A Weekend of Surprises

I had a pretty productive weekend, without actually travelling all that far.
Colin wasn't available on Saturday, so I paid a visit to Rye Meads, as I hadn't been there since late last year. I was hoping to get one or two migrants, as well as a year tick or two-though one wasn't what i had expected.
I arrived at the visitor centre to be told that there was a Mediterranean Gull on the north lagoon from Gadwall Hide. They aren't all that regular in the valley, and I certainly had never seen one at Rye so I headed straight there. While there were a lot of Black headed Gulls present, and a lone Common Gull I couldn't find it. Eventually I came across the expected Green Sandpiper, and there were also several pairs of Lapwing and Teal, plus a lot of Shoveller. I had a quick look at the other lagoon, but there wasn't anything unusual so I returned to Gadwall. A large flock of unidentified finches flew past at close range (and out of focus) and while trying to relocate them, some 20 Fieldfare flew through. Shortly after this all the gulls went up, including the 1W Med Gull which had been out of view behind one of the reed beds and flew off to the south. Apparently it was ringed but I barely had time to  pick it up in the bins before I lost it and despite checking all the lagoons over the following hour or so never relocated it.
I carried up on to the Meads, and then returned to the Kingfisher hide where one was perched up on one of the posts before entering the nest hole. I found three Chiffchaffs, but the cool northerly breeze seemed to have put a stop to any migrants, though some Sand Martins were at Amwell. While in the Kingfisher hide, two Muntjac walked through and a Kite flew through putting everything up from the north Lagoon, including a huge flock of Shoveller estimated at over 80 birds.
Back in the car park I snapped the Kestrel in the nest box, but failed to note the vole it had just been given by it's partner.

Sunday was a very nice spring day. In another first for the year I went for a walk around Aston End and along the Beane, taking my sister Jane.
We had a nice time, with lots of Chiffchaff, Skylarks, a couple of Meadow Pipits and my first singing Blackcap of the year in the pumping station by the ford. Lots of Buzzards and Kites were taking advantage of the warm sunshine with birds soaring high overhead.
We also had butterflies. Unlike most, I had only seen one earlier in the warm spell we had- a Tortoiseshell in the garden briefly. We found another on the walk, plus a Comma, three Brimstone and a Speckled Wood.

On the way home, a Tom Spellar tweeted that he had found a Firecrest in Fairlands Valley, in the wood by the main car park. I had an early lunch, and got there at 1330 to find it still present and singing almost continuously. Most of the time it was in the treetops, and very active but on a couple of occasions was low down and giving excellent views.
On the way back, i cut through Ashtree Wood, finding a Treecreeper and a pair of Brambling both of which were nice bonuses.
To cap it all, not long after i got home, a very early male Orange Tip appeared in the garden.

Amwell

It's been nearly a month since my last post. The viral infection I acquired in early February has proved to be very hard to shake off and seems to flare up on a regular basis. I had assumed from the doctors diagnosis that what I assumed was a flu like infection would eventually go, and while things have been pretty good of late I still get a few bad days. One of the guys at work has been diagnosed with walking pneumonia which more or less fits what Ive had and if that's the case it could be months before it finally goes. Mind you I get all sorts  of problems like this throughout  the year, maybe its best to blame the company and the working environment. The really annoying thing is that there have been some weekends where I have been feeling pretty good, but the weather has been appalling with gale force winds, heavy rain etc and it just hasn't been worth going out at all.
This morning it was lovely and sunny, the gales of the previous days had finally gone, and I felt up for a few hours out, so I went to Amwell. Being a Sunday, the usual gathering was present and I had a long chat discussing my medical problems with John Bartlett  as we walked up to the viewpoint. Unfortunately we had missed the Sand Martins and the Swallow (probably the earliest ever for the site) and passage birds had pretty much dried up by 9am. The Oystercatcher pair were back on the island-these were the only waders present, even the resident Lapwings seemed to be missing. As expected with the sunny conditions and the northerly breeze, there were plenty of raptors up with at least four Kites, eight Buzzards and a pair of Sparrowhawks. Lots of Jackdaws and Carrion crows over the woods, but no sign of the Ravens today.
After everyone went off for the Sunday walkabout I went down to the south end with Dave Booth as Graham White had mentioned that the red-head Smew was still around, but unfortunately we couldnt find it, presumably it was hiding behind the island. In fact, apart from one Goldeneye and about seven   Teal, there weren't many winter duck remaining. Signs of spring included several nice patches of Coltsfoot, shoots of Dog Mercury and less welcome perhaps well over a 100 Black Headed Gulls (and only two rafts for them to nest on this year).
When I returned, I carried on to Hollycross, picking up three singing Chiffchaff, one Muntjac and one Stoat, and on my return through the picnic area a few lingering Siskin were still around. I assume that the Redpolls had already gone. By now, the sun had gone and there had been a few hail showers, so I decided to call it a day.

