Cassiobury Park - 14.12.12

After the frost came the rain again and with it a group of 7 Teal that flew into the flood just to the north of the meadow. This is the first time i've seen them away from the cress beds. A few Siskin flew over the pools and a Sparrowhawk shot through. A Common Gull was seen first thing and was followed by 2 adult Herring Gulls between the car park and pools.

Cassiobury Park - 13.12.12

An adult and juv Cormorant flew south along the canal mid morning and up in Oxhey on the village green the only bird present was an adult Common Gull. Back in the park a juv LBB Gull was on the pools and a female Sparrowhawk zoomed over Lime Walk chasing a Blackbird.

Cassiobury Park + The Urban Birder! - 12.12.12

For such a momentous date it was a shame that the birds seen didn't live up to it with a Grey Wagtail late in the day by the pools and a group of 18 RN Parakeets that flew SE off to roost over the yard. Later in the evening the day did finally pick up with an excellent talk by David Lindo aka the Urban Birder at the Watford RSPB group monthly meeting and getting to chat with him briefly at the end. On the journey home at 10.20pm a Grey Heron was seen feeding on the verge of the A41 inches from traffic on the thawed grass!

Cassiobury Park - 10.12.12

A quiet day today with a Little Egret on the river viewed from the rustic bridge first thing and a couple each of Redwing and Siskin overhead. Unfortunately no Waxwings yet on the berry laden Rowan outside of Cha cha cafe yet but 2 Stock Dove were in the large Oak trees just outside the yard.

Cassiobury Park - 6.12.12

Just after 8am whilst opening the back gates to the yard I heard the trill of a Waxwing but unfortunately I couldn't pick it up but 20 minutes later I saw a single bird flying North (same bird?). A Grey Wagtail was heard flying past the toilet block and the female Mandarin was seen next to the lock on the canal with Mallards.

Cassiobury Park - 5.12.12

2 Water Rail were heard squeeling from the hide a Lesser Redpoll flew over the car park. Around 60 Siskin were along the canal path and10 Redwing flew over the yard early morning.

Cassiobury Park - 4.12.12 800th Post!!

2 Lesser Redpoll and a Cormorant were todays highlights if you can call them that?!

Cassiobury Park - 3.12.12

A quiet start to the day picked up mid afternoon when a Kingfisher was heard near the rustic bridge and at least 2 Bullfinches were heard by the mini railway storage area. 6 Redwings flew from a tree in the yard just before hometime.

Hilfield Reservoir - 1.12.12

With an hour or so to spare this morning I headed over to the reservoir to see if the Common Scoter that had been found 2 days previous was still there. As I reached the top of the steps there it was only a few yards from the dam but it started to swim away from me and then spent a lot of time asleep! In the hour I was there I managed the one good shot above. Also seen were at least 21 Teal (14 males) which is a very good number for Hilfield, Grey Wagtail, Lesser Redpoll and 4 RN Parakeet on the feeders. I did have a fairly good photo of one of the parakeets but accidentaly deleted it!

Cassiobury Park - 30.11.12

4 Cormorants flew over as I pulled into the car park first thing and a single Lesser Redpoll and a handful of Siskin were the only other birds of note.