My recent visits to Potwells in North Mymms Park have helped me 're-imagine' birding in Herts and begin to believe that good birds might be found, more regularly...if we look!  The temptation is always to look and travel outside Herts for the best birding, or just to wait for others to turn something up, but I think the best rewards come from doing the legwork and discovering some local birds.

My decision to regularly 'do vismig' or observe visible migration from Potwells was long overdue and regular recent visits have rewarded me with a great selection of birds that I just wouldn't normally see in Herts, at least not every year - Goshawk, Tree Pipit, Woodlark & Hawfinch.  Usually I have to wait for a trip to Dunwich Heath in Suffolk or to Wykeham Forest in North Yorkshire but not only have I now seen these birds locally but also more than once!

Today I arrived at 6am - perhaps a bit too early as it was properly dark but I did get several Tawny Owls calling!  For the first hour, even hour and a half, passage was slow to non-existent but eventually Chaffinches and Meadow Pipits began to call and suddenly a Brambling was flying around overhead!

Siskins were plentiful but just after 7.30am I caught a glimpse of a large finch flying up the valley.  Unfortunately it disappeared before I could really confirm what it was but it made me think "Hawfinch".  I played the call and listened and realised I could hear a ticking call - it grew louder and I picked up the 'tseep' flight call too.  I knew it must be perched somewhere on the edge of the wood and, sure enough, there it was, a nice male Hawfinch!  At the same time I thought I could hear another bird but couldn't see it.

Once a Herts speciality, the Hawfinch is now a very rare breeder in Herts and scarce winter visitor.  I don't usually see them every year in Herts and only got to grips with their various calls during the big influx of the winter of 2017/18 when many birds were around in local woods.  It is still a real treat to find a Hawfinch - something I do every year when I visit a known stronghold at Lynford Arboretum in Norfolk - but this was extra special being in woods local to me.

I kept alert and 2 more Hawfinch flew over headed southwest soon after 8am and a further Brambling too.  Despite otherwise low numbers of passage birds the quality had not been lacking.  Swallows and House Martins also continued to make their way south but otherwise the skies were quieter than in previous visits.  I plan to visit again soon - surely Crossbill and Ring Ouzel must be likely potential additions...?

I have resolved - weather & diary permitting - to do a vismig session every weekend first thing at Potwells in North Mymms Park during October.  As a trial run I arrived there this Sunday gone (29th Sep) at 6am just before first light to see how things were shaping up.  The forecast was for some cloud cover and a relatively gentle southeasterly breeze.  As the day dawned the forecast appeared fairly accurate and I witnessed a beautiful sunrise before comprehensive grey cloud got the better of things.

Walking through Redwell Farm from the car to the Potwells viewpoint I could hear one, possibly two, Little Owls calling.  A Skylark also called in the dark - oddly the only one of the morning - while a few Song Thrushes 'ticked' from the surrounding hedgerows.  I arrived at the viewpoint just as the first glow of light was appearing in the east, set-up and began to wait in expectation.

By 7.20am I was beginning to lose heart a little as nothing much seemed to be on the move save for a trickle of Meadow Pipits and the odd Chaffinch.  I did however note a fair few Swallows headed eastwards along with some House Martins.  I reminded myself that birds often don't move until later, depending on conditions so worth the continued wait.

I needn't have worried as, come 7.30am, a sudden increase in passage became apparent with Meadow Pipits, Siskins and Chaffinches moving over in a more definite NE to SW trajectory.  It was at that point I began to hear what might be a Woodlark but blended a bit with the Robin song.  As it drew nearer I could hear the repeated "tit-looee" call as it made its way up the valley and knew I had a Woodlark!  A hasty scan and there it was, heading SW up the valley just above the treetops.

I could easily see its short tail - like a young lark with no tail - and hear its regularly spaced call as it flew in a steady undulating flight past me.  A fantastic record and a Herts rarity although I am convinced we miss many more of them - after all, how many people are daft enough to stand on a hillside in the dark on a Sunday morning?!  It was yet more confirmation that I had found a good 'vismig spot' and that the birds would appear if I was there to look.

The Swallow & House Martin passage continued but shortly after 8.00am another target bird of any vismig session started calling right above me - a Hawfinch!  It disappeared over the tree line and I wondered if it might settle in the woods.  I wasn't able to locate it however but it did become #147 for my Five Miles From Home List - just 3 to go to my target 150!

By the end of my vismig session I'd witnessed over 100 Swallows and 50 House Martins head southeast and just shy of 50 Meadow Pipits and Siskins move mainly southwest.  Other highlights included my first 5 Redwings of the autum, a Hobby, a single Sand Martin and at least 10 Song Thrushes dropping into the hedgerows.

