GOOSANDERS

There was a pair of GOOSANDERS today towards the northern end of Ashley at Cheshunt Pits. At this point the pit is 100 metres wide and therefore, should anyone being interested in photos, they were at a range of about 70 metres (Alan Reynolds)

CASPIAN GULL again at Amwell

An adult-type CASPIAN GULL was seen from the Amwell viewpoint from about 15:30 to 16:05 (when it got too dark and the rain became unbearable). Also seen by Bill Last, Mike Ilett, Barry Reed and another observer whose name escapes me.

My video footage shows that the bird is probably a fourth winter:- long, thin greenish yellow bill with dark subterminal band (no red) and an inconspicuous gonys angle- white, rather small head, long neck, with some striping on neck sides- dark eye - thin pink legs, pink feet- pale grey mantle (paler than some Herring Gulls)- traces of dark tail bar- some dark on primary coverts (not visible in swimming/standing bird; far less extensive than depicted in Klaus Malling Olsen's book for 3rd winter birds)- small white primary tips- wing mirror not as extensive as in adult (seen later)I'll try to post some video grabs later.

The same bird was probably seen by Barry a bit earlier yesterday evening, but it flew off a minute or so before I arrived and couldn't be found back in the immense gull roost (and then we got distracted by a white-headed 2nd winter Yellow-legged Gull).

Also at Amwell today: 1 drake Goosander, 3 (elusive) Red-crested Pochards on Hollycross; 1 adult Yellow-legged Gull in the morning; 1 1st winter (shortly) and 1 adult in the evening.

Jan Hein Steenis

SHORT-EARED OWL

There was a fantastic SHORT-EARED OWL around Cromerhyde Farm between 1.50pm and 2.00pm today.

Despite a heavy cold I ventured out for some tetrad birding and roving records, but was beginning to regret it due to the weather. However, during a short break in the rain the SE Owl flew over my head! The bird gained height and seemed to be trying to dry itself off before dropping down and landing out of view. It is possible the bird could be seen from the layby opposite the church in Lemsford.This is not all that far from Beech Farm and Hatfield Aerodrome, so birds may have returned there (Anthony Dorman)

There were also 17 LITTLE EGRETS at the Stocker's Lake roost this evening (JT)

Five RED-CRESTED POCHARDS at Tyttenhanger

Four drakes and a female RED-CRESTED POCHARD were on the main pit at Tyttenhanger today (per Steve Blake), whilst 13 Little Egrets pre-roosted on Stockers Lake (Anna Marett) and a probable adult CASPIAN GULL roosted on Amwell Lake (Barry Reed).

The long-staying GREATER SCAUP remains at Wilstone Reservoir.

There was no sign of the GREAT WHITE EGRET today but the adult male BLACK REDSTART and two COMMON STONECHATS were still at Sarratt Bottom Valley Farm (Darin Stanley)

BLACK REDSTART at Maple Cross

There was a BLACK REDSTART at Woodoaks Farm today, whilst the adult male was still present at Valley Farm, Sarratt Bottom, yesterday. Steve Carter obtained the excellent image above.

Drake GOOSANDER in Brocket Park

Whilst on a late afternoon walk through Brocket Park with my family I had a good local find in the form of a superb drake GOOSANDER. We had looked at the lake and seen very little of interest when I spotted the Goosander flying in from the north west shortly before dusk. The bird circled The Broadwater before landing to feed amongst the Coots in the fading light. Another good tetrad tick! (Anthony Dorman)

The Hertfordshire Year

A total of 193 species was recorded by 15th November 2009
(LGRE Total = 175 - those marked in blue)

Birds marked with an asterisk (*) are of unknown origin, most likely escapes from captivity

