The presence of one or more Rock Pipits attracted a steady flow of birders over the past two days. It took about 20 minutes to locate the Rock Pipit as it was feeding and preening in the vegetation on the far side of the closer of two streams. I was joined by Andy Radford and we enjoyed watching the bird. Also present at the site were several Little Ringed Plovers, two Redshank, a White Wagtail, 20+ Teal, Meadow Pipits and a single Yellowhammer.
Local birder Tony James found a White-tailed Eagle at my local patch at Little Marlow GP on 4th March at about 13:20. He put the news out and I was down there about 20 minutes later! The bird was perched on the main island where the Herons and Cormorants breed, I had limited time and had to leave after about 15 minutes but I did return later to see the bird in flight and leave the site, to the north at about 17:00.
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| The ring can be seen in this photo. |
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| Constantly being harassed by other birds, mainly Gulls. |
The following day the Eagle was seen near Wilstone Reservoir, Tring where it presumably roosted.
A dog walk along the Thames produced four Goosander; two males and two females. Not a great surprise as the species bred along the Thames in 2024. Hopefully these are paires preparing to breed again.
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| Goosander - A redhead bird. Unfortunately the birds were on the far side of the river and the light was against me, so just record shots. |
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With attempts to exterminate the UK Ruddy Duck population, it was a surprise to hear of one at Little Marlow on 29th February, found by Graham Smith and Tony James. The bird remained the following day but was absent on 2nd March.
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| Ruddy Duck - Female |
I thought I had better travel up to Newport Pagnell to try and see the Richard's Pipit that had been found two days ago. I waited until news of the bird came through and set off.
Bury Field is huge and very wet over much of it. I walked across it from Lake Road and spoke to a few birders, none of which had seen the bird. I walked to the area where it had last been seen and soon heard ait call. I walked slightly closer and there it was sat on the grass looking around. I managed a few photos with my Sony RX10 and was about to put my scope up for a closer view, when it flew over a hedgerow towards the River Ouse and was soon lost to sight.
I teamed up with a couple of birders and checked out more of the field and the paddocks near the river but there was no further sign.
This Bucks tick brings my total list for the county to 257.
| 1998 | Richard's Pipit, Ivinghoe Beacon, 8th May, 1 on 8th May. |
| 1990 | Richard's Pipit, Blue Lagoon, 28th-30th October, A 1st winter bird from 28th -30th Oct. |
| 1967 | Richard's Pipit, Dorney Common, 7th-24th October, 1 from 7th -24th Oct. |
Seen on a walk around the lake. At least five were present with one or two Siskins and feeding in Alders. This is best described as an uncommon visitor to the lake area, so nice to see them.
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| Redpoll - One of the five or so present. |
It has been many years since I saw a Red-necked Grebe in my home county of Buckinghamshire and rather annoyingly this individual was 100 metres or so the wrong side of the border (in the Greater London area)! It had been present at Harefield No 4 Lake since 6th January.
I parked in Denham Country Park and walked from the park, along the Grand Union Canal and over a bridge to No 4 Lake. The bird was regularly diving in a fairly small area of the lake. I managed to get some video of it sat on the surface and diving.
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| Red-necked Grebe - Between dives and about 50 metres distant. |
