Herts Bird Club Bulletin, covering May and June 2001
Second colour-ringed Shag for Hertfordshire
A colour-ringed Shag on the River Lea at Ware (1st Jun) was ringed as a nestling on the Isle of May on the 5th Jul 2000. This is the second Herts record of a colour-ringed Shag from the Isle of May; the first was at Smallford Lake from the 21st-26th Apr 1998. A Gannet flying over Fishers Green during a dawn chorus walk (6th May), was hopefully seen to enter Herts airspace? Wildfowl reports were dominated by a list of hybrids, feral birds, and escapes, and the only record of Garganey came from Amwell.
Waders usually dominate the latter part of spring, but this year it was raptors that set many pulses racing. There was an impressive 15 records of Red Kite, and 5 Ospreys and 3 Marsh Harriers were found. A ring-tailed harrier sp flew over Rye Meads (7th May) and a Honey Buzzard over Oxhey on the 3rd Jun (still a major county rarity despite the amazing passage of last autumn).
Waders though few were fairly well represented, with Grey Plover, Sanderling, Little Stint, 3 Bar-tailed Godwits, 2 Whimbrel, 6 Curlew, a Wood Sandpiper, and a Turnstone all good finds. Just 2 Greenshank were seen, and Common and Green Sandpipers remained rather scarce.
Tring Reservoirs claimed 4 out of 5 Little Gulls with the fifth bird found at Hilfield, and a long-staying Grey-headed Gull at Tyttenhanger drew a steady stream of admirers despite its dubious origins. Hilfield and Tring reservoirs also shared the only 2 Arctic, and a total of 26 Black Terns between them.
Nightjar is still a highly sought-after species for county listers, and many will be envious of Andrew Hardacre’s brief encounter with a passage bird at Sawbridgeworth Marsh on the 12th May.
Tree Pipits were found on territory at three sites, but only Berkhamsted Common held a pair. Up to 3 Blue-headed, and 2 White Wagtails lingered at Redbourn to the end of May, and another Blue-headed Wagtail was found at East Hyde. Single Nightingales were discovered at Maple Lodge and Rye Meads, a singing male Black Redstart at Watford Town Centre, a Common Redstart at Rye Meads, and Grasshopper warblers held territory at Sawbridgeworth Marsh and Potters Crouch Plantation. A Stonechat was a ‘mega’ among Hilfield listers where it was discovered by Steve Murray, who also turned up a singing Firecrest there on the 10th Jun. Lastly, a Raven flew over a Berkhamsted garden on the 21st May.
Lee Marshall
Lee's contact details are here.
Systematic bird sightings for May/Jun 2001