<p>It's a glorious sunny day here today and we have been drinking our coffee on the patio. Just as we finished a shadow passed overhead and we saw a red kite circling around. Since their successful release in the Chilterns some twenty odd miles away they have been gradually spreading out and extending their territory, largely following the M40 corridor. The motorway is less than a couple of miles away from us but we live in a village with farmland behind our tiny garden.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>We often see these birds around now and today with the temperatures soaring so are the birds, taking advantage of the thermals. They start low and keep circling and rising higher and higher until they are little more than a speck. Then they move on and over and can be seen lower again in the distance. They are stunning birds. A few miles away our country road crosses over the A34 route and when the birds are quartering this area they are often seen at very close quarters indeed.</p>

<p>We have had heavy falls of snow over the weekend, as bad as we had back in January, and it has severely curtailed activity as we can't get out of the village again. Sadly it meant we missed our annual Santa Steam Railway trip with the grnadchildren but at least they were able to attend.</p> <p>This morning OH topped up the bird feeders and was trying to <span class="unmark">think</span> of a way to keep the starlings from eating all the meal worms before the robin and blue tits got a look in. I suggested maybe an upturned hanging basket would allow small birds in and out but foil the starlings. Well it did for about two hours. One in particular spent ages sitting and looking at the dish from all angles trying to find a way in. Having eventually forced his way in the top he had a good feed and then hopped out the side. As if he couldn't believe it he hopped back inside. Then another one came along and after a struggle joined him - through the top. Finally one of them tipped the tray over leaving meal worms that could be accessed from outside! It&nbsp; was fascinating to watch them crack the problem even if it did mean the robin still missed out.</p> <p><br />The pictures were taken through the window so are not very sharp but give an idea of events.</p>

<p>Like thousands of others around the country we have been counting the birds in our garden for RSPB annual garden bird count this weekend. This is something we have been involved in for many years and it serves to highlight the changes happening in the bird world locally as well as contributing to the national figures.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>We feed the birds regularly and put out a variety of foods in different locations around our small patch hoping to cater for as many species as possible. During the course of the past year we have seen a sparrowhawk, magpies and jays in the garden. Collared doves pay regular visits, a lesser spotted woodpecker has graced our peanut feeder and we have seen long-tailed tits on a number of occasions, usually in some numbers as is their habit. So why is it that when we settle down to count them for a whole hour on a single day many of them fail to turn up - not just these unusual visitors but the ones who appear almost daily? This year we did two counts at different times of day and on the two days to see if timing made any difference.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>On each day we have seen blackbird, sparrow, starling, blue tits and the robin. The collared doves sat looking down at us from the electicty wires that cross a neighbouring property throughout each of our vigils but did not call in and the great tit, a regular, has not been seen all weekend. We did see the wren and a pied wagtail today, the latter a rare bird in the back garden although often seen on the front drive.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>It is not just a case of spotting different species but also the greatest numbers at any one time of each species. Suffice to say that our maximum of seven starlings was massively eclipsed by the flock that came down to feed whilst we ate lunch yesterday and the sparrows came through in droves after our count today. Just how do they know when we are doing this count because this is not an unusual situation. It happens every year.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>I don't know at what time others do their count. I am sure in the early days when we did it with our children the suggestion was to do it early in the day, at least before ten. We have tried early and late counts and others mid-morning or afternoon but always the number of species and the number of each species seems lower than our expectation.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>If you have never had a go at this survey do give it a go another year. Spending time watching birds allows you to focus and to observe things that must go on daily outside of our general consciousness. Birds, like people, have very different characters and bird watching like people watching can offer inspiration.</p>

<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning /> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas /> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables /> <w:SnapToGridInCell /> <w:WrapTextWithPunct /> <w:UseAsianBreakRules /> <w:DontGrowAutofit /> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This coming weekend is the annual Big Bird Count for the RSPB. We have been taking part in this for many years, the first of several natural history counts we have participated in. In recent years we have recorded butterflies for Butterfly Conservation and undertaken two surveys for Mammals Trust, one recording sightings and evidence for mammals at our local playing field for the period April to June and this is followed by the longer established survey of road kills. Here you record animals (dead or alive) seen on road trips of over twenty miles and this is done from July to September. Only recording in daylight hours it is still advisable for the driver not to be the spotter on these trips!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Not quite sure what we will record this year for the bird count though. In our front garden a single blackbird has almost taken up residence in the pyracantha in order to keep all the berries for his personal larder. In the back garden we rarely see more than a few sparrows, a couple of robins and occasional starlings, collared doves and jackdaws. We did see a wren one day last week and we hear the call quite often if in the garden but the undergrowth hides them well.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The lack of birds is most likely due to the mild weather as this means food is plentiful and they don&rsquo;t venture into gardens and to bird feeders so readily. We put out a variety of foods and have feeders in different locations but it makes little difference it seems. One thing that may be deterring them is the unusual open nature of the garden &ndash; until today that is. Before Christmas a panel of the fence blew down exposing us to the full view down the farmyard beyond. We arranged for a local chap to do the repairs &ldquo;as and when&rdquo; and that may have been a mistake. Related to the farmer who he knew was not fussed by the lack of fence in this instance the job has been put off and put off until last weekend a new post appeared whilst we were out shopping.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">At various times during the past week the coping stones have been replaced. Bracing brackets have appeared on the remaining sections of fence and today, equally as mysteriously the fence is back in place. If we hadn&rsquo;t caught the odd glimpse of a retreating figure we may well have blamed the little folk for the work. The lack of fence has left us even more vulnerable to the various cats that reside in every building around us and their presence may well be deterring the birds. Let&rsquo;s hope they realise in time that a relative haven has now been restored complete with first class restaurant.</p>