September Highlights

 September continued pretty much as before in that I rarely strayed out of the local area. This low carbon birding has saved a fortune in petrol over the course of the year, though I must admit much of it has been spent on other things like the garden.

Most of my weekend walks have been either to Fairlands Valley, or the Beane Valley around Aston End, and over the course of the month almost hit 60 species-there were several regulars that I missed and I reckon 70-75 could have been possible. 

Early in the month I found my own Whinchat in one of the fields south of Walkern, my first along the Beane since the early 90's. There seems to have been larger numbers than usual reported this year in Hertfordshire from late August onwards so I was hoping to find one. No doubt, with only a few hours per month I have missed a few over the years. 

Also in the same spot, a pair of Bullfinch seem to have settled for the winter, and there were good numbers of warblers in the area-mainly Chiffchaff and Blackcap, though numbers diminished as the month progressed. A Little Egret on the stable reservoir was also notable.

Fairlands was pretty good with a variety of ducks visiting-two Teal, two Shoveler, two Egyptian Geese and a Tufted Duck, though I missed a Pochard. More unusual were two Little Grebes, one was very hard to find but the other showed well. Even better was a real rarity-the first Valley Snipe since the late 70's spent a few days on the balancing pond late in the month.

On the 11th I paid a visit to Norton Green and Langley. Two Pied Flycatchers had been seen at Potters Spring previously so I was hoping to get another two for the local area this year. Unfortunately they had gone, but a Spotted Flycatcher. showed well nearby-rather fortunate as I hadn't seen one up til now this year. It has been a long time since it was a common breeder round here.

At the end of the month I popped over to Wallington where a Marsh Harrier had been present for a while. The crops here, borage and quinoa seem to be very attractive to finches as there were several hundred birds milling around, along with around 400 Starlings and a flock of around 50 Meadow Pipits. These were being hunted by a Sparrowhawk, and there were many other raptors around-Buzzards Kites and Kestrel are always present and I was pleased to watch a Peregrine hunting over one of the nearby woods. I didn't see the Harrier and I didn't see any migrant chats, Wheatear or Wagtails either.