Cassiobury - 21.2.22

 I finally got a chance to have a look for the local Little Owl and quickly found it in its favoured tree.

Eastbourne + Polegate - 12.2.22

 I joined George, Brendon and Callum Mckeller in a trip down to Eastbourne where on the edge of a housing estate we had crippling views of a 1st winter American Robin. This was a tick for George and Callum and a 2nd bird for Brendon. For me it was my 3rd in the UK after Cornwall and W.Yorkshire. 

After filling our boots with the Robin we headed 3 miles down the road to the seafront where after a wait I picked out the call of the wintering Hume’s Warbler. It was fairly vocal but due to the strong wind we only saw it in flight. This was my 4th in the UK. A quick seawatch added 8 RT Diver, Gannet, Kittiwake, Guillemot and Fulmar to the year list. 

Our last stop was Polegate services where Callum quickly picked out the Hooded Crow that had been hanging around the McDonald’s there!

American Robin

Watford - 2.2.22

 A Lesser Redpoll flew over Callowland Rec and became the 100th species of the year.

Rest Of January

11th Jan - Mandarin Cassiobury 

12th Jan - Nuthatch Garston

19th Jan - Siskin Garston

23rd Jan - Hawfinch Great Gaddesden

29th Jan - 5 Brambling Woodoaks Farm

Wallasea Island + Abberton Reservoir - 9.1.22

 News of a Red-breasted Goose on Wallasea Island RSPB reserve saw myself and Brendon head into Essex hoping to see it. Typically it wasn’t to be seen but some decent birds were jotted down in my notebook. At least 6 Corn Bunting were showing well and singing, 3 Spoonbill were doing what they do best and sleeping and a female Hen Harrier showed nicely.

After adding 20 species to the year list we headed to Abberton Reservoir. Some decent birds were found including 2 Great White Egret, 11 Goosander, Scaup, Long-tailed Duck, 4 Bewick’s Swan, Red-necked Grebe and Smew. We did dip Slavonian Grebe and a small flock of Cattle Egret. Oh to have somewhere that good in Herts!

Smew

Further Year Ticks

2nd Jan - Dunnock Garden

3rd Jan - Collared Dove Garden

4th Jan - Wren Cassiobury + RN Parakeet Watford

5th Jan - Mistle Thrush, Coal Tit + Stock Dove Cassiobury 

6th Jan - Linnet Watford

A County Tick At Last! - 1.1.22

 A new year and a new list. I started off from the garden and a Sparrowhawk was the best noted. 

I then headed to Wilstone and once at the top of the steps I scanned the water adding birds to the list as I went. I then checked my phone and was shocked to see a message from Ben Miller saying he’d gone and found a drake Green-winged Teal from the hide at Wilstone! With this news I shot round to the hide and upon entering I found Ben along with Mike Illet, Ian Williams and Roy Hargreaves. Mike kindly let me look through his scope to get my eye in before I got it in my scope. 

It was presumably the same bird that visited Wilstone briefly in 2021 so is either the 3rd or 4th for Herts and the first to be properly twitchable. That said it vanished just before noon so those slow off the mark missed out. It also became my first Herts tick since the Pallid Harrier in September 2018.

Other noteworthy birds were a drake Goosander, 2 Yellow-legged Gulls and 2 Great White Egret.

On Tringford a single Green Sandpiper was happily feeding on the exposed mud.

Sleeping Green-winged Teal

Yellow-legged Gull + Great White Egret

Goosander

2021 Round Up

 The year was a quiet one due to COVID and as such I recorded my lowest year list total since I started twitching in 2001. I finished the year on 191 species which included 5 lifers. Plus hopefully Great Bustard to be added at some point and also with Ross’s Goose being added to the UK list I’m hopeful that one or both the birds I’ve seen will get accepted soon.

Northern Mockingbird

River Warbler

Black-browed Albatross

Long-toed Stint

Belted Kingfisher 

As for Hertfordshire it’s now 3 long years since a county tick!

BELTED KINGFISHER!! - 28.12.21

 The birding year finished on a high up in the village of Roach Bridge near Preston,Lancashire. I joined Brendon, Terry and Ricky on the 4 hour journey and we arrived in the rain and just before sunrise. We slid through the mud up to the farmers field that we had the privilege of paying a tenner to enter for a view over the river. 

The views were a bit restricted and so I missed the first view of the day. It was a good hour or so until I got a view of it perched distantly in a dead tree and BELTED KINGFISHER was on my list. It then vanished until we were just about to walk back to the car and someone said they had it perched up by the fishing lake which was even more distant than before. A belting end to the year!

My photo of the Belted Kingfisher!

Belted Kingfisher. Many thanks to Paul Coombes for the use of his excellent photos

Tring - 31.10.21

 A quick visit to Wilstone and Tringford Reservoirs turned into an Egret fest. 3 Great White Egret were seen from the hide at Wilstone and another on Tringford. 4 in one day and to think it was only 19 years ago since I saw my first in the county with just the 2nd for Herts also at Wilstone. 

