We only had the morning for birding today, so we stayed within an hour of home. Pitstone Hill was our first destination. An overwintering Ring Ouzel had been in the area since late December and this morning we arrived at first light and found the bird perched up in a tree before leaving the car park. It then spent the majority of its time searching for earthworms among the damp grass.
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| Ring Ouzel |
We left after a couple of hours and headed for the aquadrome in Rickmansworth. The free car park was very welcome and something of a rarity in itself these days. Stockers Lake is the largest of a series of three lakes and also the furthest lake from the car park. Scoping the lake from the causeway we managed to pick out our target, a single male Red-crested pochard.
Cassiobury Park was now only four miles away and with Little owl having eluded us in January we were quickly on site. The car park allows a free two-hour stay but you still need to obtain a ticket from the machine to qualify. We had no idea which area of the park the Little Owls favoured, But several of the trees close to the car park looked good and sure enough, a single bird was spotted within minutes.
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| Little Owl |
Our last stop was to Tyttenhanger GP hoping to locate the local Tree Sparrows. The recent rainfall made the walk to the feeding station heavy going and wellingtons should have been the order of the day. After reaching the area we could hear the Tree Sparrows but locating them proved more difficult. Eventually, a flock of ten birds flew from deep within the hedgerow and then a single bird dropped onto the feeder.
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| Feeding Station at Tyttenhanger GP |
An enjoyable and productive morning birding, with four sites, visited and four new additions to the year list. All within an hour of home.
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