Guess Where?! - 24.3.16

With a bit of free time I again headed off to the patch and first stop was College Lake where despite the gate with the closed sign on it being across the entrance I popped in and asked if I could have 10 minutes looking over the lake. I was allowed and so a quick scan found me looking at the Dunlin found the day before along with the usual suspects. I was just about to pack my scope up when I picked up 2 Sand Martin as they flew through north. Spring had finally sprung despite the cold wind and rain!

Over at Wilstone the hoped for Mediterranean Gull again failed to put in an appearance but 3 Goldeneye were still around, a Redshank was on the east bank and over the water another 20+ Sand Martin were joined by at least 4 Swallow.

College Lake + Wilstone Again!- 13.3.16

Another flying visit to College Lake saw the 2 Black Swan in occupancy and presumably the Wilstone Oystercatchers but new for the year were 2 Redshank although there had been 6 reported.

Little Owl

Red-Legged Partridge

 

A walk around the entire reservoir at Wilstone saw some good noteworthy birds but nothing new for the patch year list. 2 Little Egret were on Drayton Bank, 70+ Fieldfare lifted off from trees near the hide after a Sparrowhawk got too close, a Treecreeper was my second of the year, what was presumably the male Shelduck from College Lake was on the water in front of the hide, the first 2 singing Chiffchaff of the year were by the hide and a Yellowhammer was singing along the dry canal. It was only when I was near the car park I bumped into another birder who asked if I'd seen the Little Owl by rushy meadow. I hadn't and I just walked past there! With time to spare I headed off there and thankfully picked it up straight away even though I'd been checking the area it was in for a while in the hope of finding one! As I was about to leave I heard a Red-Legged Partridge calling and eventually pinned it down to the same field as I had them in last year again despite looking there all year!

College Lake + Wilstone Reservoir - 10.3.16

Black Swan

 

On the way up to the patch a Little Egret was seen in fields in Boxmoor and once up at College Lake a quick scan over the water produced a male Shelduck, female Goldeneye and a pair of Black Swan!

 

Grey Partridge (honestly!)

 

With an hour or so to kill before concentrating on the gull roost I had a wander round to the jetty hoping that the Egyptian Geese were mingling in with the Canada and Greylags but no joy. Last year I'd narrowly missed 2 Grey Partridge in fields north of Startops Reservoir and after talking with a couple of the local birders they suggested they are probably in the surrounding fields its just a case of finding them. So after scanning the geese I had a scan of the fields behind the jetty and lo and behold 2 fields away was a Grey Partridge sitting upright showing off his dark belly! A second bird then popped up next to it but then both crouched down and vanished. Luckily they kept popping up and so I managed to get a couple of ropey photos for posterity! I walked back towards the car park and found 2 Oystercatchers feeding on the grass bank. I went to get a photo of them but found that I'd drained my phone battery trying to photograph the partridges! The gull roost failed to produce a Mediterranean Gull for the year list.

Wilstone Reservoir - 19.2.16

 

 

Stonechat

 

Another visit to the patch proved to be quite a useful one! A Little Egret was in the fields behind the car park and up at cemetery corner I walked the full length of the track out to the cemetery scanning the fence line for a male Stonechat that had been reported earlier in the day. There was no sign but on the return walk I eventually found it as it popped up onto the fence posts. Only my second at Tring this was a much welcomed addition for the year. I continued round the back of the reservoir but it was uneventful until I reached the area near the hide. A strange song caught my attention but in over 30 minutes I never caught sight of what was making it but thankfully the song albeit a subdued one was a familiar one that I'd heard a few times over the years. It was a Firecrest! And even better it was a patch tick. 3 Yellowhammer and a group of 13 Golden Plover were seen while waiting. 3 Goldeneye rounded off the visit.

Back Garden Mega - 17.2.16

Due to many boring reasons I won't mention on here I've not been out birding for a couple of weeks so to get my fix I've had to look out to my garden. So far this month I've added Cormorant and Mistle Thrush to the garden list thanks to single fly overs but today around 9am I was stood by my patio doors looking out when every bird suddenly took off. Thinking a Sparrowhawk was about to come through I was amazed to see a small but chunky falcon appear from the SE heading at just below tree top height passing over the end of my garden before disappearing behind the houses opposite. It was obviously just passing through rather than hunting as it never broke from its direct and fast wingbeats and in the morning sun it's slaty grey/blue upperparts, thin black terminal band on the tail and orangey brown underparts were pretty obvious. It was only a male Merlin!! It became number 55 on the garden list and by far the best bird so far! Its only the 4th I've ever seen in Hertfordshire too. Just got to hope I see a Hobby in the summer now!

