26th September..... Dancin' Dunnock.

Looks to have been takin' inspiration from Strictly!!

Images Copyright : Stewart Dennis.

25th September.... Shardeloes.

Good to see a Song Thrush has found the fallen crab apples on Monday. Not a common bird in our garden. Tuesday, no Chiffchaffs this morning in the fennel and had a walk along the Misbourne to Shardeloes lake, came across a fairly active Hornet’s nest on a pollarded Willow and a nice scene with the horses under the Oak Trees. Only bird of note was a Hobby seen for several minutes busy feeding. A bright full moon tonight.

Stewart.

 All images Copyright : Stewart Dennis.

25th September..... Harvest Moon; again.

All images Copyright : Don Stone.

24th September..... Harvest Moon.

Not much colour in my Harvest Moon I'm afraid.

All images Copyright : Don Stone.

16th - 22nd September.

16th 3 Buzzards thermalling & 1 low over house, Speckled Wood. Found a Sweet Chestnut tree in the village.
17th Ravens patrolling throughout the day, 1 even stopping to drink from cattle trough. 9 House Martins high above the house this evening.
18th first breeze of the Autumn brings the first Conkers to earth. c40 House Martins over west at 5-45pm.
19th

20th strong winds & rain overnight dislodged a young Wood Pigeon squab from it's nest; sat there puffing out it's chest trying to look all big & strong; not sure the same trick will work on a Fox, Cat or Dog though.
21st at 7-30am Magpies, Blackbirds, Wren, Chaffinch & Great Tit all making a right old racket; I knew what the cause of the commotion was; but took me a while to locate the Tawny Owl sat atop the tall pear tree, looking down at me with large dark round eyes. 22 House Martins over Chesham.
22nd Chiffchaff singing briefly from the Horse Chestnut tree just outside the back door, as a large mixed Tit flock moved through, 9 Meadow Pipits over, in groups of 5 & 4. Juvenile Pallid Harrier been at Therfield Heath in Herts since the 19th, it's really worth a twitch, but the weather needs to improve & I need to find a bit of spare time from somewhere.

20th September.... Hobby at Tring.

After lunch when the wind had dropped a little, we headed across the border to Wilstone Reservoir. Lots of Swallows and House Martins low over the water. From the hide good numbers of lapwing on the spit to the front and other birds seen were Mute Swan, Heron, Little Egret, Coot, Mallard, Tufted Duck. Great Crested and Little Grebe also a few Teal and two early Wigeon. A Chinese Water Deer showed and disappeared back into the reeds.  Walked on along the dry canal to Tringford Reservoir and found a Hobby sheltering from the wind along with a few Wood Pigeons.

 Images Copyright : Stewart Dennis.

19th September..... Whinchats; again.

A windy walk this afternoon down towards the A413 and with the HS2 Haul Road works on my left turned right and found these two Whinchats hanging on to the tops of the hedge. Then surprisingly found this butterfly, a Small Copper on the wing. A Raven also flew overhead.

All images Copyright : Stewart Dennis.

18th..... Western Turville Reservoir.

We went to Weston Turville after lunch just in case the Osprey that was reported on the Bucks Bird Club website by Mike had indeed dropped down to the reservoir but no joy. Did watch a Hobby though chasing dragonflies briefly, only other birds on the water were two adult swans and a cygnet. All the gulls were following the plough and a tractor rotovating in a nearby field. Gulls seen were Black Headed and Lesser Black Backed including this juv. LBB.

Later at home this fab male Sparrowhawk landed on the bird table roof, looked inside and waited a minute or two and flew off. The table is about 5 mtrs from the windows and infront of the Fennel where the Chiffchaffs feed.

All images Copyright : Stewart Dennis.

16th September..... Coal Tit.

In the garden this afternoon while watching a Chiffchaff in the fennel this Coal Tit landed right in front of me. Been a regular in the garden all year but never as close as this. I don’t know who was more surprised.

All images Copyright : Stewart Dennis.

Peoples Walk For Wildlife.

The People’s Walk for Wildlife

Join Chris Packham and all the people who care about wildlife for the first People’s Walk for Wildlife on 22nd September in central London.
http://www.chrispackham.co.uk/home

16th September..... Herbert's Hole.

A good Sunday afternoon walk from Herberts Hole. Plenty of Red Kites, Buzzards and Corvids but little else. Did find some good clumps of Purple Helleborine, past flowering now but showing many seed capsules on the flowered spikes.

Images Copyright : Stewart Dennis.

9th - 15th September.

9th Goldcrest feeding in the Holly, Speckled Wood & a few White butterflies on the wing. c20 House Martins & 8 Swallows.

Copyright : Haywood Dennis.

10th Bullfinch calling, Great Spooted Woodpecker & Nuthatch early morning. 10 House Martins & 3 Buzzards soaring together at Ley Hill. c30 House Martins at Ballinger.                                                                                                                                                                                             Pre-match photo of England international at King Power Stadium.

11th pair of Ravens over Ley Hill, where the Foxes have been enjoying the Blackberries judging by their blackberry filled deposits. 12 House Martins over this evening. Hornets have taken over an Owl box.
12th
13th 12 Mistle Thrushes in trees behind the garden, early morning. Migrant Blackcap & Chiffchaff moving through garden at Ley Hill as 4 single Meadow Pipits flew over. Stewart had a flock of c40 migrant House Martins feeding above his house, 'til they all headed off south. Marsh Tit in garden. Otmoor is saved from devastation, as the planners chose another route for the Oxford - Cambridge Expressway; but what will suffer on the preferred route?
14th Peregrine flew through south at Ley Hill, while we had our lunch, short while later 2 Swallows headed the same direction, along with various groups of House Martins, totalling 24 in number. A couple of Ravens. Seeds falling from Birch trees.
15th 3 Red Kites in a low fast tussle above the house, as they dived at such speed I could hear the air rush through their wings. Prestine looking Comma also in the garden. A few Meadow Pipits over.

15th September..... Cultivating Kites.

Red Kites, Buzzards & Corvids attracted to farmer cultivating after harvesting.

All images Copyright : Don Stone.

14th September..... Chiffchaff.

So good to have the Chiffchaff so close to the backdoor searching through the Fennel, long may it continue, but soon they will begin to move south. They seem to turn up most days around 7.30 feed often with blue, great and long tailed tits.

Stewart

All images Copyright : Stewart Dennis.

13th September..... College Lake, Dragonflies & Hobbies.

After the great start to the day with the House Martins we......... went to College Lake, a beautiful morning ( It’s great being semi-retired ), so many dragonflies about and  good views of three Hobbies hunting them over the water, watched them for maybe an hour. A Sparrowhawk also flew  low over the water to the dead tree where the Hobbies  were resting up. Warblers seen busy feeding, Blackcap, Whitethroat and Chiffchaff and good to see large numbers of Lapwing on the exposed mud. Blackberries galore and autumnal colours beginning to show.

Stewart

All images Copyright : Stewart Dennis.

12th September..... Robin.

This Robin has been joining us at lunch time for the last couple of days.
All images are of the same bird, it's just that it's breast appears a different shade of red when it's  perched in the shade.

Feeding on rotten Apples.

Back to searching for insects.

All images Copyright : Don Stone.