The total number of bird species recorded on my completely uncontrolled and unauthorised spreadsheet in 2017 was 124.
Highlights include:
Raven seen first on 29th Jan then occasionally during the year. Fingers crossed for breeding in Hatfield Forest in 2018 of this charismatic corvid.
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker on 6th March. We will be doing well to record this species again in 2018.
Black-Necked Grebe at SAL on 19th April. A stunning summer plumaged bird.
Ruff at SAL in April
Corn Bunting singing at Tharbies on 1st May was sadly a one-off and not a return of a lost breeding species.
Nightingale singing in Hatfield Forest.
Grasshopper Warbler and Marsh Harrier at Thorley Wash in June
White Stork reported from Little Hadham on 10th August
Black Tern at SAL on 5th Sept.
Osprey over central Stortford on 1st October
Hawfinch in Hatfield Forest from mid-October onwards.
Notable misses include:
Pochard. Surely present but not recorded.
Dunlin, Ringed Plover, always potentially passing through somewhere in the area but not this year.
Turtle Dove - none recorded in the area this year.
Yellow-legged Gull, Mediterranean Gull, both can be found in autumn in freshly ploughed fields, but not this year.
So there are some decent target birds to keep us going, and who knows what else 2018 will bring!
