24th February..... Singing Frogs.

Once again the pair of Mallards were on the ponds just after first light, thought I'd try my luck at photographing them, they were havin' none of it..... took flight.
















Stewart & myself decided to find the Firecrest which Lee had located in a local wood earlier in the week, but despite a thorough search we drew a blank, only finding it's close cousin a Goldcrest. A couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers were busy 'drumming'. Stewart caught a briefly glimpse of a Sparrowhawk, while a pair of Marsh Tits were a nice surprise with the male singing from the tops of the Beech trees as they moved through the canopy. An extremely distressed Roe Deer came hurtling passed within feet of us, as if we weren't there, with a Pointer type Dog in hot pursuit, much shouting brought the chase to an end.

Back at home a Raven proclaimed it's presence in the normal noisy manner as it passed over at high altitude, while down at ground level in the ponds during the afternoon sunshine the first three Frogs of the year attempted to tune up their voices ready for the Frog Chorus which should surely break out in the next few days if this warm weather continues.

The Robins are still busy with their nest & visiting the pond.

The Hazel stems are looking fine adorned with Catkins.

After yesterday's Brimstone, three performed above the lawn, enjoying the sun as much as the Frogs. Finally as the sun went down a  Pipistrelle hunted over the lawn.
Don.

23rd February..... Brimstone.

Spent a couple of hours in the garden this afternoon, mainly cutting the Laurel hedge (always try to leave the hedge cutting 'til the end of Winter to give the wildlife as much benefit from the hedge as possible, to provide food & roosting cover etc), when I saw my first Brimstone of the year fluttering across the lawn. Stewart had he's first on the 15th of the month.
The pair of Mallards have been visiting at first light on a daily basis since the 19th, & maybe it's just a coincedence, but Duck Weed has been evident on the waters surface since they've been back. No sign of any frog spawn yet.
Don.

22nd February..... Roadkill.

I picked up a roadkill the other day and today with an afternoon free placed it where I know buzzards often pass, and I waited nearby and out of view...I thought. After an hour jays and magpies started chattering possibly because the buzzard had turned up and looking away from the roadkill there was the buzzard looking very suspicious and looking in my direction. It didn’t stay for long. Flew into a nearby tree, then away. Possibly not hungry, it’s crop does look quite full on one of the photos.

Stewart.

Images Copyright : Stewart Dennis.

21st February..... Frog ready to Pop.

A grey start to the day but by eleven the sun came through and the temperature rose. The frog in the pond looks full of spawn, be the first spawning in the new pond if she is. Spent the day in the garden but around four went for a walk to check the farmland birds on the unharvested cereal field now belonging to HS2. Along the fence line on the way and on this warm afternoon, noticed all the silk like threads of young spiders on the move and caught along the fence line, skylarks were singing close by. Other birds seen: jackdaws, yellowhammers, linnets, starlings and fieldfares.

Stewart.

Images Copyright : Stewart Dennis.

21st February..... HS2 Vegetation Clearance at Calvert.

 HS2 Vegetation Clearance at Calvert - Steeple Claydon: meeting 27th February 4pm to 8pm Calvert Green Community Hall

Many members will have heard that HS2 is about to start clearing a huge area of approx 200 hectares on which the maintenance depot will be built if HS2 actually goes ahead. This is approx 500 acres, 2 square kilometres or 200 Twickenham Stadiums.The Calvert Jubilee Reserve will also be affected by clearance of an approx 75 metre strip along the eastern side for an access road, precisely the area with the best nesting habitat, and in which turtle dove and nightingale have been recorded in recent years. The plan by Fusion acting for Keir and HS2 is total clearance of all vegetation including mature trees, bushes and an estimated 19 kilometres of hedgerow. This is a prime area for all the hairstreaks too. What happens here is likely to set the pattern for the massive clearance that will be associated soon with the new Expressway in the Growth Arc across Oxfordshire, Bucks and Bedfordshire, with its plan for one million new houses. 

