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birding...
England Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a relatively under-watched county and over the years has shown that it can turn up decent birds just like any other county - Paddyfield Warbler, Lesser Scaup, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Falcated Duck, Yellow-browed Warbler and Solitary Sandpiper are just a few examples. Among the most popular birding sites are the reservoirs near Tring in the west of the county. Many of Hertfordshire`s best birds have been found there. The reservoirs are famous for the first British record of breeding Little Ringed Plovers back in 1938 and other ornithological highlights include Britain`s first Marsh Sandpiper in 1887 and England`s first breeding record of Black-necked Grebe in 1918. In the east of the county is the Lea Valley, (shared with Essex) where some more top sites are located, such as Amwell and Rye House Marsh/Rye Meads. One last site well-deserving of a mention is Tyttenhanger Gravel Pits near St Albans which has, in recent years, proven itself as a place to watch. The county has several RSPB Members Groups, some of which have an online presence. |
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top sites |
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Amwell Gravel Pits
(TL374133)Amwell underwent extensive restoration following the ending of gravel extraction (still going on nearby) and the plans continue. The restoration has produced an excellent quality site for wildlife, not just birds. Otters have been introduced into the area with some success. The site, being part of the Lea Valley, is noted for its wintering wildfowl (including Smew and Goldeneye) but there is also a diversity of breeding species, both waders and passerines included. (Grid reference is for the entrance at the north of the site).Tring Reservoirs
(SP904134)Tring Reservoirs were the site of England`s first breeding Black-necked Grebes (1918) and the UK`s first breeding Little Ringed Plovers (1938). They still form one of Hertfordshire`s foremost birding sites. They are most noted for good numbers of wintering wildfowl. Recent rarities include Caspian Tern, White-winged Black Tern and Alpine Swift. (Grid reference is for the car park at Wilstone Reservoir)Tyttenhanger Gravel Pits
(TL189048)Tyttenhanger is another site undergoing restoration following gravel extraction. Recently it has become the county`s foremost wader site with Redshank, Lapwing, Little Ringed and Ringed Plover all breeding. Unfortunately there is work going on to flood the area used by these breeding waders and make the area a large fishing lake. However, consideration is being given to wildlife and it is hoped that the site doesn`t lose too much of its value. Yellow Wagtails also breed. Nearby fields host good numbers of Lapwing and Golden Plover in winter. This site played host to a drake Lesser Scaup in 1997.contributor |
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Gareth Watkins
limey73@yahoo.com
county recorder |
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Tony Blake
9 Old Forge Close, Stanmore, HA7 3EB
recorder@hertsbirdclub.org.uk
numbers |
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County Bird - Hawfinch Coccothraustes coccothraustes
useful reading |
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The Breeding Birds of Hertfordshire
K.W Smith, C.W. Dee, J.D. Fearnside, E.W. Fletcher, R.N. Smith, A.J. Harris (Illustrator); Hardcover - 316 pages (1993) Hertfordshire Natural History SocietyISBN: 0952168502
Buy this book from NHBS.com
Herts Bird Club
The Herts Bird Club publishes a bi-monthly bulletin on county birding and has a popular website which features much of this.The Hertfordshire Breeding Bird Atlas
Edited by C Mead, K Smith and K Baker - 128 pages, line illus, maps [Illustrated by K Baker]. Hertfordshire Breeding Bird Atlas 1982ISBN: 0950795100
Buy this book from NHBS.com
useful information |
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Proact
Coordinator: Darren Oakley-Martin (Beds, Bucks. & Herts.)
Members: 2
Join us at http://www.proact-campaigns.net/team
Contact your coordinator via mailto:info@proact-campaigns.net
clubs |
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Bishop`s Stortford & District Natural History Society
http://fly.to/bsbgBird Group - Monthly MEETING - 20:00, Bricklayers Arms, Hadham Road. First Monday of every month, unless Bank holiday, then held on second Monday...
Friends of Tring Reservoirs
http://www.tringreservoirs.btinternet.co.uk/Friends of Tring Reservoirs is a local conservation organisation formed in 1993 to promote the conservation of this important Site of Special Scientific Interest. With Over 400 Members, FoTR has become a significant voice in the local environment.
Hertfordshire Natural History Society
http://www.hnhs.org/about01.htmlHertfordshire Natural History Society was founded in 1879, having previously been called the Watford & District Natural History Society. From that date to the present, there has been a continuous pursuit of natural history study across the County...
Herts Bird Club
http://www.hertsbirdclub.org.uk/Jim Terry, 46 Manor Way, Borehamwood, Herts WD6 1QY. 020 8905 1461. The website of the Herts Bird Club, focusing on the Hertfordshire birding scene. Featuring the latest news from the county including the club`s bi-monthly bird report...
Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust
http://www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/herts/The Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust is dedicated to protecting wildlife and wild places for everyone and has been working in the two counties since 1964. The Trust has over 7,000 members and manages over 40 nature reserves. It is at the forefront of devising long-term nature conservation strategies and the management of wildlife habitats; surveying and recording is carried out widely by staff and volunteers to assess habitats and species for protection purposes; Trust staff have input to the development planning process to safeguard wildlife interests and advise local authorities, land owners and individuals on wildlife issues.
RSPB Hemel Hempstead Group
http://www.hemelrspb.org.uk/This is the website of the Hemel Hempstead RSPB Local Group which was formed in 1972. The Group is run by volunteers and aims to publicise the RSPB in our local community, to recruit new members, to raise funds and to engage in our fascinating hobby of bird watching. Money raised by the group is used principally to help the RSPB to help in the vital conservation work that it undertakes...
RSPB Hitchin and Letchworth Members Group
http://uk.geocities.com/hitchin_letchworth_rspb/Welcome to the Home Page of the Hitchin & Letchworth Local Members Group. We are a group of RSPB members who meet on a regular basis for talks on a wide range of Natural History subjects and trips to a variety of sites in the south of England in search of Britains birds. We cover the north of Hertfordshire, including the towns of Hitchin, Letchworth, Baldock and Royston, and many of the villages in between. However, anyone is welcome to join us at any of our meetings, and you do not have to be a member of the RSPB to come along.
RSPB Potters Bar and Barnet Group
http://web.onetel.com/~ihcook/The Potters Bar and Barnet Group has a membership of approximately 1,800 members who are drawn from the area around Potters Bar, Barnet, Brookmans Park. The Group organises regular events and outings including visits to European sites...
RSPB Watford Members Group
http://members.tripod.co.uk/Watford_RSPB/The Watford Members Group of the RSPB was formed in 1974, and exists in order to further the RSPB`s national objectives within the local community. Their programme enables members to learn more about birds in Britain and abroad and to see birds - in company with fellow enthusiasts - in a wide variety of habitats. They extend a very warm welcome to anyone interested in bird protection, whether keen birders or determined twitchers, or members with more general interests.
RSPB Southeast Hertfordshire Group
http://www.rspb.org.uk/groups/southeasthertfordshireThe group covers Waltham Cross, Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Hoddesdon, Ware, Hertford and surrounding areas. Others come along from Bishop`s Stortford, The Hadhams, Buntingford and Harlow. In all, the group has annual contact with over 2000 RSPB members...
RSPB St Albans Members Group
http://www.antram.demon.co.uk/index.htmlPeter Antram`s home page incorporating news about the St Albans Members Group of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the charity that takes action for birds. Their programme of events includes talks on bird and general conservation issues and free birdwatching walks in and around the county of Hertfordshire.
Rye Meads Ringing Group
http://www.rmrg.org.ukThe Rye Meads Ringing Group is an amateur group whose mission is to study the birds of Rye Meads, particularly by trapping and ringing them. (This is what the Americans call banding).
museums |
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Ornithology at The Natural History Museum
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/departments/zoology/bird-group/The Bird Group, in the Department of Zoology of The Natural History Museum, is located at Tring, Hertfordshire, on the site of The Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum, bequeathed to The Natural History Museum in 1937. The bird collections were moved out from London in the early 1970s and are housed in part of the original Rothschild complex and in a purpose-built four-storey building. Probably the biggest collection of bird skins in the world.
reserves |
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Lee Valley Park
http://www.leevalleypark.org.uk/Covering a thousand acres on either side of the River Lee between Waltham Abbey (Essex) and Broxbourne (Herts) River Lee Country Park is a unique patchwork of lakes, waterways, green open spaces and countryside areas all linked together by paths, walkways and cycle tracks. The River Lee Country Park abounds with wildlife throughout the year and is the perfect venue for informal, outdoor recreation.
Maple Lodge
http://maplelodge.orgMaple Lodge is a 40 acre nature reserve consisting of lakes, marsh, hedgerows and wooded plantation. The reserve is in Maple Cross near junction 17 of the M25. It can be accessed by members any time of the year. The Reserve is basically a man-made wetland habitat consisting of two old gravel pits and a sludge settlement area formally used by the nearby sewage treatment works. Some refuse dumping also occurred on part of the site and during the late 1950s and early 1960s an area in the east of the Reserve was planted with poplars. In 1982 the Maple Lodge Conservation Society was formed and granted a licence by Thames Water (the owners of the land) to manage the site on a day to day basis. In managing the site the aims are to preserve a diverse habitat and to create and maintain an enhanced open water and mud habitat.
