Pete’s Walks

For various reasons (mainly bad weather and a heavy cold) today’s was my first long walk for three weeks. I started at Chenies, just east of Chesham, and followed the Chess Valley to Latimer. This was all part of the route of the Chiltern Heritage Trail, which I walked about 18 months ago.  En route I saw a Little Egret beside the river Chess, which I’d been hoping to see as I saw 2-3 of them last time I was here.

Little Egret, on river Chess near Chenies

I then headed south through a wood to Little Chalfont. I went through various fields and paddocks, and then walked round the edge of a golf course, heading down to the Misbourne valley. I saw my first wildflower of the year, a violet, beside the golf course. I followed the Misbourne valley east into Chalfont St Giles (following part of the South Bucks Way), and then went north through Chorleywood West back to Chenies. This last section was all very familiar to me as it was part of both the Chiltern Way and the Chiltern Heritage Trail. As I neared Chenies, I saw some Lesser Celandine.

Rabbit, along the Misbourne Valley near Chalfont St Giles

Here are three more photos from my weekend in Norfolk (as usual, you can click on the images to see them enlarged). The first two are birds, whose identity I had checked out on ‘Wild About Britain’ as I wasn’t 100% sure what they were.

 Spotted Redshank

 Black-tailed Godwit

I really like this sunset photo, taken from the track behind the pine belt at Holkham. In reality, it was nowhere near as dark as the photo suggests, but I really love what the camera has done.

Sunset at Holkham

(Entry copied from my WAB blog)

I have just had a very enjoyable weekend bird watching in North Norfolk. I drove up on Friday morning, arriving at the RSPB reserve at Titchwell Marsh about 1pm. It had been a lovely bright morning as I drove up, but unfortunately it was now incredibly windy, not very good conditions for seeing birds at all. I didn’t bother to go down to the beach, but spent most of the afternoon in the main hide at the reserve, overlooking a large expanse of water. There were a lot of Pintail about, and a few Ruff, as well as the more common types of duck and a few small waders. A snipe emerged briefly from the reeds a couple of times. There were a few Golden Plover later on and a flock of Brent Geese arrived.

As planned, my friend Elaine arrived from London late Friday evening (we meet up a couple of times a year to go birding, usually in Norfolk or else at Minsmere in Suffolk). In the morning we went back to Titchwell Marsh – it was a cold but sunny morning, and thankfully there was now very little wind. We got off to a great start – we saw a Woodcock between the car park and the visitor centre! I knew one had been seen there yesterday, so when we saw someone staring fixedly into the undergrowth, I guessed what he’d found. The gentleman kindly pointed out where the woodcock was – fortunately it was right against a mossy branch, otherwise it would be impossible to locate such a well-camouflaged bird.

Ruff, with Dunlin behind it

Sadly for Elaine the Brambling I’d seen on the feeders by the vistor centre yesterday was no longer about. We made our traditional vist to the Fen Hide and, keeping with tradition, saw nothing. We then followed the path along the bank through the reserve, heading towards the beech. We saw Tufted Duck, Pochard, Little Egret and Reed Buntingon the marsh to the left, and Black-tailed Godwit, Lapwing, Redshank and various ducks on the lagoon to the right.

We went in the main hide again -no Ruff or Snipe this time, but the Pintail were still there. There were Avocet, Common Gull, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Dunlin, Sanderling, Shelduck, Shoveller, Teal, Starling and Ringed Plover.

As we then made our way to the beach, we stopped to look at some Goldeneye. Suddenly a Water Rail popped up about 20 feet in front of us and then paddled across some water to some vegetation at the foot of the bank we were on. I managed to take a photo, but it was very blurred (disappointing, as this was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity to get such a close shot of this elusive bird).

Little Egret

On the beach we saw a fair mixture of waders, including Turnstone, Sanderling, Oystercatcher and Redshank. On the sea, we got a good view of a Red-breasted Merganser, close inshore. As we made our way back to the visitor centre we saw a Snipe and a Curlew out on the marsh.

After lunch, we went to Holkham and walked round Holkham Park. We once saw all three woodpeckers here, but didn’t see any at all today though someone told us that a Lesser-Spotted woodpecker had been reported there earlier. We did get a distant view of a flock of Brambling, and saw some Egyptian Geese, a Jay, a Coal Tit and a Wren.

