End Of Year Review 2009

Here is my 2009 year list in full. Birds in red capitals are UK lifers and in blue Herts lifers.

1. Mute Swan
2. Whooper Swan
3. Bewick's Swan
4. Pink-Footed Goose
5. Eurasian White-Fronted Goose
6. Greylag Goose
7. Canada Goose
8. Dark-Bellied Brent Goose
9. Black Brant
10. Ruddy Shelduck
11. Shelduck
12. Egyptian Goose
13. Mandarin Duck
14. Wigeon
15. Gadwall
16. Teal
17. Mallard
18. Pintail
19. Garganey
20. Shoveler
21. Red-Crested Pochard
22. Pochard
23. Tufted Duck
24. Eider
25. Common Scoter
26. Velvet Scoter
27. Goldeneye
28. Smew
29. Goosander
30. Red-Breasted Merganser
31. Ruddy Duck
32. Red-Legged Partridge
33. Grey Partridge
34. Pheasant
35. Red-Throated Diver
36. Black-Throated Diver
37. Little Grebe
38. Great-Crested Grebe
39. Black-Necked Grebe
40. Fulmar
41. Manx Shearwater
42. Balearic Shearwater
43. Gannet
44. Cormorant
45. Shag
46. Bittern
47. Cattle Egret
48. Little Egret
49. Grey Heron
50. Honey Buzzard
51. Red Kite
52. Marsh Harrier
53. Sparrowhawk
54. Buzzard
55. Kestrel
56. Merlin
57. Hobby
58. Peregrine Falcon
59. Water Rail
60. Moorhen
61. Coot
62. Oystercatcher
63. Avocet
64. Collared Pratincole
65. BLACK-WINGED PRATINCOLE
66. Little-Ringed Plover
67. Ringed Plover
68. Dotterel
69. Golden Plover
70. Grey Plover
71. Lapwing
72. Knot
73. Sanderling
74. Little Stint
75. Temminck's Stint
76. Curlew Sandpiper
77. Dunlin
78. Ruff
79. Snipe
80. Woodcock
81. Black-Tailed Godwit
82. Bar-Tailed Godwit
83. Whimbrel
84. Curlew
85. Spotted Redshank
86. Redshank
87. Greenshank
88. Green Sandpiper
89. Common Sandpiper
90. Turnstone
91. Pomarine Skua
92. Arctic Skua
93. Mediterranean Gull
94. Little Gull
95. Black-Headed Gull
96. Common Gull
97. AZOREAN GULL
98. Herring Gull
99. Glaucous Gull
100. GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL
101. Lesser Black-Backed Gull
102. Great Black-Backed Gull
103. Little Tern
104. CASPIAN TERN
105. Black Tern
106. AMERICAN BLACK TERN
107. White-Winged Black Tern
108. Sandwich Tern
109. Common Tern
110. Arctic Tern
111. Guillemot
112. Razorbill
113. Puffin
114. Feral Pigeon
115. Stock Dove
116. Woodpigeon
117. Collared Dove
118. Ring-Necked Parakeet
119. Cuckoo
120. Barn Owl
121. Little Owl
122. Tawny Owl
123. Long-Eared Owl
124. Swift
125. Kingfisher
126. Hoopoe
127. Green Woodpecker
128. Great-Spotted Woodpecker
129. Lesser-Spotted Woodpecker
130. CRESTED LARK
131. Skylark
132. Sand Martin
133. Swallow
134. House Martin
135. Tree Pipit
136. Meadow Pipit
137. Rock Pipit
138. Scandinavian Rock Pipit
139. Water Pipit
140. Yellow Wagtail
141. GREY-HEADED WAGTAIL
142. Grey Wagtail
143. White Wagtail
144. Pied Wagtail
145. Wren
146. Dunnock
147. Robin
148. Nightingale
149. Black Redstart
150. Redstart
151. Stonechat
152. Wheatear
153. Greenland Wheatear
154. Blackbird
155. Fieldfare
156. Song Thrush
157. Redwing
158. Mistle Thrush
159. Cetti's Warbler
160. Grasshopper Warbler
161. Sedge Warbler
162. Marsh Warbler
163. Reed Warbler
164. Blackcap
165. Garden Warbler
166. Lesser Whitethroat
167. Whitethroat
168. Chiffchaff
169. EASTERN CROWNED WARBLER
170. Willow Warbler
171. Goldcrest
172. Firecrest
173. COLLARED FLYCATCHER
174. Bearded Tit
175. Log-Tailed Tit
176. Blue Tit
177. Great Tit
178. Coal Tit
179. Willow Tit
180. Marsh Tit
181. Nuthatch
182. Treecreeper
183. BROWN SHRIKE
184. Jay
185. Magpie
186. Jackdaw
187. Rook
188. Carrion Crow
189. Raven
190. Starling
191. House Sparrow
192. Tree Sparrow
193. Chaffinch
194. Brambling
195. Greenfinch
196. Goldfinch
197. Siskin
198. Linnet
199. Twite
200. Lesser Redpoll
201. Crossbill
202. Bullfinch
203. WHITE-THROATED SPARROW
204. Yellowhammer
205. Reed Bunting
206. Corn Bunting