Cassiobury Park Or The Amazon?! - 12.2.16

Blue and Gold Macaw

 

Amazon Parrot

 

I had a couple of spare hours so I decided to have a walk around the park. It was its usual quiet self with a couple of Coal Tit on the feeders from the hide and a pair of Pheasant under the feeders picking up scraps. But just as I was walking back to the car I came across a couple of rather interesting birds. The most noticeable was a Blue and Gold Macaw and with it an Amazon Parrot! I'd seen the Macaw last year flying around but this was the best view I'd got of it. Apparently from what I've heard the owner comes in in the morning and lets them go and then comes back to collect them! Not sure I'd want to let a few thousand pounds worth of exotic birds loose with Peregrine and Sparrowhawk around!

Amwell NR - 1.2.16

Even without holding much hope that yesterdays Franklin's Gull would reappear myself and a few of Herts keenest listers ventured over to Amwell just in case! Standing at the viewpoint I quickly heard the familiar pinging of a Bearded Tit. After a couple of minutes the female bird that had been present for a while flew from one small clump of reeds to the next. Only my 3rd in Herts! Other birds to keep us interested were a flyby Kingfisher and fly over Peregrine. The next good bird was a 2nd winter Yellow-Legged Gull which again was only my 3rd in Herts. This was followed by a smart 1st Winter Caspian Gull but no sooner as I went to get a photo it flew off and landed too far away to be worth bothering with! This was only my 2nd for Herts! As dark fell and all hopes of the Franklin's being found had diminished I picked out a pair of Mandarin coming off the island just as the locals said they would. These were soon followed by a further 5 pairs! So 12 Mandarin together represented my biggest ever flock in Herts beating 11 seen a few years ago at Wilstone! On the walk back to the car I joined a few people looking out into the gloom and quite quickly a Woodcock flew past us. All in all a good couple of hours even if I did suffer my first Herts dip in a couple of years.

Watford + Frustration! - 31.1.16

During the morning I popped over to my mums to have a shower as mine had packed up even before having a new one fitted and once showered I had a spot of lunch while looking out into her garden. Bingo up popped the male Blackcap that had been visiting for the last few days. In the afternoon Myself and Carey headed over to her parents for dinner at a nearby pub in Chesham. The day before a Franklin's Gull pitched up at Fen Drayton lagoons in Cambridgeshire and for some reason when leaving the pub I checked my pager only to find that it had appeared briefly to a lucky dozen or so birders at Amwell! The second 1st for Herts in 3 weeks! It was only when I started receiving phone signal again I had a barrage of missed calls and texts telling me such. Thankfully in a way it only staying for 20 minutes meant that I wouldn't have got there in time to see it before it flew anyway.

Wilstone Reservoir - 28.1.16

I headed up to the patch for the evening gull roost and found most of the gull present were congregated on the remaining bits of dry land. But before paying attention to them I headed over to the jetty to see if I could find the 2 Egyptian Geese in amongst the Greylags. With no sign of those so I walked back towards the overflows but as I reached the NE corner I noticed a large gull heading my way and on getting it in the bins I identified it as a 2nd winter Herring Gull. Not amazing in bird terms but not overly common at the reservoirs and so was a nice patch year tick. It got even better as I reached the top of the steps as I picked out another large gull flying over the reedbed. I got it in the scope and was delighted to see it was an adult GBB Gull. This species is even more uncommon here and I think I was lucky last year seeing 3! I spent over an hour scanning the gulls but didn't pick out the hoped for Mediterranean Gull before I was too cold and headed home at 4.30. Dave Bilcock then tweeted that the Med had been seen at 5pm! Typical. One other bird of note was a white colour ringed BH Gull TJCY which was a returning bird from Poland!

Cley - 24.1.16

A trip to the north Norfolk coast with the Watford RSPB group saw us head to Cley NWT. The day before there had been a good selection of birds with Grey Phalarope, Red-Necked Grebe and Smew all being seen. But typically as we arrived we found out that all 3 had gone! Myself and Bob Harris walked up to the new Babcock hide in the vain hope the phalarope had reappeared but it hadn't. During the muddy walk to the hide I added my first year tick of the trip with a nice male Stonechat sat on top of a clump of reeds. From the hide were 2 Water Pipit and 5 Knot. Walking back towards the reserve I scanned over the floods and picked out 7 Ruff for the year including one with a very white head and neck and around 40 Dunlin. Walking up the East bank I heard the pinging the call of some Bearded Tit but only caught very brief glimpses of them in flight. A scan of the sea didn't produce a great deal as the wind direction was all wrong blowing off the land. 5 Common Scoter,7 Red-Throated Diver and singles of Guillemot and Kittiwake were the only things written down. As I reached the beach car park I had a scan of the 200+ Brent Geese in the hope of seeing the Black Brant which had been present at the start of the year but again failed. I then spent the rest of the day sat in the hide looking over Pat's Pool hoping the adult Caspian Gull would put in an appearance. 25 Avocet brightened the day up as did a pair of Marsh Harrier but suddenly all the ducks grazing to the right of the hide took off and in swooped a female Hen Harrier. As it turned out the Caspian Gull failed to show!