1) Great Crested Grebe
2) Little Grebe
3) BLACK-NECKED GREBE
4) LEACH’S PETREL
5) NORTHERN GANNET
6) Sinensis Cormorant
7) EUROPEAN SHAG
8) EURASIAN BITTERN
9) Little Egret
10) Grey Heron
11) WHITE STORK*
12) GLOSSY IBIS
13) Mute Swan
14) WHOOPER SWAN*
15) Greylag Goose
16) Canada Goose
17) Barnacle Goose
18) DARK-BELLIED BRENT GOOSE
19) Common Shelduck
20) RUDDY SHELDUCK*
21) Egyptian Goose
22) Mandarin Duck
23) Mallard
24) Gadwall
25) Pintail
26) Shoveler
27) Eurasian Wigeon
28) Common Teal
29) GARGANEY
30) Pochard
31) Red-crested Pochard
32) GREATER SCAUP
33) Tufted Duck
34) COMMON SCOTER
35) Common Goldeneye
36) SMEW
37) Goosander
38) RED-BREASTED MERGANSER
39) Ruddy Duck
40) OSPREY
41) Red Kite
42) MARSH HARRIER
43) HEN HARRIER
44) MONTAGU’S HARRIER
45) Common Buzzard
46) Sparrowhawk
47) Kestrel
48) Hobby
49) PEREGRINE
50) MERLIN
51) Red-legged Partridge
52) Grey Partridge
53) COMMON QUAIL
54) Common Pheasant
55) Water Rail
56) Moorhen
57) Coot
58) Oystercatcher
59) PIED AVOCET
60) Ringed Plover
61) Little Ringed Plover
62) GREY PLOVER
63) Lapwing
64) DOTTEREL
65) European Golden Plover
66) RED KNOT
67) SANDERLING
68) TURNSTONE
69) Dunlin
70) WOOD SANDPIPER
71) Common Sandpiper
72) Green Sandpiper
73) Common Redshank
74) SPOTTED REDSHANK
75) Common Greenshank
76) BLACK-TAILED GODWIT
77) BAR-TAILED GODWIT
78) EURASIAN CURLEW
79) WHIMBREL
80) Woodcock
81) Common Snipe
82) Jack Snipe
83) RUFF
84) GREAT SKUA
85) Black-headed Gull
86) Common Gull
87) MEDITERRANEAN GULL
88) Herring Gull
89) Yellow-legged Gull
90) CASPIAN GULL
91) Lesser Black-backed Gull
92) Great Black-backed Gull
93) LITTLE GULL
94) KITTIWAKE
95) GLAUCOUS GULL
96) ICELAND GULL
97) GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL* (still under review)
98) LITTLE TERN
99) SANDWICH TERN
100) Common Tern
101) ARCTIC TERN
102) BLACK TERN
103) Stock Dove
104) Woodpigeon
105) Collared Dove
106) EUROPEAN TURTLE DOVE
107) Common Cuckoo
108) Tawny Owl
109) SHORT-EARED OWL
110) LONG-EARED OWL
111) Barn Owl
112) Little Owl
113) Common Swift
114) Common Kingfisher
115) Ring-necked Parakeet
116) Green Woodpecker
117) Great Spotted Woodpecker
118) LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER
119) Skylark
120) WOODLARK
121) Sand Martin
122) Barn Swallow
123) House Martin
124) Meadow Pipit
125) SCANDINAVIAN ROCK PIPIT
126) WATER PIPIT*
127) Pied Wagtail
128) WHITE WAGTAIL
129) Yellow Wagtail
130) Grey Wagtail
131) Wren
132) BOHEMIAN WAXWING
133) Dunnock
134) Robin
135) Common Nightingale
136) Common Redstart
137) BLACK REDSTART
138) Northern Wheatear
139) Stonechat
140) WHINCHAT
141) Song Thrush
142) Redwing
143) Mistle Thrush
144) Fieldfare
145) Common Blackbird
146) RING OUZEL
147) Garden Warbler
148) Blackcap
149) Lesser Whitethroat
150) Common Whitethroat
151) Sedge Warbler
152) Cetti’s Warbler
153) Western Reed Warbler
154) MARSH WARBLER
155) Grasshopper Warbler
156) SAVI’S WARBLER
157) Willow Warbler
158) WOOD WARBLER
159) Common Chiffchaff
160) Goldcrest
161) FIRECREST
162) Spotted Flycatcher
163) PIED FLYCATCHER
164) Great Tit
165) Coal Tit
166) Blue Tit
167) Marsh Tit
168) Long-tailed Tit
169) Nuthatch
170) Common Treecreeper
171) NORTHERN GREY SHRIKE
172) Magpie
173) Jay
174) Jackdaw
175) Rook
176) Carrion Crow
177) COMMON RAVEN
178) Starling
179) House Sparrow
180) TREE SPARROW
181) Chaffinch
182) BRAMBLING
183) Linnet
184) LESSER REDPOLL
185) Goldfinch
186) Siskin
187) Greenfinch
188) Bullfinch
189) COMMON CROSSBILL
190) Reed Bunting
191) Yellowhammer
192) CORN BUNTING
193) ALPINE SWIFT

Ruddy Shelduck back on Willows Farm Pool

Good news for those avid watchers of Willows Farm Puddle. The recent rain has now filled it up again after a very long dry spell.Hopefully we may get some interesting species visiting again. The Ruddy Shelduck was on it again this morning to get the ball rolling, along with a few Common and Black-headed Gulls. But the rest of the site....DIRE!! (Steve Blake)

LESSER REDPOLLS in Hemel Hempstead

I went for an hours walk around Bunker's Park, Hemel Hempstead, Sunday afternoon to see if I could find Redpolls. This is my first winter in this area and I haven't seen them here before but thought the young mixed woodland scattered with larger birch may be a goods place to look.