Great White Egrets

Back To Cornwall- 23-30.10.21

 Half term week and I was heading back to Cornwall this time with the family! Dozmary Pool was a quick stop on the way down where the Ring-necked Duck of a couple of weeks ago had been joined by a further 3 drakes! A couple of weeks later and the flock had grown to 12 birds!

From here we visited Pendeen where at the second visit of the day I finally connected with the 1st winter Brown Shrike. My 3rd in the UK and 2nd in 2 years. 

Brown Shrike

On the 25th we went to Sennen Cove so the kids could play on the beach. I of course took my binoculars and spotted 2 Chough heading over the beach and 2 Med Gulls were offshore. On the way back to our accommodation I popped into Drift Reservoir to have a scan over. Even from the car park I managed to pick out the Black-necked Grebe. 

The 26th saw us visiting Paradise Park in Hayle where numerous birds were seen in the aviaries. Wild birds seen from there included 200+ Redwing and a single Fieldfare but the Brest bird was a Merlin that shot over the neighbouring fields.over on the estuary 40+ Med Gulls and 3 Golden Plover were seen.

The 27th only added a further 14 Med Gulls but I did dip a Black Redstart by the bus station at Penzance.

The 30th saw us up at silly o’clock for our long drive home. A Barn Owl seen by the side of the road near Hayle was the only thing worth writing down on the whole journey.

LONG-TOED STINT!! - 10.10.21

 While on the way back from Scilly we stopped off for a quick cuppa and while enjoying that I checked RBA messages and saw that a Temminck’s Stint in W.Yorkshire had been re identified as a Least Sandpiper. This was later changed to the remarkable news that it was actually the UK’s 3rd Long-toed Stint and the first since 1982! 

With this news I was on the road early and on site at St.Aiden’s RSPB reserve about 4 hours later. This was my first visit to this site and it certainly looked a very impressive place. On the walk up to view 80+ Pink-footed Geese flew over as well as Siskin and Lesser Redpoll and in the reeds Bearded Tits were pinging away. I was about 3 minutes away from the gathered crowd when I noticed them all walking off! Had I just missed it? Thankfully not as it had pitched down onto an island it visited the day before and was showing very well for the swelling numbers of birders. I spent the next half an hour watching this little mega before heading home to spend some time with my family with LONG-TOED STINT on my list!

Long-toed Stint

Hayle, Dozmary Pool and Enford - 9.10.21

 We got off the islands on time and started heading for home. A quick scan over the Hayle Estuary produced just 5 Greenshank as any sort of highlight. Once into Bodmin Moor we stopped at DozmaryPool where we quickly spotted the drake Ring-necked Duck in with some Tufted Ducks. 

Then once past Stonehenge I took Brendon to see the reintroduction programme Great Bustards on Salisbury Palin. We had nice views of 6 birds which will be accepted as a self sustaining population in the not too distant future.

So I ended on 118 species for the trip 6 of which were Scilly ticks. Nothing exceptionally rare to write home about this time but still as enjoyable.

Scilly - 8.10.21

 Our last day on the islands was another quiet one. A Cetti’s Warbler was heard from the Dump Clump. Up on the Garrison a year tick Pied Flycatcher showed well if briefly behind the cadet hut. At Porthloo I was scanning the waders when a Bar-tailed Godwit flew into view. Just my second on the islands. Along Porthloo Lane I picked out our only Whitethroat of the trip as it flitted through the hedges and at Porth Hellick a Yellow-browed Warbler was heard calling but wasn’t seen. A Scilly Shrew did show well though. 

Pied Flycatcher 

Scilly - 7.10.21

 A lovely sunny day greeted us after yesterdays drizzle so we headed off to the east of St.Mary’s. On the way the first Blackcap of the trip was seen as well as 7 Song Thrushes. For a place where usually Song Thrushes are everywhere they were obvious in their absence so this number albeit small was fairly notable. Viewing from just south of Watermill Cove out towards St.Martin’s I finally managed to pick out the drake Eider sea out on the seaweed on the Ganinick Islands. I put the news out on the WhatsApp group and the CB radio and several birders managed to add it to their Scilly list (including me). Even those who’d been coming far longer then myself.

Eider (honestly!)

From here we went back to Holy Vale where at the second time of asking we saw the Turtle Dove perched in a tree. Every one seen nowadays could be the last due to the hunting of them in Europe. 

Turtle Dove

Scilly - 6.10.21

 With my new found sea legs I decided to do a pelagic and surprisingly I survived throwing up or even feeling queasy and even managed to eat while aboard!

3 year ticks were seen. These were 4 Great Skua, 2 Sooty Shearwater and 2 Arctic Tern. Other notable stuff were 2 Arctic Skua, 2 Puffin, a Med Gull and 8 Snipe over the open sea! Non avian sightings were consisted of my first ever Atlantic Blue-finned Tuna (3) which even breached out of the water showing off just how big they are, my first ever By-the-wind Sailor and 3 Common Dolphin. On the way back to dock we tried but failed to see the Eider again.