Please make your feelings known to the local MP john.bercow.mp@parliament.uk and the minister for HS2  nusrat.ghani.mp@parliament.uk and come to Calvert on 27th February.

Please ask:

Calvert to Steeple Claydon: What is the plan?   What area is being cleared? What are you doing to preserve natural features like trees and streams? Why are you planning to do this as the bird nesting season is starting? Where are you going to provide replacement areas in mitigation?

Calvert Jubilee Reserve: is it just an access road up the east side of the existing railway? How wide? How long? Is it necessary when the main works are the other side of the railway? What happens after it is no longer needed? Why precisely as the nesting season starts – is this legal on a nature reserve?

What are you doing to minimise damage to orchid rich turf, mature trees and scrub that are essential for butterflies and birds including nightingale and turtle dove?

Has statutory public notice been given - where and when? 

Needless to say, BBOWT is taking steps but needs your support. The Trust is fortified by a favourable judgement yesterday in its fight to have the Expressway route revisited as the developers (the government) disregarded the law in making their decision. 

Richard Birch, BBOWT Chilterns Group.  

20th February..... Cuckoos are go.

Hampshire Cuckoo blazing the trail home

Our tracking studies have revealed that at this time of year UK-breeding Cuckoos start to leave their wintering areas in the Congo basin and move out into West Africa. This year, Hampshire Cuckoo Selborne is leading the charge. Selborne was named by the Hampshire Ornithological Society in 2016 when he was tagged in the New Forest.

On the evening of 31 January Selborne's tag showed that he was in  Ghana. Having spent a week there he headed west again, 687km (426 miles) into Guinea, overflying Ivory Coast on the way. It looks like his route into west Africa included a shortcut across the Gulf of Guinea, a sea crossing of 1,100km (689 miles). He is now just under 5,000km (3,000 miles) from his New Forest breeding site, as the Cuckoo flies. We expect the other Cuckoos to follow soon so stay tuned to the Cuckoo pages for the latest updates.

19th February..... Mallards.

Yesterday both Stewart & myself recorded Frogs in our gardens for the first time this year. Stewart's was in his pond, while mine was located by our dog, as I saw her doing her normal manic 'pattin' maneuver (which she performs on finding a live creature). Today just after daybreak, a pair of Mallards splashed down on the pond as they regularly do at this time of year once the Frogs have spawned, but they have jumped the gun this year & got their timing wrong. Once the spawn appears I have to cover a percentage of it with mesh, otherwise the Mallards eat it all, & we remain Frog less. Wild Plum just begining to flower.
Don.

17th February..... Nesting Robins & Pochards.

We have two pairs of Robins in our garden which have been posturing & posing to each other for the last couple of weeks. It seems the warm temperature of the last few days have now prompted them to begin nest building, as one was on the ground picking up what appeared to be fine hairs as I ate my fried eggs this morning, & flying into our shed with them (the hairs not the eggs).
Once I had eaten, met up with Stewart & began our mornings wanderings at Hunts Green where we found 3 confiding Roe Deer, couple of singing Skylarks & a 'kronkin' Raven.

Moved on to Weston Turville Reservoir to find a nice photogenic flotilla of 16 Pochard. Could only manage 8 in a single frame, as they were just to widely spread.

Accompanied by 19 Tufted Duck, 2 Cormorant, 2 Great-crested Grebe, numerous Coots, Mallards & Black-headed Gulls. A male Reed Bunting also thought Spring is in the air as spent some time proclaiming his territorial presence from a bush in the reed bed.




The 2 adult Mute Swans seemed to be giving their single offspring the hint, that the time had come to move out of home, as they aggressively chased it on the water.

On to the Kimble Wick area, where this male Blue Tit sang his heart out from a hedgerow tree, even giving a short display flight, as another sang from it's song post just down the lane. Also a nice flock of 17 Stock Dove, 42 Starling, 20 Red Kite, 2 Mistle Thrush & more singing Skylarks.













Returning back home we pulled in at Great Missenden to photograph HS2's WOMD's.
Don.

