Norfolk Dip - 4.9.21

 News of a Sykes’s Warbler half way up Blakeney Point saw me join a small group of birders early Saturday morning. Unfortunately the bird hadn’t read the script and had disappeared overnight. It wasn’t a total loss as I did add 7 species to the year list. Dunlin and Curlew where the most embarrassing but an adult and juvenile Spoonbill were nice to see. 

Out at sea a Red-throated Diver flew east and 4 Arctic Skua flew west. A noisy Whimbrel flew over Cley beach car park but a hoped for Pied Flycatcher at Walsey Hills had just been trapped and ringed and then vanished. As I reached the car news reached me of a Crane flying over Warham Greens heading my way I sat and waited for it to appear but I eventually decided to leave. I got about 20 yards down the road when I picked it up flying over Cley reserve so shot into the east bank car park and managed a couple of record shots. 

Spoonbills

Common Crane

Wilstone - 30.8.21

 A birthday wander around Wilstone was mostly a quiet affair regarding bird on the water with a Barnacle Goose, 2 Common Sandpipers by the hide and a lone Wigeon being of note. It was once past the hide that things picked up. The long hedge in the middle of the hide meadow produced 2 Spotted Flycatcher (my first of the year), numerous Chiffchaff and singles of Lesser Whitethroat and Willow Warbler. In the skies above were 2 Hobby and at least 7 Swift in with 50+ mixed hirundines.

Spotted Flycatcher 

Home - 22.8.21

 Whilst sitting on my chair quietly enjoying the start of my week off work I heard a commotion outside of gull alarm calls. Usually it’s a passing Buzzard that’s annoying them but I thought I’d go and have a look. I found 3 Gulls mobbing a larger bird that didn’t look like a Buzzard so I ran back in and grabbed my bins. Upon laying my eyes on them I found it to be 3 Herring Gulls mobbing an Osprey! My second record for the garden.

Osprey (bottom blob!)

BLACK-BROWED ALBATROSS!! - 10.7.21

 For those of you who do read my blog (in the event it’s ever updated!) you may recall last July when I drove up to Bempton Cliffs RSPB reserve in East Yorkshire with George and Matt to try and see the North Seas (mainly in Germany) long staying Black-browed Albatross that had showed brilliantly on the Friday but had then sodded off and left a lots of dipping birders staring out to sea. 

Well fast forward to this year and it had returned and seemed to be staying faithful to the cliffs albeit with a couple of days here and there where it was presumed to have gone off fishing. I duly booked off the 24th June to go and see it but with news the previous evening of it having flown out to see I wasn’t hopeful of connecting. As it was I reached Sheffield and stopped in a service station hoping for positive news which never came so I went home and sulked!

Fast forward again and after going missing midweek it returned halfway through Friday 9th July so I made plans to go for it again. Nobody was free to join me so I went solo and left home at 10.30pm and arrived at the car park at 2.50am. My plan was to try and get some sleep in the car then head out to the viewing platform for about 6am as it hadn’t been seen much before that time before but I just couldn’t get comfortable and just before 4am birders started stirring and heading of so I thought I would join them! On arrival at the platform is was a bit foggy and the bird wasn’t where it had roosted. Had I dipped again? 

But then at 4.50am the shout we’d all been hoping for went up. “There it is!!” And sure enough a couple of seconds later the enormous BLACK-BROWED ALBATROSS loomed into view and flew around the cliffs for about 10 minutes before dropping down onto the cliff in amongst the Gannets. Here it showed for a minute or two before moving out of view. Happy that I’d seen it in flight and perched up I made the decision to head home and try to beat the traffic. A brief stop on the way back for a nap then I was home by 9.50am to find my family still in their pyjamas! Ok I didn’t get the reach out and touch it views that others had had along the cliff top but I didn’t care. What a stunning bird and I’m so glad I don’t have to go back and try again! 

Black-browed Albatross 

Oxhey Grange - 6.7.21

 While helping tart up Oxhey Grange and Watford Heath for a forthcoming green flag inspection my attention was alerted to some anxious bull calls overhead. Expecting to see them mobbing a Buzzard I was delighted to see them actually mobbing an Osprey!  My first this year and number 140 for the year.

