I took part in the #BigGardenSit from 8.30 til 9.30 this gloomy, drizzly morning at Watermead, & managed to record a surprising 43 bird species. Wintering male BLACKCAP with BLUE TIT The Big Garden Sit is organised by Bucks Bird Alert & runs during Lockdown periods - the aim being to record as many bird species as you can from your home in one hour on a Saturday morning. The records are then entered into a database & used by Bucks Bird Club, or shared with your county recorder if not based in Buckinghamshire My highlights of the hour were... Juv. PEREGRINE 7 WIGEON over. 360 LAPWING in 3 flocks to the north. Wintering male BLACKCAP just outside my balcony. RAVEN GREY WAGTAIL Plenty of FIELDFARE movement. Earlier in the morning I had seen the same 7 WIGEON over on Large Lake, as well as a wintering CHIFFCHAFF ( collybita ) & a GOLDCREST during a my stroll. Juvenile PEREGRINE WIGEON in flight Some of the 360+ LAPWINGS

Waxwing on Rowan Ash. Today we led a tour with the aim of finding Waxwings in The Chilterns - a species on all three of our group members' most wanted lists. With the day centered around the Tring area of Hertfordshire & the Buckinghamshire border we visited likely spots with good berry crops, primarily the Waxwings' favorite - Rowan/Mountain Ash, but also Hawthorn, one of the Waxwings' fall-back foodsources which is widespread in The Chilterns. The day was a great success - starting with up to 40 Waxwings affording fantastic views & photo opportunities for all as they sporadically came in to feed on Rowan berries in Berkhamsted, then 43 birds feeding on Hawthorn berries in Tring, plus a bonus 10 in Wendover - as you can imagine, the guys were thrilled as the Waxwings trilled! Here are a few photos I took to share with the group as a memento of their day... Waxwing warming-up in the winter sun. Waxwings resting & preening.

This interesting Juvenile RED KITE was at Watermead today, with a superficial resemblance to Black Kite, mostly due to the tail shape & wing shape - though this is most likely due to an odd moult. Juvenile RED KITE resembling Black Kite These are the features that made the bird stand out from the other Red Kites about... dark, slightly convex tail (rather than concavely forked) with lighter upper-tail coverts broad, square wings 6 ‘fingers’/P5 quite long (though missing P5 on right wing) P9 longer than P7 not much orange tone, even less obvious with bright sky behind from above even the head appears darker than expected for Red Kite On closer inspection the tail is a bit too red & white 'windows' on the underwing too defined, the head is typical of Red Kite, but most obvious of all is how pale the bird's underside is - diagnostic to juvenile Red Kite. I can imagine this bird being reported as a Black Kite if care isn't taken in identification. Juvenile RED KITE ...