Images Copyright : Don Stone/Stewart Dennis.

16th February..... Redwings.

Along with Stewart we cleaned out bird boxes at a local site this morning, strangely for some unknown reason one has gone missing. We moved on to wander around a nearby farm were at least 100 Redwings were feeding out on the grass as they seem to do at this time of winter, once most of the berries have gone. A Raven came 'kronkin' at us out of the mist, a pair of Nuthatches foraged in the mature hedgerow.
Back at home the male Greenfinch which I found dead under the feeders yesterday, remained untouched over night, I was thinking maybe a Fox would have taken it, so have moved it to a more open position.
Don.

14th February..... Feels Like Spring.

Spent the morning in the garden and heard the bees before I could see where they were. Twenty or more busy on the crocuses in the warm spring sunshine. Also first queen buff tailed bumble bee of the year but it didn’t stay long.

After lunch my wife and I had a good walk along the Misbourne Valley from Little Missenden to Shardeloes in the warm sunshine. Good to see a kingfisher, but only briefly, and later just before reaching the lake a pair of reed buntings enjoying the sun.

A good variety of wildfowl on the lake including mute swan, mallard, gadwall, tufted duck and teal. Common and black headed gull with one lesser blacked backed seen, great crested and little grebe. Heron and little egret and of course Canada geese.

At the cricket pitch we heard the tap tap tapping of a nuthatch and looking up we soon found it, searching the bark for tasty bites.

Stewart.

 

Images Copyright : Stewart Dennis.

14th February..... Wild Justice.

Wild Justice is a new organisation which launches today. Its founders are Chris Packham, Ruth Tingay and Mark Avery.

 

Wild Justice has been set up to fight for wildlife.  Threatened species can’t take legal cases in their own names but, with your help, we will stand up for wildlife using the legal system and seek changes to existing laws.

We will be taking court cases to benefit threatened wildlife.  Our first legal challenge is already in progress - our solicitors have sent, today, a letter to a public body - and we’ll soon be able to tell you all about it.

Visit our website (www.wildjustice.org.uk) and find out more about us, and sign up there for our newsletter so that you can keep in touch. [Note: it works in the usual way; 1. You subscribe, 2. you get an email asking you to confirm your subscription (please check spam box) and 3. after confirming you get another message or are sent back to the website.  Wild Justice already has over 1000 subscribers to its newsletter and we'd like you to join too.  If you do, you may see a strange error message after you click 'confirm'.  We know about this and are trying to fix it but if you get the error message you are definitely subscribed. Sorry about that - technology eh?].

Chris Packham said ‘Wild. Justice.  Because the wild needs justice more than ever before. The pressures wrought upon our wildlife have reached a crisis point and this is an essential response. The message is clear . . . if you are breaking the law, if the law is weak, if the law is flawed - we are coming for you. Peacefully, democratically and legally. Our simple premise is to work with the laws we’ve got to seek real justice for our wildlife, to reform, refine or renew those laws we have to ensure that justice can be properly realised. Our wildlife has been abused, has been suffering, exploited or destroyed by criminals for too long. Well, no longer. Wild Justice will at last be the voice of those victims and it will be heard . . . and justice will be served. ‘.

Mark Avery said ‘Wild Justice will take on public bodies to get a better deal for wildlife.  It’s a shame that we have to do this but we have little confidence that statutory bodies are fulfilling their functions properly. We aim to hold their feet to the fire in court. I’m reminded of what the great American environmental campaigner, Ansel Adams said ‘It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment’.’.

Ruth Tingay said ‘I know many people who despair about what’s happening to our wildlife but who also feel powerless to help, typically because access to justice can be prohibitively expensive and a daunting arena. Wild Justice provides an opportunity for ordinary citizens to fight back on behalf of wildlife, collectively helping us to challenge poor decisions or flawed policies that threaten to harm our wildlife. With so many potential cases, the difficulty for us will be to decide which ones to take on first’.