Within 15 minutes I found a noisy charm of Goldfinches at the top of a tall tree so i stood in the cover of a birch across the path and searched through them with no luck. Then as I turned to pick up my rucksack a small bird zipped past me and landed about 4 meters away. Yes it was a LESSER REDPOLL and as i looked up, another 8 or 9 more, all in the tree I was stood in! They were very mobile but fairly approachable and only called when in flight. A Robin was also in full song. See images above (Dan Forder)

Dan.

OSPREY and BLACK REDSTART still present today in the Chess Valley

Visit my Amersham Birding blog for full details - both birds showing well today. Images above taken by Luke Massey.

RED-CRESTED POCHARD numbers building up once again

There are now at least 16 RED-CRESTED POCHARDS in the Stocker's Lake area, as well as 5+ Common Goldeneyes. Up to 8 EGYPTIAN GEESE have also been seen at this site recently.

COMMON REDSTART still in Letchworth Garden

The first-winter female COMMON REDSTART was seen again briefly at 14.50 today in Letchworth from 223 Glebe Road. (Mark Reynolds)

OSPREY shows even better today with a stunning adult male BLACK REDSTART for company; COMMON SCOTER visits Amwell NR

Images above: Luke Massey's taken this afternoon in the gloom

WEDNESDAY 11 NOVEMBER

Although continuing damp and dreary, temperatures recovered a little today with the onset of SSW winds. There were a few heavy rain showers too.

CHESS RIVER VALLEY

The juvenile OSPREY was around a lot today giving its best performances so far. I saw it on at least five occasions this morning, once from the house and then several times in the Latimer area. After hearing from Mike Collard, I decided to help him out and went out again late morning. As soon as I drove down North Hill at 1100 hours, I picked up the bird - it was sitting bold as brass on top of a fir tree just north of the Three Valleys Pumping Station compound at TQ 036 978 just SE of Sarrattmill Bridge. The views were absolutely 'crippling' - at 75 yards - and for the very first time I realised that the bird was ringed - a blue ring with white inscribed letters on its left leg and a metal BTO-type ring on its right leg. The bird continued to show well for eight minutes and then something took its eye.

It plunged at breathtaking speed almost vertically into the very shallow River Chess (perhaps no more than a foot or so deep) and then incredibly hit the water with a splash and then swam underwater using its wings to move forward. It grabbed a large fish (most likely a Brown Trout) with its talons, swam along another five feet or more, reached the surface and then took to the air, still clutching the fish. It was absolutely amazing to watch in the crystal-clear water. It then flew very low away to the east and disappeared out of view in some Evergreen trees behind the row of Black Poplars.

This set off a host of shreeking Ring-necked Parakeets and at 1118 hours, the OSPREY took to the air again, complete with fish, flew back towards me, over my head and back west down the Chess Valley. I phoned MC who was able to intercept it as it flew low NW over the valley a couple of minutes later.

It then continued further west past Mount Wood towards Chenies Bottom, where it presumably found a suitable perch and consumed its prize. I joined Mike and others in the search for it but was waylaid when Mike discovered a beautiful, bedazzling adult male BLACK REDSTART in the Valley Farm horse paddocks (more of that later).

Anyway at 1249 hours I relocated the OSPREY in Mount Wood; it flew from the west and alighted on one of its favourite roost perches opposite Sarratt Bottom village and behind the Cress Bed nursery at TQ 030 988. Once again it provided astounding views allowing Mike C and two local residents to enjoy it, as well as Luke Massey, Dave Bilcock and at least one other observer who arrived. It stood there preening and stretching for the best part of two hours, allowing Luke, Dave and Mike to take a large number of images.

I struggled in vain to accurately read the inscription on the blue ring but it was either ''Z15'' or ''E15''.

I spoke with the Fishing Bailiff on this section of the river and he had been aware of the bird's presence since last week. He told me that the Chess was well stocked with over 800 Trout, with a mixture of Brown and Rainbow. He also stated that the bird had been frequently visiting the Solsbridge Lane Fisheries and had taken a number of very prized Koi Carp. I explained to him that there was every possibility that the bird would overwinter now and could very well take a large number of fish over the period; I also informed him that the bird was ringed and that it was fully protected by law. He was more than happy to acknowledge its importance and very kindly pointed out that the Grey Herons and wintering Little Egrets also took their toll on the fish.

Anyway back to that other mega - the BLACK REDSTART. Mike Collard had briefly espied the bird as it flicked along the paddock fencing at 1220 hours. It then vanished but was relocated on the roof of the main Valley Farm adjacent at TQ 027 992 and continued to show there, mainly on the flat roof of the long barn alongside, intermittently over the next couple of hours. It was an absolutely stunning adult male and was the first record in the immediate Amersham Recording Area in a very long time indeed. Valley Farm is in Hertfordshire.

