Poor maths...but numbers add up!

Double-checking my 2024 lists I realised I'd made a couple of omissions despite my best efforts.  Well, maths never was my strong point but somehow I managed not to add either Rock Pipit or Hobby to my Five Miles From Home local list, despite mentioning them in blog posts! 

With these additions, it turns out last year really was a record-breaking year for me with 153 species recorded within 5 miles of home.  The notable 150th species was not actually the Red-crested Pochard that I wrote about on 16th Nov 2024 but the far more suitable Yellow-browed Warbler I found at Redwell Wood Farm on 9th Oct 2024.  I had crossed the line earlier than I thought!

The counting has not stopped either and I mused at the end of my last post about the possibility of reaching 100 species before the end of January.  Well, I think I might be in with a chance given the week or even the last few days I've just had!

A brief visit to Tyttenhanger GPs took me along the footpath at the back of Garden Wood and what should fly out but a Hawfinch.  It had no doubt been feeding on the yew berries at about head height but then flew into the wood at treetop height.  I walked into the wood a little way and stood in a clearing, trying not to fall down the many rabbit holes.

I saw it fly again so followed it and then I glimpsed it fly back into the top of a tall pine but I could not see it.  I walked back to my original spot in the clearing and caught the tiniest of movements at the top of the tree.  Zooming in with my bridge camera I could just make it out sitting perfectly still on a branch and almost hidden.

I set up my phone on my telescope and tripod in the hope that it would give better views but it flew down into the yews and I thought I'd lost it.  I walked in the direction it had gone and all of a sudden there it was, perched lower down and in full view!  The video below says everything and is certainly the best recorded views I ever had of a Hawfinch.

The Hawfinch was #95 for my local list and a most unexpected and welcome addition!  But more was to come the next day...

I spent the next morning working in town (St Albans) but planned to walk back home along the River Ver at lunchtime. I went via Verulamium Park as my daughter was walking Max the dog so I joined her to walk home together.  However, it seemed rude not to walk the length of the lake to see if the Yellow-browed Warbler was showing - it was but we had just missed it so I scanned the Black-headed Gulls instead.

Out of the 10-20 Black-headed Gulls on the small boating lake one immediately grabbed my attention: a first winter Mediterranean Gull! I love Med Gulls - they are superficially similar to Black-headed Gulls but always very smart in whatever plumage age or season they are in.  I only had my binoculars with me but thankfully local birder and photographer Rose Newbold took some great shots for the record.

The 1st winter Mediterranean Gull at Verulamium Lake on 21st Jan 2025

Some flight shots of the Mediterranean Gull

The Med Gull of course took me to #96 but I had one more target in mind - the Bullfinches reported at the Watercress Local Nature Reserve - on my route home.  On arrival the reserve was buzzing with activity as usual including a sizeable flock of Siskins intermingled with some Redpolls and other finches.  I waited awhile and then, sure enough a female Bullfinch appeared followed by a beautiful male - #97!

But the day was not yet over and a message from a friend at Shafford Farm informed me that a Blackcap was visiting his bird feeders.  I jumped in the car and carried out a 'mini-twitch' to see the lovely male Blackcap in his garden - #98.

Male Blackcap - photo by John Pritchard

​With the threat of stormy weather over the next few days I had one more target in mind - Tawny Owls!  I therefore staked out a corner of Symondshyde Woods and sure enough several Tawny Owls began calling soon after 5pm.  I had now reached #99 birds in January...surely the 100th species will be forthcoming with 10 days left of the month!!

A Tawny Owl calling in Symondshyde Wood on 21st Jan 2025