East Anglia - 27.6.21

 After the offer of a lift from Brendon Fagan up to Suffolk and Norfolk was accepted we headed up towards Hickling Broad but as there was a good bird on the way and despite him seeing it during the week Brendon kindly took me to see only my second UK Roller. This one was showing much better than my first (also in Suffolk) perching on wires over a field and dropping down to eat any insect that dared move. 

Roller

After our fill of that we headed a few miles down the road towards Lackford Lakes. The hoped for a Glossy Ibis didn’t show until an hour after we’d left! So we headed for Hickling where after waiting our turn to get onto the viewing platform the pair of Black-winged Stilts could be seen snoozing behind the long grass. Some wonderfully multicoloured male Ruff were dotted about and a Curlew Sandpiper played hide and seek behind the tussocks. 

Black-winged Stilt (sleeping!)

Minsmere was our last stop where we hoped to see one of the Roseate Terns that had been around for a week or so. Typically they didn’t show today but 9 summer plumaged Spotted Redshank was a delight to see. In the public hide we bumped into my old mucker Jonathan Nasir. We wandered around to the east hide to try and locate the terns but instead I did manage to find 3 Garganey (which he failed to mention in his blog 😉 - see my blog list for Random Birder!). A couple of flyby Bittern were the last species noted as again I failed to see a Purple Heron at Minsmere (5th attempt!)

RIVER WARBLER!! - 6.6.21

 Just over a month since my last outing and with only a Hobby over the garden being added to the year list news broke from Ham Wall RSPB in Somerset that a River Warbler had been found. It was 2010 since the last twitchable mainland bird so this would prove popular. Along with Matt and George we headed down and on the walk to the area it was favouring we had the first of 5 Great White Egrets flying over. A singing Cuckoo was also new for the year but after a brief while struggling to get on it I finally got my first ever RIVER WARBLER in view through my scope as it sang its head off trying to find a mate. A great bird on a great reserve. 

River Warbler

On the way home again tried for the Great Bustards and this time we were successful in our search. We eventually saw 8 birds including 5 strutting males. Hopefully in time once they’ve produced a few more generations and reached good numbers they’ll be tickable! A nice juvenile Stonechat and a reeling Grasshopper Warbler were also noted.

Great Bustard

Tring Reservoirs + College Lake - 25.4.21

 An enjoyable and productive trip saw 18 year ticks written into my note book. 7 Greenshank and a Redshank were sat on the barley bales at Wilstone for a while before flying off. Whilst passing Rushy Meadow I heard a reeling Grasshopper Warbler singing somewhere near the orchard. One of 3 or 4 around the reservoir this year. 3 lovely Yellow Wagtail were in the horse paddocks adjacent to Startops Reservoir and on the muddy edges of Tringford were a pair of Little Ringed Plover. At College Lake Willow Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat were heard singing. Up to 115 species for the year.

NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD!! - 27.3.21

 Back in February a tweet appeared with some poor photos asking what this bird could be. Most people were happy it was just a Grey Wagtail but then more photos appeared and to everyone’s amazement it was Britain’s 3rd ever Northern Mockingbird! Even with nationwide restrictions the location was identified and quick off the mark birders went and saw it. Thankfully it stayed faithful to the area for many weeks and so myself, George and Matt headed down early and we’re on site before 6am. We joined 4 others already there and stood on a small work ladder to look over the wall. After a brief wait the bird flew out of its roosting bush and into a fruiting palm where it showed brilliantly before dropping out of view. My first ever UK NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD!

Northern Mockingbird

Happy with the views we headed for home but made a brief stop near Stonehenge in the hope of seeing one of the release programme Great Bustards. Unfortunately we failed to see any but we did have 2 Grey Partridge and numerous Corn Bunting which is always nice to see and hear.

Kings Langley - 16.3.21

On the way into work I stopped off to get some petrol and while filling up I could hear a singing Male Firecrest in the trees on the opposite side of the road! As it was I never made it to work as I was suffering from the side effects of my COVID jab but the bird brightened up the day! 

