Approaching the end of a very relaxing week in the Chilterns, on the Bucks / Herts border. Couldn't find a dedicated Bucks thread, despite much searching, so had to start a new one.

We are based in the village of Ivinghoe, and have spent much of our time outdoors charging around (the dogs, not me) the chalk hillside known as Ivinghoe Beacon, which overlooks stunning countryside, in increasingly ambient temperatures, to the extent that if anyone is wandering Wild Bank in Stalybridge on Saturday morning, I will be the one with the scarlet face - forgot to pack the sunscreen!!

Highlights here have been as follows:

Yellowhammer
Whitethroat, in abundance
Chiffchaff
Willow Warbler
Linnet
Corn Bunting
Skylark
Green Woodpecker

Oh, and Red Kites - everywhere!

The highlight for me, from a birding point of view is the College Lake nature reserve, on the northern outskirts of Tring, just in Bucks. Situated on the site of a former chalk quarry, it has been transformed over the past 20 odd years into a thriving nature reserve, comprising wetlands mixed with woodland and scrub. There are 11 hides overlooking the lakes, and in two brief, one hour sessions this week I have seen the following:

Lapwings with young
Redshank with young
Oystercatcher sitting
Common Terns feeding young
Reed Bunting with young
Shelduck (thought to be breeding)
Tufted Duck
Garden Warbler
Blackcap
Whitethroat
Chiffchaff
Willow Warbler
Reed Warblers heard
Green Woodpecker
Cuckoo heard
Plus Muntjac Deer

All of the above breeding information is published on the reserve website, and therefore already in the public domain.

Redstart, Lesser Whitethroat, and Spotted Flycatchers are also present, but not seen by myself

For anyone visiting the area, I would thoroughly recommend a visit. It is also accessible by a mile and a half walk along the canal towpath from Tring railway station (35 mins from Euston, to where my offspring have departed this evening).



-- Edited by David Walsh on Friday 16th of May 2014 12:28:06 AM