The wonders of television had allowed us to watch the beginning of the new year around the globe, starting in Kiribati then by way of Sydney, Moscow and Paris (the Eiffel Tower going off like a rocket was probably the best firework display!) until it was our turn in the U.K. We saw the new year in with our neighbours and had a wander up and down the village street but the many fireworks drowned out any birds that might have been flying over. Whether or not it was the first day of the new millennium, it was another first of January and I would be out and about trying to see as many birds as possible within a 10 km radius of home so I was soon in bed.
During 1999 we had returned from Melbourne, Australia to England where home was now the village of Codicote, about 50 km north of London, in the populous south-east corner of Britain. It is a far cry from the western suburbs of Melbourne, with more people living within 100 km than can be found in the whole of Australia. My home range includes a couple of small towns, Welwyn Garden City and Stevenage and is hemmed in the north, west and south by the towns of Hitchin, Luton, Harpenden, Hatfield and Hertford. Despite this urbanisation, and the proximity of London, it is surprisingly rural with some pleasant scenery. Three small rivers, the Lea, Mimram and Beane flow NW - SE across the area separated by low rolling hills, none higher than 200 m. Much of the higher land is given over to arable farming, with wheat and barley being the major crops grown in large fields from which the hedges have been removed. The hedges remain in the valleys where there is more pasture for grazing. Some flood meadows remain. A feature of the area are the water-cress beds, some still operating commercially, others in disrepair and yet others now local nature reserves. There are numerous small woodlands, although few are natural, with plantations of both deciduous and coniferous trees. With the change of hemisphere came a change of season and once more my new year’s day birdwatch would be taking place in the depths of winter, although the 1999/2000 winter had, so far, been exceptionally mild.
While most people were still sleeping off their new year’s eve celebrations, Andrew, my eldest son, and I were up and about at 06:00. It was still dark at 06:21 when a Robin singing under the street lights of the village was our first bird of the new year. Our plan was to spend the hour until first light searching for owls. Between Christmas and new year we had heard owls calling near the hamlet of Rabley Heath, so this is where we headed first. No sooner had we pulled up in the car park of the Robin Hood and Little John public house than we heard the piercing call of a Little Owl followed almost immediately by the too-whit-too-whoo of a Tawny Owl. Not a bad way to start new year’s day. Our next stop was a small plantation of conifers near the village of Kimpton where Long-eared Owl had been reported during 1999. It was a still morning, with no wind to rustle the trees and ideal for listening for bird calls. We heard several more Tawny and Little Owls but not the deeper hoots of a Long-eared Owl. Nor did we have any luck, at a nearby site, with Barn Owl. Our straining ears did pick up the flight calls of a flock of redwing, the louder caws of an early rising flock of Rooks and the deeper honk of a Pheasant. It was 07:00 and still dark but more birds were becoming active. A Moorhen squawked from the damp fields beside the river, a Blackbird gave its alarm call from gardens in the village and a Skylark called as it flew over.
As the eastern sky began to lighten we parked at Kimpton Mill to begin our first walk of the day. A pair of Mallards flying noisily from the water cress beds just north of the mill were the first birds we had seen. Nearby a Wren churred from the weeds, mainly the dead stems of rose bay willow herb, that clogged one of the cress-beds while a Grey Heron stood sentinel on the bank of the Mimram, flying off with a loud croak when we disturbed it. A pair of Carrion Crows foraged on the edge of a field. On the small millpond, formed where a tributary of the Mimram has been dammed, were a pair of Eurasian Little Grebes in winter plumage and a pair of Coot. While we scanned the pond a skein of 27 Canada Geese, in typical “vee” formation, flew south down the valley.
We retraced our steps past the mill house, where a pair of Jackdaws, small black crows with grey napes, warmed themselves by the smoking chimney pots. A small flock of Meadow Pipits flew over and some Collared Doves fed on the ground in a horse paddock. We continued north along the valley with an expanse of ploughed field, no birds, on our right and an area of rough, uncultivated ground between us and the River Mimram. Rabbits feeding close to a hedgerow were our first mammals of the day while Wood Pigeons feeding on ivy berries were our 20th species at 07:56. By this time last year, in the western suburbs of Melbourne, we had already seen more than 50 species. Alder seeds are a favoured food of many small finches but this morning the alder trees on the banks of the Mimram were sadly devoid of birds. Not until we reached a small poplar plantation, also on the banks of the river, did we see any new birds. Two Magpies perched in the tree tops and a flock of 20 Long-tailed Tits foraged through the tangle of brambles that formed the understorey. From an isolated oak tree on the hillside overlooking the valley we heard the distinctive kik call of a Great Spotted Woodpecker but were then surprised to hear it drumming on a dead branch. Drumming does not usually take place until later in the year when the woodpeckers are staking claim to a territory - another indication of the mildness of the weather this winter. As we continued northwards a Hare broke from cover and streaked up the field until it was lost to sight over the brow of a hill. A pig-like squealing from an overgrown marshy area beside the river alerted us to the presence of a Water Rail, which we later saw wading in shallow, flowing water at the river’s edge. Where a remnant of woodland bordered the river a flock of Blue Tits foraged in the outer branches and grey squirrels ran for the safety of the canopy when we disturbed their foraging on the ground. In an area of willow carr, which has become established on a former duck decoy, we saw Chaffinch, Song Thrush, Goldcrest and Great Tit. This stretch of the Mimram has been a wintering area for the introduced Mandarin Duck, which recent surveys suggest is now more numerous in southern England than in its natural range in East Asia. But none were present today so we headed back downstream. A Common Gull, only common in winter, drifted north along the valley and a flock of Fieldfares, another thrush and winter visitor accompanied by a few Mistle Thrushes flew to the top of a hedgerow tree. A handsome male Kestrel, with chestnut back and blue-grey tail hovered along the woodland edge where we had walked earlier. Where the footpath followed the bank of the Mimram, Andrew saw the vivid blue streak of a Common Kingfisher disappearing downstream, it did not even have the courtesy to call and as I was looking in another direction I missed it completely! Needless to say, we did not glimpse another one all day. A Dunnock, the archetypal little brown job, foraged at the base of a hedge around the gardens of Rye End cottages, where a flock of Starlings adorned the TV aerial. As we returned to the car we saw a pair of dapper Grey Wagtails feeding in the stony shallows of the cress beds.
