Wilstone Reservoir, Hertfordshire, UK, 8-May-2011

9:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
3.0 mile(s)
Comments: Out to try to get 'Magic May' off to a start. I headed to Wilstone hoping to see hobbys & whether anything else had turned up.
Weather: bright, sunny, some clouds, breezey (W); rain early in the morning.
49 species

Greylag Goose X
Canada Goose X
Mute Swan X
Gadwall X
Mallard X
Common Pochard X
Tufted Duck X
Common Pheasant X
Great Crested Grebe X
Great Cormorant X
Grey Heron X
Red Kite 1 drifted over.
Common Buzzard 1 being mobbed by crows over distant Starstops reservoir.
Eurasian Hobby 3 hawking over the reedbeds.
Common Moorhen X
Eurasian Coot X
Common Tern X
Stock Dove 2
Common Wood-Pigeon X
Common Cuckoo 1 heard from the carpark.
Common Swift 2 at first then a good movement of 20+ later in the day.
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 heard.
Green Woodpecker 1 heard yaffling.
Common Magpie X
Eurasian Jackdaw X
Carrion Crow X
Skylark X - heard from agricultural fields.
Barn Swallow 2
Common House-Martin 1
Great Tit X
Blue Tit X
Long-tailed Tit X
Eurasian Wren X
Common Chiffchaff X - heard from the carpark.
Eurasian Reed-Warbler X - heard in the reeds around cemetery corner.
Blackcap X - heard from the carpark.
Common Whitethroat 1 singing overhead then into hedgerow.
Spotted Flycatcher 1 within trees at cemetery corner. Again I was tipped off it would be around, I heard its high-pitched, almost mammal-like, call before eventually connecting for a decent view. I soon moved on not wishing to disturb a potential nester.
European Robin X
Whinchat 1 seen on far hedgerow from reservoir. I left the reservoir's hide for a walk up the hill to the canal & was informed by another couple of birders that the whinchat was on a hedgerow in a field along the canal, in the opposite direction to which I normally walk. I took the path & soon connected with it & had a very nice view of it. It was not disturbed by the heavy machinery nearby which was working on the canal. A life-tick.
Eurasian Blackbird X
Song Thrush 2 , first heard, then seen around cemetery corner.
Western Yellow Wagtail 1 also on a fencepost near to the blue-headed.
Western Yellow Wagtail (Blue-headed) 1 on the same line of hedgerow as the whinchat but much more distant from the canal. However it was still fairly easy to pick up with its distinctive plumage & blue head - a first for me. It kept coming back to a fencepost within the thinned out hedge, right where the other birders said it would be (like the whinchat was too), but it seemed to take one last, longer flight which took it much further away.
Pied Wagtail X
Yellowhammer X - heard.
Common Chaffinch X
European Goldfinch X
House Sparrow 2 , a pair collecting nesting material.

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)