Westward walk

Wonderful walk west and north west of the village this morning. 3 buzzards overhead, a singing linnet plus a supporting cast of finches, tits, chiffchaff and garden warbler. Fox across a field near the A120. Photos of linnet, 7 spot ladybird and flowering white dead nettle (Lamium alba.) Spent time talking to my good friend Mark in Sydney as I wandered. All very relaxing

Brief Hadham Hall wander

A pleasant short evening walk around the Hall. Primroses and cowslips were superb around one of the ponds as finches called. The surprise, however, was coming across 14 tufted duck on the lagoon, that were soon joined by a pair of canada geese. Only 3rd parish record for the tufties, made up of 8 drakes, 6 ducks. A pair of reed bunting, yellowhammers and a great spotted and green woodpecker were also observed. Photos of the birds and plants and a good sunset over the lagoon. A good sequence of the geese coming in to land.

Moths 05.04.12

Only 3 moths today, with the most interesting being an unusually marked hebrew character. (Top photo.) Underneath a normal hebrew character and finally, a clouded drab

Moths 04.04.12

Very little happening in the moth trap lately. Warm days have been followed by typical cold March/April nights with the temperature dropping to 0C. Last night looked more promising, with good cloud cover, but unfortunately heavy rain deterred most moth movement. This March moth was the only photographed specimen.

Year list update

New month begins and time to add my latest year list: these were birds previously recorded:

Red throated diver, little grebe, great crested grebe, gannet, cormorant, bittern, grey heron, little egret, great egret, mute swan, greylag goose, canada goose, barnacle goose, brent goose, shelduck, mallard, gadwall, pintail, shoveler, wigeon, teal, pochard, tufted duck, long tailed duck, goldeneye, smew, marsh harrier, common buzzard, sparrow hawk, kestrel, merlin, red legged partridge, grey partridge, pheasant, moorhen, coot, oystercatcher, golden plover, lapwing, turnstone, dunlin, redshank, curlew, snipe, black headed gull, herring gull, caspian gull, common gull, lbbg, gbbg, kittiwake, guillemot, razorbill, stock dove, wood pigeon, collared dove, tawny owl, little owl, barn owl, green woodpecker, gsw, skylark, meadow pipit, pied wagtail, grey wagtail, wren, dunnock, robin, stonechat, mistle thrush, redwing, songthrush, fieldfare, blackbird, goldcrest, great tit, blue tit, long tailed tit, bearded reedling, nuthatch, treecreeper, magpie, jay, jackdaw, rook, carrion crow, starling, house sparrow, tree sparrow, chaffinch, linnet, goldfinch, greenfinch, bullfinch, reed bunting, yellowhammer, bewicks swan, whooper swan, red kite, pink footed goose, ringed plover, grey plover, black tailed godwit, bar tailed godwit, snow bunting, cettis warbler, siskin, lesser redpoll, kingfisher, coal tit, water rail, green sandpiper

To these I have added:
knot (Snettisham), peregrine (Allens Green) ring necked parakeet (Hounslow) mandarin (Little Hadham) red kite (M25 Watford) chiffchaff (Little Hadham) ruff (Dungeness) sandwich tern (Dungeness) med gull (Dungeness) red breasted merganser (Dungeness) reed warbler (Oare Marshes) water pipit (Dungeness) white wagtail (Dungeness) sand martin (Dungeness) raven (Dungeness) blackcap (Amwell) garden warbler (Little Hadham)
Running total 127 species up to April 1st

Archive photo: Birding on the Polish Baltic coast April 2006. Note old Nikon 990 camera from my digiscoping days  but still the same jacket. Over 100 birds for a three day visit, staying at Szceczin.
Hat RIP, fell apart in the Algarve, April 2011

Dawn Chorus walk

7 hardy souls joined me for a 5.30 a.m. meet in the village for a wander east over the polo fields and south towards Much Hadham. Regular songsters started on cue at 5.45 with wren, dunnock, song thrush, chaffinch and blackbird being heard in the dark. As we headed up the hill towards the polo fields both blue and great tit were added as well as the first of many yellowhammers. In total 5 chiffchaffs were heard and another new bird for my year list, a garden warbler. Common buzzard soared over Ash Valley whilst at Acremans a flock of 200+ fieldfares and redwings. Finally, a good finish with a 50 strong party of linnet were observed on the Ridge footpath.
Several plants were noted in flower, with bluebell, ground ivy being expected. However, early clumps of cowslips in Ford Hill were a surprise and after a brief search, the resident coltsfoot was found in its usual place. A wonderful start to the day. Photos depict the glorious sunrise over Millfield Lane just after 6am.

Moths 01.04.12

After a very cold night I was surprised to find 2 moths in the trap. A small quaker and the 3rd record of a shoulder stripe, shown here.

Evening Wander 31.03.12

A walk around the fields north and east of Hadham Hall gave a good species list in a short time. Red legged partridge, greater spotted woodpecker were seen along with common buzzard before I reached the lake. Here there was 1 little grebe, only my second parish record. At its usual roost was the resident barn owl whilst a solitary lesser black backed gull headed south. Yellowhammers, chaffinch, goldfinch and greenfinch were added in Hadham Hall grounds along with mallard, coot and moorhen. Photos show silhouetted chiffchaff, moorhen, half moon and ground ivy flower.

Amwell 30.03.12

A few hours birding at Amwell NR was very pleasant although nothing too exciting was seen. Good numbers of cetti's warbler and redshank along with several calling chiffchaffs. Then, a quick visit ti Stansted airport lagoons for a reported stone curlew which had moved on shortly after being discovered. Photos from top:
2 greylag landing
Grey heron
2 x goldeneye just outside Amwell bird hide
Canada goose
Distant redshank
Distant reed bunting.

New moth 30.03.12

An early grey was in the trap this morning, a new moth for the garden. A common species that is on the wing between March and early May.