Tring - 11.5.16

All 4 reservoirs were visited today in the hope of some more year ticks. At Wilstone 6 Black Tern were seen and on Tringford a nice drake Garganey was seen distantly along with 2 Hobby. In the roadside wood at Startops and Spotted Flycatcher flitted around and the final addition was a reeling Grasshopper Warbler at Marsworth. I was by the hide but the bird was behind the reedbed on the far side but thankfully the wind direction carried its song to me!

Garden Mega - 9.5.16

Leucistic Woodpigeon

Sitting in my chair looking out into the garden with the patio door open I could hear a crow getting angry! Expecting it to be mobbing one of the local kites I soon saw that it wasn't a kite. I grabbed my scope and once I'd picked them up I could see it was mobbing a female Marsh Harrier! They carried on for another minute or so before I lost them behind the houses.

Later in the day a group of Woodpigeon flew into the garden and one of them was slightly leucistic so it stood out from the others.

Mega Dove - 6.5.16

Rufous Turtle Dove

5 years ago I successfully twitched my first Oriental Turtle Dove in Oxfordshire. That one was of the race orientalis. Fast forward to today and I joined Brendon Glynn and Paul Frost on a 4am run to Otford in Kent. We arrived in good time and after a short while we finally had good views of my first ever RUFOUS TURTLE DOVE perched in a tree behind some houses. This one was of the form meena and hopefully a future armchair tick if the powers at be split it! Amazingly the traffic was kind and I arrived back home just as Carey was walking downstairs from waking up!

Not Quite All Rosy - 2.5.16

A Sad Looking Roseate Tern

The phrase like buses is often used and today it certainly was. Roseate Tern records in Herts before last year were of a bird seen at Wilstone Reservoir back in the 1960's and then nothing until the bird at Amwell in May 2015. So like buses another turned up this time at Wilstone. I headed up there expecting to see it flying over the reservoir but no it was perched on the concrete edge looking rather unwell. Like the Amwell bird this one was metal ringed on both legs and we thought its from Coquet Island in Northumberland. It wasn't until the following day when it was picked up moribund that the metal rings could be read and it was found to have been rung in July 2012 in the tern colony on Rockabill Island, Ireland! Unfortunately on the way to Tiggywinkles it died but 2 in 2 years is an amazing record. 3 in 3 in 2017? Who knows! 2 Common Sandpiper were also added to the year list.

Cassiobury Park - 28.4.16

Lesser-spotted Woodpecker

On the last day of March I found a Lesser-spotted Woodpecker up by the croquet lawns and a couple of weeks or so later it was found drumming in the trees adjacent to the car park. I popped in before work and was greeted by this unfortunately increasingly rare bird drumming away happy as Larry! I met Chris Sharp there and finally met in person Ralph Darvil who I'd got to know over Twitter.

A Swift Visit To Wilstone - 23.4.16

My first Swift of the year was the only addition on my walk around Wilstone. But it was my 150th species of the year.

College Lake - 22.4.16

1 of the 2 Spotted Redshank

A quick visit to the lake provided me with my first ever inland summer plumaged Spotted Redshank. I'd seen 4 over the years in Herts but they were all winter plumaged birds so to see some in their summer finery just 20 minutes from home was very welcome.

Tring + College - 17.4.16

The Spring migrants continued to arrive and so it was back to the patch to try and see some of them. A walk around Wilstone added a single House Martin, both Common and Lesser Whitethroat and a fly over Yellow Wagtail. A Raven was also added.

Short-Eared Owl (honestly!)

Over at Marsworth both Reed and Sedge Warbler were heard
 and occasionally seen in the reed bed but while I was enjoying these I received news that a Short-Eared Owl had been seen again at College Lake so I shot over there and after a long wait finally got crap views as it sat in the long grass!

Wilstone + College - 11.4.16

Little Gull

Just 8 days after becoming a dad for the 2nd time I was allowed out for a while and so headed towards Tring. The stand out highlight was the large flock of Little Gulls which totalled 35 birds! I managed to count 29 and this was by far the largest group I'd seen in the county. Other year ticks were seen with my first Willow Warbler heard singing near the jetty and over the water were a few Common Tern and a single Arctic Tern.

Ring Ouzel

A visit to College Lake produced my first Little Ringed Plover of the year from the viewpoint and up in the NE corner was a lovely male Ring Ouzel.

I'm still here!

Normal service will resume on here soon. A knackered back has slowed down both myself and birding.