Morning birding in Hertfordshire

 St Andrew Church, Bramfield

We arrived at the church around 9am, and although a Hawfinch had been seen earlier in the morning there had been no sightings for over an hour. Brian headed off across the playing field to check the bottom hedgerows. There was a large flock of Greenfinch and Yellowhammers feeding within this area. He soon found three Hawfinch among the flock. After joining him I managed to see a single bird and we also found a male Bullfinch. The Hawfinch flew off towards the church, where we relocated it at the top of a tree in the churchyard.

Lemsford Springs Nature Reserve

We arrived at Lemsford Springs to find more cars parked outside this small reserve than we had ever seen. Unsurprising, then that there were no keys available to enter the gate. We waited over thirty minutes until a large birding group exited the reserve (The reason for all the cars and the lack of keys.) Looking out from the hide we managed views of  Green Sandpipers, Snipe, Grey Wagtail, Little Egret, Siskin, and my first Jays of 2024! Despite the freezing temperatures recently and the fact that the watercress beds never freeze, we were hopeful of finding a Jack Snipe. Unfortunately, we failed to see any on this occasion. If the temperatures fall even further it might tempt one or two to drop in.

Green Sandpiper

Common Snipe

St Albans Cathedral

The cathedral was seven miles from Lemsford Springs and worth the small detour. A Black Redstart had been present in recent days, and having failed to see any at Dungeness we went looking for it. As we turned the corner of the cathedral there was a small group of photographers pointing their camera's towards a nearby tree. Perched on one of the branches was the Black Redstart.

St Alban's Cathedral

Black Redstart

 

Brian headed down the footpath hoping to find the Kingfisher that had been showing so well recently. Dad and I headed inside the Cathedral, then joined Brian and found the Kingfisher was showing really well and drawing the crowds. Photographers were grabbing shots of the bird and plenty of people just out for a walk were stopping and taking photos with their phones.

A cracking morning's birding all within a relatively short distance from home.