Scilly - 5.10.21

Another day another island. Today’s choice was St.Agnes where at Warna’s Cove I finally added Wheatear to the year list! This was closely followed by my 5th Scilly tick of the trip an American Buff-bellied Pipit. It took a while for it to appear from the long grass and didn’t really show for more than a couple of minutes before flying off. This was my 3rd UK bird after singles in Oxfordshire and Berkshire. The only other bird of note was a year tick Snow Bunting at Browarth. 

American Buff-bellied Pipit

Wheatear

Snow Bunting

Scilly - 4.10.21

 Tresco was our island of choice today. The first birds we saw on arrival at the Abbey Pool were the 2 Pectoral Sandpipers from Porth Hellick but they weren’t showing quite as well! Out in Pentle Bay we searched for the male Eider but failed to find it. Sanderling, 8 Mediterranean Gulls and 4 Brent Geese were seen though. On the Great Pool I reminisced about where I watched last years Black and White Warbler from, much to the annoyance of Brendon! But from the hide Scilly tick number 4 was showing on the far side. A Spotted Redshank was busy feeding in amongst the rocks and not too far away was a year tick Pintail. 

Spotted Redshank

After our fill of the pools ducks and waders we went up to Castle Down where the only Raven of the trip flew over and after a wait the juvenile Dotterel came close enough for a record shot. 

Dotterel

We then decided to get the early boat back to St.Mary’s and head for the airport. Upon arrival yet another fairly distant bird was seen this time a juvenile Red-backed Shrike.

Red backed Shrike

Scilly - 3.10.21

 Today we headed over to Bryher hoping to add a couple of American waders to the trip list. As it turned out the American Golden Plover had vanished from the big pool but a showy Dunlin allowed very close approach and then 3 geese flew in. 2 Pink-footed and a single Pale Bellied Brent Goose touched down. Both were year ticks!

Dunlin

Brent + Pink-footed Geese

We then trudged round to Hell Bay where in near storm force winds we had good views of the juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper. I got my camera set up and was just about to press the button when it was flushed by a dog and flew off over the ridge. The last noteworthy bird of the day was a Peregrine over Porthcressa.

Scilly - 2.10.21

 The day got off to an annoying start. We arrived at Land End airport to be told our flight would more than likely not be going due to an incoming storm and that if we liked we could be transferred to the Scillonian boat. I’m not a great fan of boats but in preparation I’d taken some Stugeron sea sick tablets and thought better to get there than not at all. We left Penzance harbour and what should flyover us soon after but our 9.20 flight that seemed to have no problem 🤬! Thankfully my stomach held its contents and we arrived on the island and headed straight to Porthcressa beach where John Judge was kind enough to get me onto my first Scilly tick of the week. A Great-crested Grebe!! 

From here we wandered down to Porth Hellick Pool. A Whinchat in a field adjacent to the path down to the pool was a year tick and from the seaward hide 2 juvenile Pectoral Sandpipers we’re showing ridiculously well. From the other hide a Spotted Crake was showing less well from the side window but eventually gave itself up. As there was no sign of the Glossy Ibis we headed to Helvear which despite all my visits I’d never been to before.

Pectoral Sandpiper

From the footpath here I eventually laid eyes on my second Scilly tick of the day and also a subspecies tick to boot. A 1st winter male Balearic Woodchat Shrike showed well but just a tad too far for crisp photos of it. This was jut my third Woodchat in the UK. We then heard that the Ibis was back so off we went and 20 minutes later we were watching my third Scilly tick of the day as the Glossy Ibis was feeding partially obscured by the reds at the back of the pool

Balearic Woodchat Shrike

Glossy Ibis

Cornwall - 1.10.21

 It was that time of year again when I headed to the SW for my annual week on Scilly. This year Brendon Fagan joined me and so despite a run on fuel leading up to the day we set off for Cornwall to see what we could see. 

Our first stop was Godrevy where last year along with the Moreton brothers we saw 2 Chough next to the field car park but this year we saw 4 in the same field! Due to COVID I’d not been out birding much this year so I had many easy gaps in my year list still to fill. While there I added Turnstone, Shag, many Manx and 2 Balearic Shearwaters to it.

Chough

The Hayle Estuary was our next stop where a Greenshank and Ruff were seen on Ryan’s Field along with a year tick Bar-tailed Godwit. 

We then ventured down to Sennen where eventually I picked up the juvenile Rose-coloured Starling perched up in front of a telegraph pole.

 

Rose-coloured Starling

Our last stop of the day was Pendeen where viewing from the lighthouse I found another 2 Balearic Shearwaters going past.

Garden - 12.9.21

 A quick cuppa in the garden produced a good bird for not just the garden but for the county. My second garden Rock Pipit flew over calling. 2 Meadow Pipit and a Mistle Thrush were also seen.