26th June : Montagu's Harrier.

After hearing that a Montagu's Harrier had been seen yesterday near Ivinghoe & never having seen one before. I decided to continue my Churchyard Wildlife tour in that area with Stewart, checking possible fields for the Harrier as we went. First stop was Pitstone Church, followed by Pitstone Hill from where it's kind of possible to see down in the pea field from where it had been hunting....but no luck, did chance upon a pair of  Whitethroats collecting food for their young.

Next stop the field behind Ivinghoe Windmill... no luck. Onto Ivinghoe Church, pleased to find Swallows have bred here.

Onto Cheddington Church, some thing a bit different here as a Cormorant went over. 

Knowing there was a large Wheat field nearby, thought this would be the ideal place to stop for a lunch break & keep an eye out for the Harrier at the same time. We parked up at 1-30pm in the gateway with a view straight down the track to the distant hedgerow. At 1-55pm I glanced down the track, caught a glimpse of a brown bird with a white rump being buffeted by the wind, shouted to Stewart who was sat outside the car, "Harrier, Camera, I'm not moving" but in the commotion it was lost to view. Shaking I quickly rang Mike & Graham who put the word out, within five minutes Mike Campbell turned up, followed by Lee Evans & others. What followed was a waiting game as we were entertained by a pair of Yellow Wagtails that were nesting in the Wheat nearby, a Corn Bunting 'jangled' from the over head wires, Skylarks sang as a Hare frolicked along the track, 'til at 2-37pm the Female Montagu's Harrier reappeared as it quartered either side of the distant hedgerow, remaining in view until 3-20pm when it made it's way across the field towards us, over Cheddington Road & Westend Hill & was gone.

Images : Copyright © Don Stone.

27th April : Stonechat.

A nice male Stonechat, along with another pair on Compton Downs in Berkshire today. Also plenty of Common Whitethroats & a single singing male Corn Bunting.

Image : Copyright © Don Stone. 

22nd April : Tufted Duck & Gadwall.

Had a phone call from a farming friend today telling me he has an unusual pair of ducks on his pond. Popped around to take a look, turns out to be a pair of Tufted Ducks, along with a pair of Gadwall, bit unusual for a small farm pond, still it is that time of year when birds are on the move, when anything can turn up anywhere.

Images : Copyright © Don Stone.

15th April : Blackbird & Starling.

A male Blackbird has been busy visiting the garden lawn for the last couple as he searches for worms & other grubs.

A Starling also visited, but only the once, a scarce bird in our garden.

Images : Copyright © Don Stone.

Spring Flowers.

A small selection of  Spring Flowers that have heralded the arrival of Spring in the garden over the last few weeks.

 

Images : Copyright © Don Stone.

11th April : Sparrowhawk.

This female Sparrowhawk joined us for breakfast as it dined on a Pigeon for 46 minutes just yards from our kitchen window.

Images : Copyright © Don Stone.

23rd March : River Thame at Ickford.

View from the two bridges over the River Thame at Ickford on the borders of Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire.

 

A flock of 5 Oystercatchers feed in the distant scape in the above photo.

3 of the 5 Oystercatchers.

Wigeon in flight.

Great White Egret.

Saw my first Swallow of the year as it flew through heading north. Other birds seen included 2 Little Egrets, 2 Grey Wagtails, 5 Teal, Cormorant & a Kingfisher all viewed from the road.

Images : Copyright © Don Stone.

Chess Valley

A few photos taken on a couple of recent visits to the Chess Valley. 

A Grey Heron was very approachable, mainly as it spent most of the time looking in the opposite direction.

Little Egret was also very obliging.

Kestrel as it hovered just above where I was sitting.

 

Images : Copyright © Don Stone.

17th March : Brambling.

It's not often that we get a Brambling visit the bird feeder during the Winter, in fact today's female was the only so far this Winter. It was only by chance that I happened to glance out of the window, stop what I was doing grab the camera, take three photos & she was gone in the blink of an eye, returning later for another sharp feed.

  

Coal Tit enjoying the seeds.

Magpie watching proceedings.

Images : Copyright © Don Stone.

10th March : Dunnock.

Dunnocks are often over looked as being boring little brown birds, if you take a closer look they have a certain charm with intricate markings, basically in various shades of brown & grey. They spend most of their time quietly going about their business on the ground under hedges & bushes, mostly going unnoticed. 

 

Image : Copyright © Don Stone.