Monday 17 May 2010

Dawn chorus walk 16.05.10














































9 of us met at the village hall at 5.00am, a bright but frosty morning . A route round to the school, around Hadham Hall to Hadham Lodge, under the A120 to Cradle End for coffee (most welcome) and then via Green Street and Millfield Lane back to The Ford.
In all 39 species were observed and/or heard. Good birds included several whitethroats, lesser whitethroats, 2 sparrowhawks, 2 sand martins at the church, 1 garden warbler and numerous blackcaps.
The coots still have the 6 young at Hadham Hall, shown here, but the hoped for 100th bird species eluded us. No butterflies at this time of the morning, but a super wander with good company. Next walk will be an lunchtime stroll for birds and butterflies over to Standon for tea and cakes at the superb tearooms as well as the opportunity for a pint at The Star. Further details soon.
Photos show a couple of sunrise views, a greenfinch, 2 yellowhammers, a blue tit, a trotting fox at Millfield Lane, a field full of dandelion heads at Green Street and the young coot. Compare to the photo taken on 28th April. To find this just scroll down or use the archive feature at the bottom of the page.









Wednesday 12 May 2010

Swift arrival 11.05.10

2 swift over the back garden this evening (6.30pm) were the first sightings within the parish this year. Too high for a worthwhile photograph

River Stort: 10.05.10















As a precursor to giving a talk to the local RSPB group on the Natural History of the River Stort, I spent a few hours along the river updating photos of the views, with a few bird efforts as well.
A super 2 hours with 36 species recorded. A hobby over Wallbury was a highlight along with my first local swift, a high sparrowhawk and 2 soaring buzzards.
Warblers were in good numbers with chiffchaff, willow warbler, white throat, sedge warbler and reed warbler all present but the highlight being a cetti's warbler; my first for this patch.
Photos included today show several river views, a grey heron, long tailed tit (looking worn out from clearly feeding young) a female whitethroat, a greenfinch and a large carp.

Amwell visit 5.10.10




A quick trip to Amwell in rainy conditions didn't give any sightings of planned for dragonflies, but good views of great crested grebe, lapwing, sand martin, swallow and house martins were had, along with my first common terns of the year.
Photos show a great crested grebe and lapwing, both taken from the White Hide

North of the A120/Albury 1st May


I wandered out at 10.30 to cover an area from Chapel Lane to Albury End as part of the BTO breeding bird survey. In all, this venture involves walking for 1 hour recording all singing and territorial birds, before returning for 1 hour and re recording all that is about.
The outward hour realised 29 species, with 1 swallow, 4 skylarks, 2 grey partridge, 3 blackcaps, 1 whitethroat, 1 chiffchaff (only!) and 1 common buzzard of note. 6 tufted ducks (3 pairs) remain on the lake at Albury End along with 1 visible little grebe and a pair of coot.
Returning, obviously the lake residents were recorded again with much the same being seen. 28 species for the return, giving a total species count of 35 in all. New birds on the 2nd leg included a moorhen, dunnock and 2 goldfinches.
Photo depicts a yellowhammer.
The main butterfly species were orange tips, counted in excess of 25 with a few peacocks and 1 small tortioseshell also observed. There seems to be plenty of Jack by the hedge around: a larval food plant for the orange tip, hence, I suspect, the high count.

This is me

This is me
At the end of another Norfolk Coastal footpath walk. 47 miles, 3 days 99 species of bird. September 2009

Caley Wood view

Caley Wood view
sunshine through the canopy 29.05.08

A walk along the Warta Valley, Poznan, Poland. Feb 2007

A walk along the Warta Valley, Poznan, Poland. Feb 2007
Best birds on this walk: black and middle spotted woodpecker and short toed treecreeper

About Me

My photo
A primary school teacher for 30 years, I retired from teaching in July 2009 to set up my own science enhancement and communication company. The Primary Works offers science clubs, workshops and staged science shows nationwide. I have always been interested in bird watching since my early years. Apparently my first tick was after inquiring about a chaffinch and then receiving the Observer book of birds. By the age of 9 I had moved on to Tory Peterson's collins guide and was now involved on YOC birding holidays to Northumbria, Essex coast, Slimbridge and Yorkshire. My twitching rule is that I will willingly travel 1km for each gram the bird weighs. However, I have had many rarities just by being in the right place. I have travelled widely throughout Europe and also visited Australia and Sri Lanka. In 2016 I spent time at Portland Bird Obs and two trips to Aviero, Portugal. 2017 found me back in Sri Lanka in Feb/March, then July and back for New Year's Eve celebrations in December. Also returned to The Camargue in May for a 4 day trip. Few plans for 2018, but nothing yet booked apart from a trip to the IOW.