The notepad-fillers -:

Mute Swan (2 adults by the Sarrattmill Bridge)
WOODPIGEONS (an extraodinary flock of at least 850 birds in Limeshill Wood)
LITTLE OWL (2 calling from dead trees around Valley Farm)
RING-NECKED PARAKEETS (up to 18 in Poplars east of Sarrattmill Bridge)
FIELDFARE (flocks of 8 and 57 flew NW)
Redwing (2)
Mistle Thrush (2)
Jay (5)
BULLFINCH (4 in the Sarratt Bottom area)
SISKIN (singles heard in two locations)
LESSER REDPOLL (three separate singles noted)

AMWELL NR (HERTFORDSHIRE)

I spent the late afternoon at Amwell Reserve where a COMMON SCOTER was showing well.

Great Crested Grebe (12 including at least 2 first-winters)
Little Grebe (3 on Hollycross Lake)
Continental Cormorant (44)
*EURASIAN BITTERN (a bird present for at least its 12th day was seen several times early morning by others in the reeds surrounding the pool visible from the Water Vole watchpoint)
LITTLE EGRET (a total of SEVEN birds came in to roost - the first at 1610, followed by two at 1616, two more at 1630 and further singles at 1632 and 1635; all roosted on the smaller island viewable straight out from the main watchpoint)
Grey Heron (4)
Mute Swan (14 including 7 first-winters)
Atlantic Canada Geese (46)
Gadwall (214 including 118 on Hollycross and 96 on the main reserve)
Shoveler (24 including 10 on Hollycross)
Eurasian Wigeon (67)
Common Teal (27)
Northern Pochard (17 including 8 on Hollycross)
RED-CRESTED POCHARD (3 showing very well on Hollycross Lake including an adult female and two immatures)
Tufted Duck (43)
**COMMON SCOTER (a female-type was showing very well on the main lake consorting with Tufted Ducks; most likely a juvenile but did not see any white on the belly but obvious black cap, fairly indistinct and somewhat dappled paler cheek patch, predominantly dark brown plumage and all grey bill without cob; present until dusk and easily viewable from watchpoint)
COMMON GOLDENEYE (1 female by main island)
Eurasian Sparrowhawk (male with kill by White Hide)
Coot (236 in total)
Lapwing (217)
DUNLIN (1 present with Lapwing in the morning flew off at around 1100 hours - per Bill Last)
Common Snipe (8+)
Black-headed Gull (1,134 roosting after 1530 hours, many of which flew south after washing)
Common Gull (158, at least 46 of which were first-winters)
Herring Gull (173 of which the vast majority were Scandinavian Argentatus)
YELLOW-LEGGED GULL (3 adults roosted)
Lesser Black-backed Gull (418+ with many still arriving in the dark)
Great Black-backed Gull (15 adults)

COMMON KINGFISHER (1 on stream behind White Hide)
Great Spotted Woodpecker (1)
Grey Wagtail (2)
COMMON STONECHAT (female present since 8 November showing well in weeds close to main Observation Watchpoint)
CETTI'S WARBLER (3+ including 1 by the Bittern Hide and two by the main watchpoint)
Common Starling (a total of just 63 birds roosted in the reedbed)

OSPREY

The juvenile OSPREY still remains in the Chess River Valley, commuting between Chorleywood and Chesham. Early afternoon it was roosting again in Mount Wood, but then flew east (Lee Evans)

FIRECREST trapped at Hilfield

This gorgeous FIRECREST was trapped and ringed at Hilfield Park Reservoir on Saturday 8 November (Tony Blake)

NORTHERN GANNET at Stocker's Lake on 6 October 2009

Paul Bayliss photographed this 2nd/3rd winter NORTHERN GANNET at Stocker's Lake, Rickmansworth, on 6 October - coinciding with a small influx of the species inland

FIRECREST in St Albans

Highfield Park, St Albans is a recreational facility formed from the grounds of the former Hill End hospital which closed in 1995. Some of the land was used for housing and at that time the Highfield Park trust was created to manage the open areas. This consists of football pitches in a parkland setting with some new planting which have formed some good scrubby areas. There are also allotments and good hedgerows in the area.

I went there yesterday which was a rather birdless experience possibly due to the disturbance from the football games and the many dog walkers around; it was much less busy this morning the 9th.

I encountered the FIRECREST in a Giant Sequoia at TL178066 with a Goldcrest, at the time the whole area was alive with other birds, Great Tits, Blue Tits, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Goldfinch etc. I lost sight of the bird very quickly but it is probably still in the area in a mixed tit flock.

I was carrying out an atlas roving survey at the time, this shows the value of going somewhere different. Perhaps this experience might encourage others to take on a tetrad, there are still a good number that are not allocated (Alan Gardiner)

Very late COMMON REDSTART

This very late first-winter female COMMON REDSTART was present in a Letchworth garden on 8 October (per Alan & Mark Reynolds)