Chiltern Birder

A little birding at Fishers Green and Amwell wasn't particularly exciting in terms of water fowl apart from a handful of wigeon. The one puzzle being a large greyish white goose on Holywell Lake at Fishers Green. While I would love to put it down as a snow goose but from the size, much bigger than the greylags and canadas, I would guess a domestic escape. There was some interest among the birds of prey. Buzzards are becoming common in western Essex and I have seen them over the Roding valley several times this year but this was the first time that I have seen one in the Fishers Green reserve. Looking for somewhere for lunch I saw a pair of red kite circling abover the village of Standon in Hertfordshire, just east of the A10. This is by far the most easterly sighting that I have had.

As I had to go over to East London yesterday I took the opportunity to go up to Amwell which I hadn't visited for some time. Since my last visit the lakes have been taken over by the Herts and Middlesex Trust who have put access with hides and a nature trail. It makes seeing the birds a lot easier but has also made the whole area seem tamed and less exciting. Despite the improvements the first spottings of interest were while crossing the canal with a cock reed bunting perching in the bushes and a pair of common terns flying along the cut. On the margins of the lake were lapwings, one bird with a magnificent crest as well as a variety of roosting water fowl and cormorants. According to the notice board redshank were nesting and I managed to see one at the waters edge as well as an oystercatcher fly across the lake. Other birds of note were heron, shoveller and gadwall. When I first visited this site around 20 years ago there was a pair of egyptian geese in residence, either they...