Grey heron

Grey heron
Over the allotment 28.09.08

Southern Hawker

Southern Hawker
Ridge footpath 27.08.08

Juvenile green woodpecker (17.08.08)

Juvenile green woodpecker (17.08.08)
Note the stripes, denoting a bird fledged this year.

common blue

common blue
Ash Valley G.C. 15.08.08

Indian balsam (impatiens glandulifera)

Indian balsam (impatiens glandulifera)
River Ash

azure damselfly

azure damselfly
River Ash 28.07.08

marbled white

marbled white
Discovered at Westland Green 22.07.08

ruddy darter

ruddy darter
Bush Wood 21.07.08

honeysuckle 19.07.08

honeysuckle 19.07.08
growing in hedgerow in Chapel Lane

cinnabar moth caterpillar

cinnabar moth caterpillar
Photographed on ragwort 19.07.08

Bittersweet

Bittersweet
Study of petals 11.06.08

male yellowhammer

male yellowhammer
08.06.08

common blue butterfly

common blue butterfly
06.06.08

River Ash

River Ash
looking south from the bridge at Hadham Ford

Common poppy (papaver rhoeas)

Common poppy (papaver rhoeas)
in rape field 29.05.08

Caley Wood sunshine

Caley Wood sunshine
29.05.08

Millenium Wood fox

Millenium Wood fox
24.05.08

common comfrey (symphytum officinale)

common comfrey (symphytum officinale)
06.05.08 banks of the River Ash

Garlic Mustard or Jack by the Hedge,(Alliara petiolata)

Garlic Mustard or Jack by the Hedge,(Alliara petiolata)
flowers, leaves and fruit edible . Good in salad and pesto

April showers

April showers
Double rainbow 30.04.08

Caley Wood bluebells

Caley Wood bluebells
22.04.08

Yellow Archangel

Yellow Archangel
Chapel Lane (20.04.08)

sunlight 16.04.08

sunlight 16.04.08
looking south west from Bush Wood

snowy buds

snowy buds
06.04.08 in Bush Wood

Looking north west

Looking north west
05.04.08 evening shower approaching

Back Garden

Back Garden
Easter Sunday (23.03.08)

Brick Kiln Hill

Brick Kiln Hill
Looking east (23.03.08)

No play today

No play today
The 2nd hole at Ash Valley golf course

Teasel head

Teasel head
Bush Wood (21.03.08)

Reflections

Reflections
daffodils at Bush Wood pond (21.03.08)

Swollen River Ash

Swollen River Ash
The river at the bottom of Winding Hill 16.03.08

Daybreak over the chapel

Daybreak over the chapel
Thursday 13th March

Wild daffodils (narcissus pseudonarcissus)

Wild daffodils (narcissus pseudonarcissus)
growing in Bush Wood

January snowdrops

January snowdrops
Banks of River Ash, north of Much Hadham

Good Moon

Good Moon
From garden 24.01.08

Village Green

Village Green
Looking east towards Acremore Street

Looking south before Hadham Ford

Looking south before Hadham Ford
rare January blue sky

Useful sites

The following are some useful websites that may interest readers of this blog.
Firstly, Bishop's Stortford Natural History Society http://bsnhs.webplus.net/

Fellow birder, Gary Whelan's blog. Gives reports from our trips out together plus reports from his trips abroad. http://hairybirders.blogspot.co.uk
http://www.hertsbirdclub.org.uk/ The official herts bird club website. Frequently updated, listing bird sightings around the county. Offers links to many other websites. Both of these sites also offer links to yahoo discussion groups.
http://www.birdforum.net/ An international site. You can enter as a guest but become a member( free) to post comments, bird sightings and just about anything to do with wild birds. Good news updates, classified section for binoculars, cameras etc.
http://www.guidedbirdwatching.com/ A new site set up where you can contact people worldwide who will help you find good birds in their country. UK section being set up presently.
http://www.britainsbirder.co.uk/
Fellow birders blog. Strtford resident, Graeme Smith regulary birds the area south of Stortford as well as around Spellbrook and the River Stort from Spellbrook to Twyford Locks. Some superb bird photography: Graeme uses a digital camera attached to his powerful telescope to get detailled images of the birds he sees. Well worth a browse.
Two local sites that may be of interest can be found at
http://www.thehadhams.com/ www.thepelhams.net/content/section/12/139/

South Easterly walk

South Easterly walk
black, normal, red extended walk

South Westerly route.

South Westerly route.
Black usual, red extended

North Easterly walk

North Easterly walk
black short, walk. Red, extended

North West Patch

North West Patch
black route regular. Red route the extended wander