Back Garden - 31.12.09

2 Robins, a House Sparrow and the Collared Dove visited the garden today.

Back Garden - 30.12.09

A Woodpigeon joined the Collared Dove on the feeders today along with 3 Blue Tits.

Back Garden - 29.12.09

3 Fieldfares flew over around 10am then an hour later 7 Long-Tailed Tits flew onto the feeders only to be chased away by a Blue Tit. A Collared Dove stuffed its face for 5 mins on the seed provided.

Back Garden - 28.12.09

Presumably the same House Sparrow returned to the feeders and a Grey Wagtail sat on the shed roof for a few seconds before flying off.

Back Garden - 27.12.09

News of a Bittern at Hilfield Reservoir got me going for a few seconds until I remembered i'd got my son for the weekend so i'd have to put it out of my mind! A male House Sparrow on the feeders in the garden was the first of its kind to visit. A few Blue Tits were also seen.

Back Garden - 26.12.09

A Collared Dove on the seed tray feeder was the first of its species to visit the back garden and a couple of Robins had a bit of handbags at 10 paces over who got to feed on the spilt seed!

New Arrival - 25.12.09

Christmas dinner at 8pm, presents opened at 9pm and 30+ Redwings and a Cormorant over Watford Football Club can only mean 1 thing! My future step-daughter gave birth to a baby girl on the 23rd and I spent most of Christmas day looking out of the top floor window of the maternity ward at Watford Hospital waiting for them to be allowed home!

The only other bird of note was a Goldcrest singing in the back garden.

Cassiobury Park - 24.12.09

Well as it's now just into the 25th - HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!

Yesterdays highlights were 2 Cormorants flying over the river, 6 Fieldfares over the council yard and 3 Sparrowhawks. 1 (probably the same as the last 2 days) by the river and a pair over the council yard showing off nicely the size difference between the sexes.

Cassiobury Park - 23.12.09

An excellent day in the park started off with 4 Bullfinches near the toilet block and a Sparrowhawk in virtually the same place as yesterday.

I then bumped into a couple i'd met before who bird the park occasionally and they said they were looking for the Kingfisher and some Siskins but had missed both so far. Within 10 seconds of them carrying on their jourey 3 Siskins flew over their heads without them realising then the Kingfisher flew into view by the rustic bridge and started bashing a fish to death!

I then had a quick look at the cress beds next to the fishing lake and found 2 Canada Geese, 6 Teal and 60+ Black-Headed Gulls. Then on the walk back towards the car park a Fox jumped out of nowhere and scared me half to death followed by a Great-Spotted Woodpecker drumming on the very top branch of a tree.

Probably the best birds of the day flew West over the car park. I heard the call of Fieldfare and as I looked up 5 flew over but behind them were 3 Lapwing which without old records to hand I think are pretty rare for the park.

Finally it was noticable that Wrens had become more obvious with at least 12 birds dotted around the park, mainly by the unfrozen river edges and 2 Common Gulls made it onto the list.