Maple Lodge, Woodoaks Farm, Stockers Lake and Farm, Bury Lake, Wilstone Reservoir Tring.

Early Morning at Maple Lodge.
Little Grebe, Pochard, Siskin, Goldfinch, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush.

Woodoaks Farm.
c20 Fieldfare, c30 Yellowhammer, 2 Reed Bunting, c20 Linnet, 8 Skylark, 4 Meadow Pipit, c200 Golden Plover, 6 Lapwing, Song Thrush.

Stockers Lake.
Wigeon, Shoveler, Pochard, Teal, Lapwing, Ring Necked Parakeet, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Siskin, Goldfinch.

Bury Lake.
12 Red Crested Pochard, Goldcrest, Siskin.

Stockers Farm.
3 Lapwing.

Wilstone Reservoir, Tring.
Wigeon, Teal, Pochard, Shoveler, Gadwall, Redshank, Little Egret, Buzzard, c35 Fieldfare, c 15 Redwing.

Rainham Concrete Barges and RSPB Reserve 29th Nov 2010.

Concrete Barges near Tilda Rice Factory, Rainham.
Redshank, Bar Tailed Godwit, Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall, Reed Bunting, Herring Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Greater Black Backed Gull.

Rainham Marshes RSPB Reserve.
10+ Bearded Tit, Cetti's Warbler, Stonechat, Little Grebe.

River Thames foreshore near RSPB Reserve.
Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall, Shelduck, Redshank, Dunlin, Meadow Pipit, 2 Stonechat.

Stockers Farm and Lake

A mid morning visit to Stockers Farm and Lake.
Stockers Farm; Sparrowhawk, 2 Little Owl, 7 Lapwing, Green Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Fieldfare.
Stockers Lake; 10 Goldeneye (3m, 7f,) 3 Egyptian Geese, Pochard, Shoveler, Gadwall, Wigeon, Great Crested Grebe, Goldfinch, Siskin, Ring Necked Parakeet, Kestrel.

Golden Plover at Woodoaks

07:30 this morning in my back garden 2 Coal Tit, Green Woodpecker.

Woodoaks Farm. Red Kite, c15 Linnet, c15 Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Green Woodpecker, Greenfinch, Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Fieldfare, Redwing, c170 Golden Plover, 6 Lapwing.

Finally over to Hertford with Brendan G in search of Waxwing, after nearly 2 hours we drew a blank only noteworthy bird a Sparrowhawk.

Maple Lodge.

An afternoon visit to Maple Lodge. Bright sunshine but temperature hovering around freezing point. Shoveler, Gadwall, Teal, c25 Siskin, 4 Goldfinch, 3 Jay, 2 Little Grebe, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Grey Wagtail, Grey Heron. On Lynsters Lake; 12 Wigeon and on the farm 2 Egyptian Geese.

Abbots Langley / Bedmond 24th Nov 2010.

An afternoon stroll around the fields between Abbots Langley and Bedmond (sheppeys lane.) Most notable birds were as follows; Grey Heron, Fieldfare, 3 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Green Woodpecker, 10+Pied Wagtail, 3 Jay, 10 Long Tailed Tit, Mixed flock of about 50 birds containing c30 Chaffinch, c15 Yellowhammer and c5 Goldfinch. Also a Muntjac.

Woodoaks Farm 20th Nov 2010

Highlights of an afternoon visit to Woodoaks Farm; Green Woodpecker, 30 Linnet, 10 Fieldfare, 2 Redwing, 10 Long Tailed Tit, Skylark, Meadow Pipit.

Abbots Langley/Bedmond

The highlights of an afternoon walk around the fields between Abbots Langley and Bedmond were as follows; Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Treecreeper, Kestrel, 12 Skylark, Yellowhammer, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Stockers Lake and Farm 18th Nov 2010

The most noteworthy birds at Stockers lake were as follows; Shoveler, Pochard, Wigeon, Goldeneye (2m, 1f,) Little Egret, Ring Necked Parakeet, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch.
At Stockers Farm 2 Little Owl in the nestbox tree and then on temporary fenceposts.

Velvet Scoter and Lesser Redpoll at Broadwater

A mid morning visit to Broadwater Lake nr Harefield. 14th November 2010.
Although not a comprehensive the list the following birds were seen; Velvet Scoter, Pochard, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Shoveler, Teal, Sparrowhawk, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Ring Necked Parakeet, Siskin, Goldfinch, Long Tailed Tit and 6 Lesser Redpoll in Silver Birch near entrance barrier to sailing club.
Grid reference for location of Velvet Scoter is TQ045893 which is roughly the south east corner of the lake. The Scoter has been seen at the north end of the lake but may have been pushed south by the sailing dinghies.
sh4rpy, Brendan G.

Garden Watch 13th Nov 2010.

After travelling far and wide recently I decided to stay at home today. I did a couple of jobs around the house, watched some footie on the t.v. and did a bit of a "Garden Watch"
Birds that visited my garden were as follows; 2 Magpie, 3 Dunnock, 2 Woodpigeon, 5 Collared Dove, 10 Chaffinch, 2 Blue Tit, 5 Great Tit, 2 Nuthatch, 2 Coal Tit, 1 House Sparrow, 3 Goldfinch, 2 Robin, 3 Blackbird.

A Days Birding in Norfolk

Saturday 6th November 2010.
A days birding in Norfolk with Brendan G and Dave J.

First stop was 1k south of Welney, noteworthy birds seen here were as follows; 40 Fieldfare, 15 Hooper Swan, 20 Bewick Swan, 2 Marsh Harrier, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Reed Bunting. No sign of reported Glossy Ibis so we decided to press on to Cley. 30 minutes later a message on Dave and Brendan's pagers "Glossy Ibis Welney" We all said it would happen!

Cley.
20 mins seawatching produced, Common Scoter, 20 Kittiwake in several small groups, 2 Goldeneye.
North Hide, 2 Grey Phalarope, Dunlin, Shoveler, Golden Plover, Ringed Plover, Redshank, Ruff, Pintail, Teal.
On the beach and in flight, a summer plumaged Arctic Tern.

RSPB Titchwell.
On the reserve, 10+Twite, 10 Linnet, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Golden Plover, Curlew.
On the beach, 8+Shorelark.

Then back to Welney in search of Glossy Ibis!
Within 5 mins of arriving at Welney we spotted the Glossy Ibis showing well feeding furiously amonst a herd of cattle. It showed well for about 30 mins, then it apparently flew off whilst we were distracted by a Barn Owl hunting in the field on the opposite side of the road. We stayed until nightfall hoping for Short Eared Owl but no luck, however, we did see another Barn Owl hunting. So for second visit to Welney, Glossy Ibis and 2 Barn Owl.

sh4rpy, Brendan G, Dave J.