Here's the link to our website again  www.wildjustice.org.uk. 

I can also tell you that we are receiving lots of donations - that's very kind and very important.  We will crowd-fund for particular projects but we also have running costs (web design and building, setting up the organisation, some travel, our accountants etc) so donations that aren't specifically targetted at projects are very helpful. Wild Justice is a not-for-profit company - none of us will be earning anything from it.

This is Mark Avery's newsletter so I am not going to keep telling you about Wild Justice here even though it is, even now, very important to me.  Subscribe to the Wild Justice newsletter, through the Wild Justice website so Wild justice can keep you informed.

14th February.... HS2 Environmental Works.

I had a look around HS2’s environmental amphibian area this afternoon. I had asked and checked again with the security man and it was ok. The workers planting all the saplings had finished for the day and had gone. Four ponds lined with a liner and another balancing pond planned which will be behind the black plastic barrier. The black barrier keeps the amphibians out and around the edge of the area is a clear plastic barrier to keep them in. So when they start collecting frogs and newts from where the HS2 tunnel and line will run, they will be placed inside the clear plastic barrier and when the balancing pond is finished all the barriers will be removed. There are also hibernation habitats and south facing basking banks, bat boxes on tall metal poles and maybe 1000 saplings have been planted, mainly as far as I could tell hazel, hawthorn with some elder. Also planting two oak trees.

Stewart.

Images Copyright : Stewart Dennis.

10th February..... Young Sparrowhawk Again.

Looking out this dark and wet morning, noticed this juvenile sparrowhawk sheltering on an old roller next to the empty bantie run.This was at 8.30 where it stayed until 8.50.

Surprisingly it flew towards me and landed on a terracotta pot underneath a bird table just 10 feet away. I opened a window slowly to try  for some photos, it must have known I was there, but there it stayed until 9.50.

When it flew a short distance to an old fork handle and left this at 10.05.

From there it flew off down the garden, but still in view. I left it thinking it would move on, but looking out at 10.50 it was back close to the house again. I opened a window again took more photos and the last photo was taken at 11.15 when it finally left.

Stewart.

Images Copyright : Stewart Dennis.

9th February..... Chaffinch & Snowdrops.

A record count of 16 Chaffinch feeding on scattered seed on the lawn. 2 Black-headed Gulls over battling into the strong wind during the afternoon, with a roaming flock of c20 Redwings putting in an appearance on several occasions. Dunnocks starting to get flirty with each other. Plenty of Snowdrops politely bowing their heads in the wind on the lawn.
Don.

7th February..... Young Sparrowhawk.

A very brown sparrowhawk scattered everything for a while this morning and landed in a tree at the bottom of the garden. A juvenile and small, comparing it’s size to the ash keys, I'm thinking a male. The blue tits soon came back after it left empty handed.

Stewart.

 

Images Copyright : Stewart Dennis.

6th February..... College Lake.

A good day out at BBOWT College Lake, Wilstone and on to Tringford reservoirs on what turned out to be nearly spring like.

Lapwings and Wigeon still vocal, at College Lake and Wilstone.

Both Canada and greylag geese busy pairing up and great tits and robins singing well around both sites.

At College Lake a robin was busy feeding six foot in front of us and seemed to be finding plenty. Found three snipe asleep amongst the rough grass from the octagonal hide.

From another hide a female pochard was busy diving.










                                                 Good to see our native winter flowering hellebore, Helleborus Foetidus and a native daphne, Daphne Laureola  growing well around the sw corner.

One of the Hebridean sheep used at to graze and control the rougher and steeper areas around the lake.

Lunch in the café then on to Wilstone.

Where this male goldeneye put on a fine show, as did the green sandpiper (below). At Tringford, had a good but brief view of a wintering blackcap near the pumping station and 20 plus mute swans and a very large number of coot on the water.

                                                Interesting to see and talk to the volunteers working on restoring the canal which will eventually join the Wendover Wides to the Grand Union.

Stewart.

Images Copyright : Stewart Dennis.