Home - 27.2.21

 The Herts bird club were again doing an all day garden watch competition so I decided to take part. An adult Great Black-backed Gull was both a year tick and a garden tick early in the morning and then whilst sitting in the dark hoping to hear a Redwing go over I instead heard a Ringed Plover go over! The 2nd for the garden.

Aldenham Reservoir + Mundens Estate

As I didn’t have too much time I decided to park up and view Aldenham Reservoir from the road outside rather than pay to park and walk half way around. As it turned out I managed good views of just my 2nd ever county Great Northern Diver a nice scaly juvenile fishing in the ice free section. 

Great Northern Diver

My original local patch was my next port of call where the flooded fields produce some big numbers of birds (well for there anyway) including 20+ Teal, 40+ Wigeon and a nice drake Tufted Duck. A pair of Raven looked to be nest building  but the highlight if you can call it that was a blue morph Snow Goose in with the Canadas! 

Snow Goose (left bird)

Wilstone - 31.1.21

 A very quiet walk around Wilstone Reservoir with George and Matt was briefly brightened by a nice Marsh Tit around cemetery corner. 

Home - 21.1.21

 A male Blackcap visited my garden briefly.

Cassiobury Park- 12.1.21

 Ok so strictly not true. I was pruning some shrubs just outside the NE end of the park when I heard a familiar drumming coming from a large Oak just inside the park. For nearly 5 minutes a surprise Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was busy bashing his head onto the bark! Sadly it flew off into the park and as of yet (14.8.21) there was no other reports of the species coming from the park. 

Gaddesden Row - 3.1.21

Crossbill

Another visit to look at the Crossbills this time produced at least 70 flying around with the odd few perching up in view. Raven, Skylark and Coal Tit were also seen. 

Western Herts - 1.1.21

 New Year’s Day again and so to kickoff the new year list I teamed up with Matt and George Moreton to bird locally. Due to COVID regulations this was done in separate vehicles and socially distanced! 

The first bird of the year was a Tawny Owl heard calling near Ashridge. The second bird of the year was a Barn Owl near Gaddesden Row. Not a bad start! 

Next stop was Cassiobury Park. 2 Egyptian Geese over the cressbeds were a good record these were closely followed by one of the regular Little Owls. 3 Owl species by 9am was good going! Usual fair was seen before we headed to Stickers Lake. From the causeway I saw my biggest ever group of Red-crested Pochard. 45 birds were stretched out over the water of which 32 were drakes. 

A visit to the lads local patch at Water End added Stonechat and Yellowhammer among others then a wander around the fields at Jockey End saw a large flock of around 300 Linnet and a single male Brambling. 

The final stop was Marsworth Reservoir where Water Rail was heard screeching bringing up 75 species for the day.

2020 Review

 So a quiet year for new species. 

I finished the year on 199 species, 200 if I count the Lammergeier but only 2 of them were lifers. They weren’t bad lifers if I’m honest! Black-and-white Warbler and Rufous Bushchat. 

As for Herts it’s now 2 years and counting waiting for my next county tick. 

Bring on 2021

Gaddesden Row - 28.12.20

George Moreton had called me the day before telling me that he’d found a large group of Crossbill near where he lives and told me where to see them so I popped over but the dull conditions seemed to put pay to them showing well. I only saw 3 flying over in the time I was there but the site had promise with 2 Raven, 2 Lesser Redpoll, Treecreeper and a Brambling being noted.

Marsworth - 22.12.20

 News of a couple of decent year ticks at Marsworth Reservoir saw me head up there for around an hour. Almost as soon as I exited the trees I laid eyes on the female Goosander sat in the middle of the reservoir but the second target was a bit trickier to connect with. The 1st winter male Ring-necked Duck was tucked into the far bank with a group of Tufted Duck but eventually showed well enough to grab a half decent photo. 2 Snipe flying out of the reeds were the only other thing of note. 

Ring-necked Duck

Goosander