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to find my own Wryneck and recently I did on a visit to Cornwall!  Sadly, my camera continues to play-up and this was really the only shot I managed, the others all too blurry to share.

We were staying just outside St Agnes on the north Cornish coast and just a short walk from St Agnes Beacon - a small tor that, once climbed, gave far-reaching all round views of the area.  The surrounding farmland, hedgerows and scrub all made for excellent Wryneck habitat and it was the perfect time of year for one to pop up.

The Beacon also looked like a good vismig spot so I scheduled an early morning visit on 6th Sep to see what might be there and watch the sun rise.  At the top, I was rewarded with breath-taking views as the mist hung in the valleys and the sun began to rise.  Quite a few Meadow Pipts were mobile around the beacon and one of my target birds then called overhead - a Tree Pipit!  It settled further down the Beacon so I made a mental note to look out for it later.

As I walked the path along the Beacon ridge a lark flew up and landed just a few metres away - a Woodlark!  It didn't stay long enough for a photo but flew off across the nearby field and out of sight.  I continued on a loop down to St Agnes Head to check out the headland scrub and the back up to the Beacon.  I didn't add much on my loop save the local pair of Choughs and a Whinchat with the many Stonechats.  A Ringed Plover and Dunlin flew over - typical passage birds at this time of year.

As I walked along the lower path round the Beacon a small bird flew up and across the gorse.  I put my bins to my eyes and bingo!  There sat a Wryneck and the very first one I had found myself.  I was amazed at how small it looked in flight - just like a large warbler really.  They are peculiar, cryptic birds with their unique camouflage and habit of twisting their neck like a serpent.  They also - at least to me - possess a 'larger than life' quality as when observed in binoculars or in a scope they seem a fairly significant bird and yet the moment they fly or start flitting around the resemble a bird not much bigger than a House Sparrow.

The Wryneck remained in the area and eventually disappeared into a small holly bush not to be seen again.  However, the Tree Pipit did reappear in the same bush!  My next target must surely be a new camera!!

It's been a 'Goshawk year' for me with several rare chance encounters rather than the usual sightings at well-known viewpoints in Yorkshire or the New Forest.  This magnificent bird of prey with its near-mythical status thanks to its rarity and secretive habits had, until this year, eluded me locally.  And yet, with reports of this species spreading nationally, it seemed only a matter of time before I would encounter one in Herts.

And indeed, on 16th March this year I stood in the garden observing a particularly good passage of Buzzards overhead when I suddenly spotted a soaring Goshawk with 2 or 3 Common Buzzards.  Immediately identifiable by its classic shape it appeared to be an adult bird with very white undersides and possibly a female given it was almost the same size as the Buzzards it soared with.  Typically, no camera to hand it disappeared out of sight - a new species for the garden list and for my 5-miles from home local patch list.

A few days later I decided to check out a place that has for a long time been mooted as a possible sight for local Goshawks - Prae Wood in the Gorhambury Estate on the edge of St Albans.  My first visit with another local birder gave us a few 'likely' sightings encouraging us but not convincing us 100%.  A bonus bird took the form of a Woodlark flying up the valley but the Goshawk remains a real rarity and better views were needed before I could be sure!

A few days later I tried another viewpoint which gave reasonable views over the main woodland and was rewarded quite quickly with 2 separate Goshawks soaring up on several occasions before quickly dropping back down and out of sight.  The best view came as a Goshawk rose up only to be dived on by a Sparrowhawk - something I never thought I'd see in St Albans!  The Sparrowhawk looked tiny compared to the Goshawk and I wished I had got my digi-scope setup ready in time.

​Sadly, all the views were too brief to secure decent shots of the birds so others would just have to take my word for it!  Despite a couple of others seeing the birds in subsequent days it felt like a question mark remained for the doubting Thomas' of the bird-world.  With a bird like the Goshawk, it seems seeing really is believing!  A few later visits to the woods did not produce any further views and whether these birds bred or not remains to be seen.

I had a number of other Goshawk encounters as the year went on with a bird soaring high over the New Forest and one that cut past almost at ground level when visiting the well-known hotspot that is Acres Down.  Unusually, on a return trip from Cornwall, a bird cruised across the A303 on Salisbury Plain as I drove.  Already, my Goshawk tally for the year was above average.

It was a real surprise therefore when one of my recent visits to Potwells in North Mymms Park on 28th August produced the best sighting of all - a local bird and one that soared long enough for me to capture some all-important photographs.  A fresh juvenile bird, evident from it's orangery-buff plumage causing speculation that this might indeed be a locally raised bird.  Of course, it may have just been passing through and sadly, to date, no further sightings have been made.  That said, Goshawk is firmly on my local radar and hopefully it won't be too long before breeding in the county is confirmed.