Brecks and Washes

It's been a bit of a rollercoaster week or so. I've had a viral infection-so the doctor thinks, for over a week now. Not a lot of fun with what amounts to on-off not quite flu, feeling cold, achy limbs, difficulty walking and even standing at times, plus the expected chest and respiratory issues. Strange thing is that some days are a lot better than others, and I was able to get out over the weekend.
I paid a brief visit to Amwell on Saturday which didn't really get many birds, though it was good to have a chat with William, Bill and Phil. Unfortunately being cloudy, the Bittern didn't show (again), and the regular Goosander and Smew weren't around while I was there-and it seems the recent Jack Snipe had disappeared. About the only noteworthy sight was that the flock of Redpolls are still around.
On Sunday, Colin and I decided to visit he brecks, as this wouldn't involve anything strenuous, and a lot of the birding was based on getting out of the car, having a look round and then getting back in again.
Lynford Arboretum invoked the only significant exercise and this was only a stroll down from the car pa to the paddocks and back again. The feeding station near the cottages was very productive with a big flock of Brambling, some Chaffinches, Tits, Blackbirds and a Nuthatch or two.

The walk down to the paddocks was accompanied by a lot of bird song with thrushes, tits and crests, plus vocal flocks of Redpoll and Siskins in the births and alders. The Hawfinches in the paddocks were rather elusive, spending a lot of time on the ground with occasional flights into the trees. We concluded that there were 12 birds though with Chaffinches also present it was rather hard to be absolutely certain. At one point there was what sounded like a gunshot and the Hawfinches flew towards the lake, so I walked down the path and found at least 8 birds overhead though they were hard to see. I managed to get one of them in the camera.

On the way back to the car we spent a bit of time searching without success for Firecrests, we had been told that numbers were a lot lower than in the past. A couple of flyover Crossbills were a bonus.
We left Lynford and drove up Foulden road stopping off the scan Colveston Wood. There were several Buzzards, a Kite, a Kestrel and a very brief view of a female Goshawk. Skylarks were singing in the fields to the south and a Woodlark was singing in the field to the north. We carried on to the usual spot looking north towards Cockley Cley and joined the small crowd. More Skylarks singing, around 10 Buzzards and a rather nice displaying male Goshawk were seen, though we only stopped there for about ten minutes.
We then drove over to Welney, stopping off at several points west of Ten Mile Bank to scan the swan herds. There were a lot of swans scattered all over and my count of 380 Whooper and 30 Bewicks was very conservative. Marsh Harriers and Chinese Water Deer were also seen. We didn't stop at Welney for long, only to pick up a new seed feeder to replace one damaged in storms last year but we did spend some time admiring the Tree Sparrows.

The journey back was pretty rough as I had become very tired and my legs seemed to have stopped working but we did call in at Deadman's Hill. I found 15 Yellowhammer and 22 Sotck Doves but missed the Partridges and the Corn Bunting that flew out from the hedge.