We then went to the beach and pine belt at Holkham. We went through the gate from the car park towards the beach, and went to set up our scopes for a quick scan over the fields to our right, as we’d seen owls there on previous visits – before we even set up our scopes a Barn Owl flew across a short distance in front of us and went into the pines. When we did look through the scopes, we saw another Barn Owl way off in the distance across the fields. We didn’t see too much else as we followed the path left along the edge of the pine belt on the dunes. The first hide was full, so we went on to the second (Joe Jordan) hide. It was now quite windy. We saw some Marsh Harriers, the grey markings of a male showing up really well in the fading light. The highlight here was seeing 60 Litle Egrets come in to roost. As it got dark, we eventually saw some geese come in, but maybe only a thouasand or so, nowhere near the spectacular sight and sound we had experienced here on previous visits at this time of year.

Reed Bunting

On Sunday morning, we came back to Holkham. We started off going right along the edge of the beach – we saw some Redshank and then a small group of other birders. Another couple of Birders thought thety were Rock Pipits and Skylarks, but I wasn’t really sure of either identification (they’re all LBJ’s to me, I’m afraid!). We went on to the beach, hoping to see Snow Bunting which we’ve seen here on our last two winter vists – just as we’d almost given up, we saw six of them on the edge of the dunes.

We then walked across the wide expanse of Holkham beach, and entered the pine belt near the first hide. We followed a narrow path west through the pines – as so often happens, we went ages without seeing anything (except a solitary goldfinch), then just as we were getting to the end of the pine belt there was a whole burst of activity. First we spotted a Tree Creeper, then just yards away a mixed group of Goldcrests and Long-tailed Tits.

We emerged from the pine trees and went a little further through the dunes, before turning back towards the Joe Jordan hide. We saw a pair of Stonechat on the way, and as we entered the trees near the hide we saw a Robin, Blackbirds and a Wren.

Lapwing

We then had a very interesting afternoon watching the birds from the hide. We saw Barnacle Geese, Egyptian Geese, Pink-footed Geese, White-fronted Geese, Greylag Geese, Marsh Harriers and another Barn Owl. The most exciting sighting though (and I know it doesn’t count!) was a Sacred Ibis! This came as a complete shock, but we quickly realised it must have escaped from somewhere – I’ve since seen on the web that it’s been reported at Holkham and along the coast at Stiffkey for several months now.

We left about 3.30pm to make our separate ways home, each having about a three hour drive. We’d seen 65-70 different birds, and had had a thoroughly enjoyable weekend.

(This entry just copied from my WAB blog)

Long-tailed Tit

Today I did some more bird watching in my parents’ garden, again trying to get some photographs with my new camera (I should say that I’ve been living back with my parents for about the last three years now – they keep muttering something about ‘eviction order’!). The day had started well when we had seen a Long-tailed Tit on the feeders right outside the patio windows as we had breakfast.

Chaffinch

About 11.45am, I got a plastic chair out of the summer-house, and sat beside the garden shed, about 40 feet from the feeders on the apple tree in the back garden. I had my camera set up on my tripod. I soon saw a Blue Tit inspecting the bird box nearby, and then Great Tits, Chaffinches, Greenfinches and a Dunnock put in appearances. Again I saw the Long-tailed Tit, on the feeders on the apple tree – unusual to see one on its own I thought, they are usually in family groups. Jackdaws and a Magpie flew overhead. A Robin also turned up, eating some of the food I’d spread on the low wall around the apple tree.

Greenfinch

I returned after lunch, about 1.45pm. Almost the first birds I saw were two Buzzards that soared across the paddocks behind the garden and then over our neighbour’s garden – I failed to get a decent photo, partly because I had to lift the camera and tripod together and point them at the sky. All the birds I’d seen earlier returned, and I managed to get some better shots of the Long-tailed Tit. A hen Pheasant turned up, but I was too slow to get a photo.

Dunnock

Things are very quiet here in Kensworth at the moment, the continuing rainy weather keeping me indoors. My parents and I are all sharing a cold at the moment, too. Highlight of the week has been seeing some Bramblings in the garden for the first time ever! I’ve seen one or two of them a couple of times this week, they seem to be hanging out with our regular visitors ‘the greenfinch gang’.

