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



Monday, 3 August 2009

Two COMMON GREENSHANK at Dorney this morning

After a text at 15:43 from Adam Bassett with news of 2 COMMON GREENSHANK I was unable to visit until 19:00. By this time Dave Cleal had already made a visit and found the Greenshank had already departed. The remaining waders left on the Seasonal Pool (1250m) were a Common Redshank and the usual 2 Common Sandpiper (Kevin Duncan)

ROE DEER delight





As Sue and I walked to the fields near where we live at Flackwell Heath this evening, we could hear the sound of tractors as they were clearing away the Barley crop in a very large field. Overhead were four Red Kites obviously hoping for a few tit-bits uncovered by the harvesting. Dozens of Red-leggedPartridge (recently released) were milling around all over the place. But the most amazing sight of the walk was of a pair of ROE DEER. These appeared at the edge of a square of Maize that had been planted to support the Partridges and Pheasants. First of all a splendid stag with long antlers appeared and then a lovely doe, both looked to be in excellent condition and only about 60 yards away. I quickly put our dog on the lead and continued to watch as the doe walked across the field with the stag very close behind! So close that you could not see his nose! No doubt the mating season is here again and for a moment we did wonder if the pair might get more amorous, but a passing tractor seemed to take their attention. The only shame of it is that it was the only time in recent months that I have not taken my camera with me. With it's 18x zoom I could have got some amazing images.
The only other birds of interest were 3 COMMON SWIFTS over Wooburn Green (Jim Rose)
The Roe Deer images above were kindly provided by Stuart Read

Sunday, 2 August 2009

EDIBLE DORMICE in the Chilterns











July is an excellent month in which to see EDIBLE DORMICE in Buckinghamshire and a substantial number were recorded last night when checking the nestboxes (see Steve Griffin's images above)

Yet another Dorney SANDERLING - but video evidence proves it is a LITTLE STINT !

A visit this evening (Saturday 1 August) produced nothing until reaching the Seasonal Pool (1250m). On the pool feeding were 2 Green Sandpiper and 2 Common Sandpiper. After sheltering from a heavy shower I scanned back along the Return Lake to find at about 900m 4 Common Redshank that had just flown in. Then a small wader flew over calling, luckily it flew back to land on the Seasonal Pool. I tentatively identified it as a SANDERLING. As I left just the waders were all feeding on the pool, no Lapwing or BHG's (Kevin Duncan)

Fortunately, Kevin videoed the 'Sanderling' and on perusal on his Dorney blogsite, the bird can be safely reidentified as an adult summer-plumaged LITTLE STINT.

Another juvenile COMMON CUCKOO

01/08 : COMMON CUCKOO : Springfield Quarry. Juvenile near Over's Farm side of the Quarry (Peter Stevens)

Manor Farm COMMON GREENSHANK


The COMMON GREENSHANK was still present at Manor Farm on Saturday. Chris Gleadell took the image alongside.