Nature Reserves
http://www.birdsofbritain.co.uk/reserves/herts.htmBird and Nature Reserves in Herts...
RSPB Reserve - Rye Meads
http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/r/ryemeads/index.aspDuring the winter, shovelers, gadwalls and tufted ducks can be seen on the open water and green sandpipers often frequent the scrapes...
Stockers Lake
http://www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/herts/reserves/stockers%20lake.htmStockers Lake is a nature reserve formed from old flooded gravel pits. Entrance is free. Use the Aqua-drome car park-follow signs to Aqua-drome on south approach to Rickmansworth. The lake forming the Aqua-drome water sports and sailing centre is Bury Lake, which does attract large numbers of birds but most are there to take advantage of food provided by the public. Swans, Canada Geese, Mallard, Tufted Ducks, Coots form the bulk of the birdlife.
Woods & Wildlife
http://www.hertsheritage.org.uk/naturalhistory/woodland.htmlHertfordshire has some of the best woodland in south-eastern Britain. About 10% of the County is wooded of which around 36-40% is regarded as ancient, that is, having existed since at least 1600, such as Wormley Wood, now a National Nature Reserve run by the Woodland Trust...
trip reports |
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Travelling Birder
http://www.travellingbirder.com
The Travellingbirder.com birding trip report search engine guides you to 7,000+ birding trip reports on the Internet. You can search for trip reports from a specific country and time of year. Not all these reports are in English. So, if you can’t find the trip report you want on this Fatbirder page… give them a try!
tour operators |
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Birding Pal
http://www.birdingpal.org/Unitedkingdom.htmLocal birders willing to show visiting birders around their area...
places to stay |
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Farmhouse Bed and Breakfast
http://www.farmhousebb.co.uk/Recognising the needs of our visitors, we are currently planning an ecological barn conversion with en suite bedrooms. We look forward to offering a wider range of services to our visitors together with weekend breaks and private country dining facilities for small parties. We are also designing a ground floor room especially suitable for visitors with a mobility difficulty.
other links |
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Garden bird log for Garston, Hertfordshire
http://www.geocities.com/steve_extra/garden_log.htmlThis is a log of the more interesting species seen in, and flying over, a garden on Goodrich Close, Garston, Watford, Hertfordshire, England. The garden is in a sub-urban area of semi-detached and terraced housing. The nearest open farmland is 500m to the north-west (and receding!); the nearest wood is in the cemetery half a mile to the east and the nearest open water is the Grand Union Canal/River Gade 1 mile to the west...
Grove Mill List
http://www.geocities.com/steve_extra/grove_mill.htmlAn annotated species list for the Grove Mill area...
Hilfield Park Gull Study
http://www.geocities.com/steve_extra/Gull_roost_flight_path_study.htmlStudy of Herring Gulls from central London roosting at Hilfield Park Resr, 2004...
Naturenet Herts
http://www.naturenet.net/england/herts.htmlLists info on parks & reserves etc.
Protected Species in Hertfordshire
http://enquire.hertscc.gov.uk/hbrc/projects/protecte.htmlHertfordshire Biological Records Centre (HBRC) manages an extensive database with information on habitats, species and sites across the county...
Watford Wood
http://www.geocities.com/steve_extra/Whippendell_survey_2002.htmlPersonal survey of a local wood, Watford, 2002...
artists |
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Artist - Ernest Leahy
http://www.wildlifewatercolours.co.uk/I am a self taught artist and have painted wildlife for over 30 years. All my paintings are original works of art - I do not sell prints. I normally paint in watercolours but occasionally use acrylics, pastels, and ink for illustrations. most of my work is based on field studies and many of the paintings are started on site...
Photographer - Andy Bright
http://digiscopingukbirds.homestead.comMy pics are displayed at hi-res 800x600....and are all taken via a digital still camera and a spotting scope. The album site also includes pics and text descriptions of digiscoping techniques. i.e. camera to scope attachments.
Photographer - Jim Middleton
http://jimmiddletonwildlifephotos.com/I have been taking wildlife photos for about 3 years now and have the urge to share a selection with you. My intention is for the site to evolve over time into a decent sized library of good quality nature photographs...
Photographer - Nick Sampford
http://www.nicksampford.co.ukSome fine images from this UK wildlife photographer...
Photographers- Oya & Darren Wilkes
http://www.members.aol.com/oyaer78/Birds/index.htmlWe have been taking photos of birds since November 2003. That's when we bought a Canon EOS 10D. Initially, we used a Canon 75-300mm lens, then we upgraded to a Canon 100-400mm lens with an Image Stabiliser...
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