Just a couple of points to say about this blog (I think that’s an acronym for ‘Boring Load Of Gibberish’, by the way!). I’ve added my contact details (see post near top of the column on the right) so that you can email me. I know people do read this blog, I’d love to know who you are and hear your thoughts. Secondly, you’ve probably noticed I am now including some photos occasionally. These are actually ‘hosted’ on the Wild About Britain web site (where I have another blog and where I’m a fairly regular poster using the nickname ‘Pete Collins’ – original, eh!). If you click on any photo, it is enlarged in a new window on that site.

(Entry just copied from my WAB blog, as it’s nature-related)

Greylag Goose

Today I walked along the Grand Union Canal from Marsworth (next to some of the Tring reservoirs, a local birding hotspot) to Berkhamsted. I had a quick look round the castle there (more impressive than I’d imagined), before retracing my steps along the canal back to Marsworth.

Dabchick

I probably walked about 11 miles in 4.5 hours, quite slow really but mainly due to the number of times I stopped to take photos. I don’t usually like long canal walks (they tend to be very flat for some reason!), but I chose to do this today because I figured that the towpaths, being at least partly hard-surfaced, would be much less muddy than the other footpaths after all the recent rain.

Black-headed Gull

I stopped frequently to photograph the birds I saw on or beside the canal. These included Robin, Long-tailed Tit, Blackbird, Jay, Magpie, Mute Swan, Mallard, Dabchick, Coot, Moorhen, Grey Heron, House Sparrow, Collared Dove, Wood Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Greylag Goose and Canada Goose.

Coot

(Entry just copied from my WAB blog, as it’s all related to nature)

I experimented a bit with my new camera today, taking photos of birds in and around the back garden. Nothing too unusual appeared, though I did see a Pied Wagtail which is an infrequent visitor to the garden, and two Long-tailed Tits landed on a shrub but were off again before I could get a photo.

Pied Wagtail

Other than that, it was just a few of the common birds that are usually around the garden – Blue Tit, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Blackbird, Magpie, Jackdaw, Robin.

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Jackdaw

9/1/07

A 14.5 mile walk today, a bit more like the usual distance after a couple of months of mainly 12-mile walks. The forecast said there might be showers in the afternoon, but I chose to walk anyway as it looked like this would be the best day weather-wise all week. It started bright, clouded over after an hour or so, brightened up again by lunchtime and was starting to cloud over again when I got back to the car – fortunately the showers never came my way.

I started at the car park by the railway station in Chesham. I followed a paved footpath, then went left over a railway bridge and was soon puffing as I climbed a steep and muddy hillside. I crossed a ploughed field following very muddy tractor tracks, then followed hedgerows round two sides of a grassy field close to a farm. After crossing an empty paddock, I followed another hedgerow beside a school, and then crossed another ploughed field on more muddy tractor tracks.

I said ‘Good Morning!’ to a dog walker as I turned right at the bottom of a valley, and followed Bottom Lane for some distance. I then bore left up Green Lane, another bridleway betwen hedges, gradually going uphill for some distance then passing a farm to reach a lane. I went a short distance left then, as I was about to take a path on the right, the same dog walker appeared again from the left, and we both said ‘Hello again!’. The path now took me across a pasture, over a lane and across another field to a wood. There was a good path through the wood, then a narrow but clear path across a large arable field – although the Chess valley was only a short distance away, this seemed quite flat, with woods close by in most directions. I then had half a mile or so of lane walking before crossing a meadow into the charming village of Latimer.

From there I took a path for quarter of a mile or so along the delightful Chess valley. Here I had the good fortune to get a distant view of some Little Egrets – I’ve seen these a lot along the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk, but this was the first time I’d seen them inland. There were some buzzards and/or kites here too, but they’d disappeared by the time I got my camera sorted out.

Little Egret (honest!)

I turned left on a bridleway going uphill out of the valley, soon passing through quite a large wood. The path here was very muddy in places. On the other side of the wood I continued on a track between hedges, turning left onto a similar track, then descending steeply through a narrow wood to a lane in the valley of Flaunden Bottom. I went right for quarter of a mile, then bore left on another bridleway, gradually going uphill. This was also very muddy in places, as bridleways tend to be this time of year. I heard and then saw a pair of buzzards over to the right, above an old chalk quarry, and also got a glimpse of a bullfinch flying the other side of a hedge.

