Saturday, 19 November 2016

Today's Roundup

1-2 WATER PIPITS are present at RYE MEADS RSPB at the moment, commuting between the scrapes at Gadwall and Draper Hides, while to the north, AMWELL GP continues to produce, with up to 5 different CASPIAN GULLS roosting (Barry Reed et al) and a returning adult female SMEW on Tumbling Bay Lake. The juvenile HEN HARRIER remains at Hay Street as does the resident DIPPER just NW of Royston (present since 21st April)






















Tuesday, 8 November 2016

A bumper November

Hertfordshire is enjoying a bit of a purple patch at the moment. In addition to the drake FERRUGINOUS & RING-NECKED DUCKS at Tring and 1-2 ringtail HEN HARRIERS at Hay Street, near Braughing, Amwell Reserve has had a GREY PHALAROPE briefly on Sunday (6th) and a LITTLE AUK briefly on 7th (Barry Reed et al) while a heard of 8 adult WHOOPER SWANS roosted overnight at Stocker's Lake, Rickmansworth on 7th-8th (Paul Lewis et al). Add to that a WATER PIPIT at Rye Meads RSPB and not a bad haul at all!!

Friday, 4 November 2016

CASPIAN GULL present again this morning









This first-winter CASPIAN GULL has been visiting TYTTENHANGER MAIN PIT's gull roost very erratically since the third week of October but only today have I finally caught up with it, thanks to local birder Steve Blake. The bird was present for just over an hour (1040-1145) before it flew off Northeast. It is a very distinctive individual, with long legs and striking white head and neck, as well as a well-advanced area of grey scapulars and wing-coverts. A nice bird.

This juvenile female PEREGRINE has also been lingering at the pit for about a week, causing mayhem whenever she decides to hunt...






Tuesday, 1 November 2016

Tyttenhanger CASPIAN GULL

This first-winter CASPIAN GULL has been present at Tyttenhanger GP for about a week now, visiting the sandbar intermittently.....images by kind courtesy of Steve Blake










Recent Sightings

RECENT SIGHTINGS
 
At TRING RESERVOIRS, a drake RING-NECKED DUCK, drake FERRUGINOUS DUCK, drake GREATER SCAUP and up to 7 RED-CRESTED POCHARDS have been recorded in the past week, full details and updates to be found on my Tring Reservoirs blog site.
 

Elsewhere, a GREAT GREY SHRIKE was seen near Stevenage, a GREAT WHITE EGRET spent the day at STOCKER'S LAKE on Wednesday 26th October, while just across the border, a DIPPER has been present on a small tributary since April. Two BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS were found in Burghley Avenue, Bishop's Park, Bishop's Stortford, on Sunday, this single first-winter remaining until at least today and showing well....