Monday, 11 January 2010
.....and first COMMON SHELDUCK
Amwell this lunchtime: 5 Smew (1 male /4 redheads) 1 Common Shelduck. 2 BITTERNS, 2 Red-crested Pochards and Green Sandpiper (Mike Ilett/David Booth)
First RUFF for the year
A male RUFF was present with Common Snipe at King's Meads, Hertford, today (per Alan Reynolds) - the first to be recorded in Hertfordshire this year
Sunday, 10 January 2010
SMEW at Stockers
SUNDAY 10 JANUARY
Much lying snow still around, with many side roads still in an atrocious condition and quite challenging. The threat of heavy snow never materialised and in fact temperatures climbed to 2 degrees for much of the day, heralding a slight thaw. The easterly wind moderated during the day.
It was a tour of many local water bodies today, with the highlight being a total of 60 RED-CRESTED POCHARDS seen.
THE STOCKER'S LAKE COMPLEX (HERTS)
Really, just two patches of ice-free water, with one on Bury Lake and another on Stockers Lake out from the Kingfisher Hide. Bury Lake surprisingly held all of the 'goodies' including 3 beautiful SMEW (2 adult drakes and an adult female) and a flock of 14 RED-CRESTED POCHARDS (7 pairs).
Bury Lake also held 3 Great Crested Grebe, 36 Mute Swans (4 first-winters), 35 Gadwall, 46 Tufted Duck, 42 Northern Pochard and 6 Common Goldeneye.
Stockers Lake held 4 Great Crested Grebes, 17 Mute Swans, 8 Eurasian Wigeon, 132 Northern Shoveler, 190 Tufted Duck, 18 Pochard and a single RUDDY DUCK - the latter my first of the year (114). Coot numbers totalled 403.
A COMMON KINGFISHER was fishing in the river, with 15 House Sparrows in and around Stockers Farm, with the wooded areas supporting 2 Ring-necked Parakeets, Jay, Common Kestrel, Common Blackbird, Song Thrush, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Long-tailed Tit.
A flock of about 30 SISKINS in the Alders at the beginning of the causeway eluded me.
Much lying snow still around, with many side roads still in an atrocious condition and quite challenging. The threat of heavy snow never materialised and in fact temperatures climbed to 2 degrees for much of the day, heralding a slight thaw. The easterly wind moderated during the day.
It was a tour of many local water bodies today, with the highlight being a total of 60 RED-CRESTED POCHARDS seen.
THE STOCKER'S LAKE COMPLEX (HERTS)
Really, just two patches of ice-free water, with one on Bury Lake and another on Stockers Lake out from the Kingfisher Hide. Bury Lake surprisingly held all of the 'goodies' including 3 beautiful SMEW (2 adult drakes and an adult female) and a flock of 14 RED-CRESTED POCHARDS (7 pairs).
Bury Lake also held 3 Great Crested Grebe, 36 Mute Swans (4 first-winters), 35 Gadwall, 46 Tufted Duck, 42 Northern Pochard and 6 Common Goldeneye.
Stockers Lake held 4 Great Crested Grebes, 17 Mute Swans, 8 Eurasian Wigeon, 132 Northern Shoveler, 190 Tufted Duck, 18 Pochard and a single RUDDY DUCK - the latter my first of the year (114). Coot numbers totalled 403.
A COMMON KINGFISHER was fishing in the river, with 15 House Sparrows in and around Stockers Farm, with the wooded areas supporting 2 Ring-necked Parakeets, Jay, Common Kestrel, Common Blackbird, Song Thrush, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Long-tailed Tit.
A flock of about 30 SISKINS in the Alders at the beginning of the causeway eluded me.
Amwell in the snow
A visit to Amwell this morning produced two BITTERNS standing on the ice by the reed bed left of the White Hide viewed from the watchpoint. They stood motionless either side of one of the bays and looked like book-ends. They then walked, one about 3 foot behind the other, along the side of the reed bed and disappeared into the next bay. Also 4 Smew, 1 male and 3 females, on Great Hardmead Lake, 2 female Red-crested Pochard on Hollycross Lake, and 40 Siskin and 4 Lesser Redpoll in the Alders by the railway (Alan Reynolds)
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Deep Freeze movements - BEWICK'S SWANS highlight
A party of 7 BEWICK'S SWANS flew north over Garston, Watford, at 1100 hours (Brendan Glynne) and were then relocated less than an hour later at Wilstone Reservoir, Tring, when they flew NE. They then followed the line of the Grand Union Canal near Cheddington and finally landed on a small ice-free area at Grovebury Quarry, where they remained until at least 1615 hours.
Elsewhere, 4 SMEW were at Amwell NR (from viewpoint; just 1 drake), with another at Stocker's Lake, with JACK SNIPE including 4-5 at East Hyde and 2 at Lemsford Springs.
Elsewhere, 4 SMEW were at Amwell NR (from viewpoint; just 1 drake), with another at Stocker's Lake, with JACK SNIPE including 4-5 at East Hyde and 2 at Lemsford Springs.
........And more JACK SNIPES
The following birds were seen this morning from the main hide at LEMSFORD SPRINGS;
2 JACK SNIPE -showing extremely well for over an hour and present for at least their second day
7 Common Snipe
1 Water Rail
1 Little Egret
2 Grey Wagtail
Darrel Bryant
2 JACK SNIPE -showing extremely well for over an hour and present for at least their second day
7 Common Snipe
1 Water Rail
1 Little Egret
2 Grey Wagtail
Darrel Bryant
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