKE, a further 21 MANDARIN DUCK were counted - 11 drakes in this colony. The lake also held 2 Mute Swan, 4 Atlantic Canada Geese, 6 Mallard, 17 Tufted Duck, 3 Northern Pochard, 4 Moorhen and 26 Coot, with Nuthatch, Coal Tit and up to 8 Great Tits feeding around the periphery of the car park.












Despite being so windy, I managed to still locate most of the long-staying 'rares' on STAINES RESERVOIRS' NORTH BASIN, including the juvenile GREAT NORTHERN DIVER, 3 BLACK-NECKED GREBES and WATER PIPIT, whilst 249 Tufted Duck (mostly drake) were impressive, 24 Common Goldeneye, a drake Shoveler, 125 Wigeon and Green Woodpecker all noted too.









In the CHESS VALLEY, a single Little Egret was roosting east of CHENIES BOTTOM BRIDGE, with 2 more on one of the ditches south of CHURCH COVERT. The LITTLE OWL pair were enjoying the afternoon sun on the usual pollarded Willow tree, with an adult Argenteus Herring Gull resting on LATIMER GREAT WATER being a rare visitor there (unusual numbers have recently been roosting at Stocker's Lake, Rickmansworth). Fifteen days into the New Year, I was very pleased to finally connect with a MISTLE THRUSH - LATIMER PLACE virtually a guaranteed stakeout for this species.




Last off I visited the roost at PENN WOOD SSSI but in very windy conditions it was very poor. Just a single BRAMBLING roosted in the Penna Rhododendrons (along with 55 Chaffinches), with a further 20 Chaffinches in a 'new' roost in Rhododendrons at the east end of the wood. Otherwise, just Red Kite, Goldcrest and Coal Tit logged, with the nearby roost wood yielding 23 of the former.