Chiltern Birder

On Sunday I stopped off at Fishers Green in the Lea Valley Park. From a birding point of view it wasn't particularly fruitful. The footbridge over the Lea was closed so I couldn't get to the hide facing the reed bed on Forty Acres Lake. Following the Flood Relief Channel up to Holyfield Lake gave a nice view of a flock of lapwing in the air. When I used to visit the park regularly this lake was usually good for a sight of a goosander in the winter but my necessarily brief visits in recent years haven't resulted in a sighting. The Grebe Hide gave me a nice view of some common pochard, something that was curiously absent on my last visit to the Colne Valley. Many years ago I saw a smew from this hide and I always go there full of hope in the winter and am always disappointed. Holyfield Lake  The real highlight was a nice view of a goldcrest in the bushes adjacent to the Flood Relief Channel. At first I assumed that it was a wren but realised my mistake when I could see t...

With the forecasts threatening stormy weather I decided to take advantage of a mild morning to fit in a visit to Stockers Lake before I needed to wear wellingtons. At first glance the lakes were much as normal with coot, morhen, tufted duck. mallards, mute swan, a pair of gadwall and the occasional cormorant. As I progressed round the lake it was clear that there were much larger numbers of black headed gulls than usual, which country lore would have as a predictor of storms. I didn't count them but there were a decent number of red-crested pochard with a few common pochard among them which was handy for comparison of field marks. The tits are starting to form into flocks and I could hear a decent sized party moving through the trees but there were just enough leaves still in place to make identification difficult. It is time to start looking out for birds returning to the garden after the usual quiet spell in September and October.

Escaped ornamentals can be a problem to identify but that wasn't the case with the black swan that I saw on Stockers Lake today. I almost missed it as it seems to spend far more time with its head down than a mute swan. Apart from that a walk around the lakes at Rickmansworth produced nothing exciting in terms of unusual species. There were plenty of tufties, pochard, coot, mallard, mute swans, cormorants and gadwall as well as a solitary shoveller. I passed a heron very close to the path who seemed quite unconcerned about my presence and was also lucky enough to see a great crested grebe swallowing a fish. Undergrowth had been cleared from some of the islands and one seemed to be full of lapwings. There are bird feeders by a couple of hides which were getting attention from blue and great tits and one also had a party of rats feeding on the discarded seeds underneath. Judging by the sizes I would guess a family party of two adults and two juveniles. On the wooded part of the...

The Indian Summer weather tempted me out yesterday for a trip down to Stockers Lake. The high point of the walk wasn't the birds but walking along the section of path between the lake and the canal a grass snake suddenly crossed in front of me. It was so close that I almost trod on it and far too fast for me to get my phone out for a picture of course. On the lake itself there was nothing outstanding, plenty of coot and a good few tufties. I saw two parties of pochard, totallying 5 individuals plus a handful of cormorants and clusters of black headed gulls on suitable perches and partiesof mute swans and canada geese. Bury Lake had a lot of boating activity but was home to a family of great crested grebes, probably a late brood as the juveniles were still in their striped plumage.

I paid a return visit to Stockers Lake near Rickmansworth today with the benefit of a pair of wellingtons. It was an interesting visit, the lake had all the usual waterfowl with coot, tufted duck, mallard, gadwall, mute swans and herons. I didn't see any shoveller this time but the wigeon were a treat as I hadn't expected them on a lake without adjacent grazing and a real surprise were the red crested pochard which I had not seen in the wild before. At one point a row of stakes in the water, each one topped by a gull gave me the opportunity to include leg colour in identification but they were all black headed. From talking to other birders I seem to have missed some goldeneye and an escaped black swan. In the adjacent scrub there were the usual woodland birds with a small flock of redwing and a probably female reed bunting.

When I spotted that the forecast had changed and this afternoon would stay dry I decided to sample the lakes at Rickmansworth Aquadrome. Water levels were very high and some paths flooded. Bury Lake produced little of special interest with mute swans, tufted duck, mallard, coot. black headed gulls and a heron. The latter was close to the path keeping totally still and totally unfazed by passers by. He kept so still while I took a couple of pictures with my phone that I was beginning to think that it was a model but then he finally turned his head slightly. I wasn't wearing boots which made, the potentially more interesting, Stockers Lake mostly inaccessible but from the tarmac path on one side I did see a pair of shoveller and a pochard. The low sun made it difficult to identify most of the birds from that angle. I don't know if I was just unlucky or if they don't like the area but I didn't see any red kites. I had been wondering how far towards London they were sp...