The bridleway flattened out and eventually reached a road by a farm. I turned right and followed the road for a third of a mile into Ley Hill, with a golf course either side of the road. I took a path, initially between garden fences and then across a paddock, to reach a wood. The paths are a little confusing here, but as I’d been here a couple of times before I managed to navigate my way through to the correct stile on the other side. I crossed an empty passture, following an intermittent old hedge, then turned left along a track called Broomstick Lane.

Redwing

When I reached a lane, I turned right, uphill a short distance into Botley. I took a path through a farmyard, then continued northwards alongside hedgerows (I saw some redwings here). I crossed a minor road and continued on through a large empty pasture to reach Lye Green. A path across fields soon took me to the A416, the main road between Berkhamstead and Chesham. Here I turned from north to west, still  on a route almost ‘circumnavigating’ Chesham. Another path through green fields gave me nice views north over Chesham Vale. The path descended and passed through a farmyard. Across a lane, I followed a track to reach the Ostrich farm in White Hawridge Bottom.

I turned left, going quite steeply uphill – I noticed that work was being carried out on the path along the valley next to the far end of the ostrich farm, which had been impassable due to deep sloppy mud a few weeks ago. My path took me through the edge of Ramscoat Wood, and on to a road near Great Hivings. I crossed over, and followed a farm drive a short distance, before crossing a field of rough grass to Captain’s Wood, where I took a path going left. When this reached a crossroads of paths, I turned right, going downhill through the wood, then on between paddocks to a lane in a valley bottom. I then followed a track that went uphill again to reach the village of Chartridge.

Here I turned left, and followed the residential road for about half a mile, entering Chesham again. I then took a path on the right, which ran for some distance between garden fences and hedges, then followed hedge on the left with the fence of a large paddock on my right. This was an attractive valley, right on the edge of Chesham. The path continued past a field of very rough grass, then reached a park and took me back into the centre of Chesham. It was then a short stroll along the high street and back to the car park by the station.

It was 2.30 when I got back to the car, and I then ate my packed lunch – there had been nowhere to stop and sit down, so I’d just had a couple of extra Alpen bars to keep me going. It had just turned a bit windy in the last 20 minutes, and clouds were now racing across the sky. It looked like the forecast showers were on the way, but it remained dry as I drove home.

This was another enjoyable walk, despite the muddy conditions. Seeing the Little Egrets was an added bonus!

This entry has just been copied from my WAB blog

 Mute Swan

Today I did some local bird watching, the first time in over a year I think! I started at College Lake, the BB&O Wildlife Trust reserve near Tring. I saw Shoveler, Teal, Wigeon, Gadwall, Mallard, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Great Crested Grebe, Black-headed Gulls, Cormorants, a Green Woodpecker and a Bullfinch.

 Canada Goose

The highlight though was an incredibly friendly Robin, which walked round my feet and then flew into a bush inches from my shoulder (I took a photo, but the Robin was so close it was slightly out of focus). After eating my sandwiches in a hide, I gave the Robin some crumbs on my way back to the car.

 Great Crested Grebe

I then went the short distance to Wilstone Reservoir, one of the Tring Reservoirs. I saw pretty much the same selection of ducks there, and the only new bird for the day was a Grey Heron.

 Mallard

This circular walk passing through Chartridge and Cholesbury was the same as one I did about six weeks ago, but in the opposite (anti-clockwise) direction – the original walk is on my web site :-

http://www.petes-walks.co.uk/Chiltern%20Hills/Buckland%20Common/Buckland%20Common%201.htm

The walk was about 12 miles and took four hours – slow going considering I didn’t take any photos at all. The reason for not taking photos was that it was grey, damp and misty. I hoped the mist would clear, but if anything it got worse. It was foggy rather than misty at times. So it really ended up as a walk just for the sake of the exercise. Shame as there were some nice views over lovely countryside when I did it before.

The highlight of the walk was Cholesbury Camp – again I did the full circuit of this impressive Iron Age hill fort. The only wildlife I spotted in the very limited visibility was a Muntjac Deer – this was right at the end as I passed the Alpaca Farm at Buckland Common, where I also saw one last time.