Caspian Gull Stevenage

In April 2017, Tom Spellar found a Caspian Gull on the main lake in Fairlands Valley, which I duly went down to see and photograph. It had been ringed in Germany (X307) the previous year and had been seen earlier in the year around the Thames and at Amwell.
It was seen again last year briefly and turned up again as a rather smart third winter bird on Sunday. Unfortunately thanks to several glasses over dinner I wasn't in a condition to visit. It was seen yesterday for much of the day before turning up in the Amwell evening gull roost so I was hopeful it would reappear again today and was happy to receive some reports late morning.
I left work a bit earlier than usual and arrived at 3.15 pm. A quick scan of the main lake revealed three Herring Gulls and the Caspian sitting on its favourite buoy. Two Great Crested Grebes, two Cormorants and a few Common Gulls were among the large number of Black headed Gulls and Canada Geese. The Caspian flew of at 3.30 heading towards the Town Centre so walked around the lake bumping into a hopeful birder and gave her the bad news. However the Caspian reappeared briefly from the north, drifted over the houses to the east and then continued south, presumably heading towards the Lee Valley.
I carried on round the and quickly checked the adjacent lake without finding anything of note, but not being dressed for the rather bitter cold wind had no intention of lingering longer than necessary. Assuming it sticks around I am hoping to get a few photos of it-I had intended to bring the camera with me today but completely forgot to pack it this morning.

Cattle Egret

Had some time off today, and after doing the shopping I popped down to Chesunt, hoping that being a weekday, the Cattle Egrets would be back on Penton Field.
There was no-one in the park when I got there at 1015, and having quickly scanned through the Black Headed and Common Gulls one Cattle Egret was found at the southern end feeding on worms. It wasn't all that approachable, but keeping my distance I managed to get a few decent shots. My 9th for Herts and the first since the (then) record flock of 8 at Stockers Lake in 1992.

Waxwings

I had a couple of rough days this week, so didn't feel like going out this weekend. However, this morning I was able to spend a couple of hours locally.
I woke to a rather hard frost, possibly the worst of the winter as my very tender fuchsia fulgent has finally lost its foliage and flowers. There was even frost on the mini greenhouse. However in the sunshine it didn't feel too bad as I headed down the A10, where the car recorded -4 degrees at one point.
I spent around 40 minutes lurking in a tiny park in Cheshunt hoping the two Cattle Egrets would appear, but it turned out they had departed about an hour before I arrived. It didn't seem like ideal habitat for them but they have been in the area for two weeks now. Three Beds birders arrived but didn't stay long as I had a message from Alan Meadows that the Waxwings were back in Wicke's car par in Hertford, so I followed them.
When I arrived I found many local birders staring up at one tree in a rather busy car park, along with many bemused shoppers. The birds showed really well while I was there but were difficult to photograph at times as most were obscured by twigs and branches, and the very bright sunshine played havoc with contrast and shadows. However here's the best I got.

Yellow Browed at Tyttenhanger

Hertfordshire's 15th or so Yellow Browed Warbler was found on Friday. Two Cattle Egrets were also found that day at Cheshunt though apparently present since last weekend. As I'd seen eight Cattle Egrets in the County (though back in the early 90's, and at the time the Uk's biggest ever flock) I decided to try for my second county Yellow Browed.
As I was getting  my gear out, William arrived with Jane Free. As it was her first visit to the site we painted out the various hot spots as we walked over to the bridge over the conveyer belt where one or two locals were already present. Unfortunately though they had been there for several hours there had been no sign of the bird. Interestingly, despite assertions that the bird was on its own. the Yellow Browed appeared shortly after a flock of crests arrived. it wasn't easy to see-the fence panel on the bridge restricting the view. However we did get better views on the one occasion it reached the top of a small willow. One of the regular wintering Chiffchaffs also put in an appearance at the same time, then they disappeared. I stuck around for a while but they didn't appear again until noon, long after I had got home. Unfortunately the light was really poor and I never did get any images though many others have obtained good shots, and even video clips.
So after a very productive weekend I am a good 30+ species up on my usual total for recent Januarys and I still have a couple of weekends to go.