From Kimpton Mill we drove the short distance to some now derelict water cress beds maintained as an unofficial nature reserve. Against the drab brown stems of dead rose bay willow herbs, the pink breast of a male Bullfinch positively glowed in the weak wintry sun, otherwise there were disappointingly few birds to be seen or heard. Several Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew over as did a flock of Siskins, heading for a nearby conifer plantation, and a single Pied Wagtail, our 40th species at 09:40.
Now it was time to get back in the car and explore the north Hertfordshire countryside further. On the edge of Kimpton village we stopped to scan a mixed flock of gulls roosting on a ploughed field and added Black-headed Gull to our list. Nearby was a covey of 11 Red-legged Partridges while in a farmyard were several Feral Pigeons (Rock Doves) and our first House Sparrows of the new year. As we drove towards Breachwood Green, looking for Buzzards that are now resident in the area, we found a covey of the rarer, native Grey Partridge (Red-legged Partridge having been introduced for hunting). We dipped on the buzzards but did see a pair of Jays feeding on the abundant acorn crop. While looking through a flock of thrushes (3 Mistle Thrushes & 95+ Fieldfares) we noticed a large raptor being mobbed by a pair of Carrion Crows. We raced down the road to get past the trees and give ourselves a clearer view. Expecting to see a Buzzard we were more than delighted to note the deeply forked tail and reddish plumage of a Red Kite. Formerly widespread in the UK, for much of the last century the Red Kite has been restricted to a small area of mid-Wales where a few pairs have been steadily, but slowly, increasing under the protection of the RSPB and other conservation bodies. In the 1990s it was decided to give the kites a helping hand by re-introducing them to some of their former haunts. We assumed that this bird, although carrying no obvious markings such as wing tags, originated from the new Chiltern population about 60 km to the west. Having previously driven hundreds of kilometres to catch a glimpse of a Red Kite it was great to find one on my local patch. We watched it for about five minutes until it disappeared over the woods to the north and then headed in the same direction.
Our final walk of the morning was through the mixed woodland of Hitch Wood where we hoped to pick up some of the woodland species currently missing from our list. In the coniferous plantation on the lower slopes a mixed flock of tits included Goldcrest and Coal Tit. As we climbed the hill the closely planted firs of the plantation gave way to more open broad-leaved, mainly beech and oak woodland. From the edge of a clearing, overgrown with bracken and brambles, a Woodcock, a large snipe-like wader that inhabits woodland, exploded from near our feet and zig-zagged away through the trees. A bonus bird. Another mixed flock included a noisy group of Nuthatches (our 50th species at 11:30) and a quieter Treecreeper, feeding on the trunks and main branches of the deciduous trees. The gentle contact calls of the feeding birds suddenly gave way to more strident alarm calls as a large raptor glided low over the tree canopy. Expecting Buzzard or possibly Red Kite, I was surprised to note, briefly, the dark grey upperparts, distinct supercilium, paler underparts and long rounded tail. Although the view was brief and we could not relocate the bird, I was almost certain it was a Northern Goshawk, a large relative of the more common Sparrowhawk. It is a rare resident in the UK with some if not most of its population derived from escaped birds. This was the first Northern Goshawk I had seen in the UK and so the second local area tick of the day. We headed home for lunch well satisfied with our mornings birding; en route a flock of Goldfinch feeding on some teasel heads became our last birds of the morning.
Following lunch we headed out again, accompanied now by Jenny, Matthew and Brian Bond. We saw our first Greenfinch while en route to Bramfield Woods where we did not see much at all. The finch flocks which in previous years had frequented the woodland were conspicuous by their absence. It would have paid to do some reconnaissance just prior to new years day, as it was we spent an hour without adding a species to the list. From Bramfield we drove via the village of Tewin to check out another stretch of the River Mimram. Near Tewinbury, where the river has been dammed to create an ornamental pond we found a flock of 20 Siskins feeding in riverside alders, plus a gathering of waterfowl, including Tufted Duck, Mute Swan, Gadwall and Shoveler. This was another site where Mandarin Ducks had previously been seen, but not today. Our final stop was Stanborough Lakes, alongside the River Lea immediately south of Welwyn Garden City. A flock of Canada and Greylag Geese begged hand-outs from those strolling the banks while Great Cormorants rested in island trees. On the more open eastern pond were four Great Crested Grebes in winter plumage and a solitary male Pochard. The reed bed to the south of this pond is the second most extensive in Hertfordshire, but yielded no new birds today. The yodelling call of a Green Woodpecker (at 15:04) and one Snipe flying over were all we added before returning to the car and resuming our drive. As the light was fading, shortly after 16:00, Yellow Hammer became our 65th and last species of the day. We had missed several common species such as Linnet, Lapwing and Herring Gull plus several others we had recorded on new year’s day 1996, Mandarin, Teal, Sparrowhawk and Corn Bunting but had had the pleasure of adding Red Kite and Northern Goshawk to my local patch list.
