The weather remained unsettled in the first half of November, with a mixture of wind and rain but with a few brighter, sunny days. Royston missed the worst effects of a couple of named storms. Temperatures dropped to just above freezing on a couple of nights, with a slight frost. Insect activity predictably dropped away, with just Winter Gnats, Bluebottles, Common Wasps and Eristalis hoverflies showing in sheltered, sunny areas by the middle of the month, although a single Red Admiral briefly fluttered into life on a cold but very sunny morning on the 11th.
Red Admiral on Ivy, Royston, 11 November
I had expected to see lots of autumn fungi appearing, with the combination of large amounts of rain, relatively mild temperatures and some sunny days, but this has certainly not been a vintage year for toadstools. However, I was able to find and photograph a variety of fungi growing on dead wood in Fox Covert.
Fungi Growing on a Log, Fox Covert, 6 November
The first Fieldfares of autumn arrived early in the month. At first they appeared, along with Redwings, in ones and twos, but by the middle of the month larger flocks were seen. Numbers of Goldcrests and Chaffinches, virtually absent from the area during the summer months, were present in greater numbers - doubtless swollen by arrivals from the Continent. Ravens were seen and/or heard in a number of places. I paid a visit to Phillup's Lake on the 9th. I hadn't expected to see the putative Scaup x Tufted Duck hybrid again but there it was, although the accompanying Tufted Ducks had gone. I took some more photos of the bird, both on the lake and when it flew from one end to the other, and have convinced myself that the bird is indeed a (female) hybrid - see the image below.
Scaup x Tufted Duck hybrid (note the lack of a tuft on the head, white feathering at the base of the bill but large dark area at the tip of the bill and dark back) with Coot at Phillup's Lake, Reed End, 9 November
Most of my local walks (I try to walk for at least an hour every day, unless I'm on the road) provide little of interest, but a walk up to Hatchpen on the afternoon of the 14th was more stimulating. There was rain as I walked up the hill towards Reed village, although with the weather clearing from the west. I had a surprise at Hatchpen Pond, where two Barnacle Geese were swimming about. However, before getting excited about a 'first' for my local patch and a rare (admittedly feral) bird for Hertfordshire I noticed some new 'Farmyard Geese' elsewhere on the pond. Every few years Mr Rand buys and releases some pinioned geese here and presumably these are intended as companions for the solitary farmyard goose that is the sole survivor from the last batch (and was ignoring the new birds). Of course, if the Barnacle Geese are seen to fly or disappear I will eat my words!
Barnacle Goose (presumed captive bird), Hatchpen Farm, 14 November
Further up the hill, the sun came out and birds started emerging. These included a flock of over 100 linnets, feeding in game cover and frequently flying from spot to spot, and our four commonest raptors (Common Buzzard, Red Kite, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk). The last was taking an interest in the Linnets, which may have explained why they were so active. A single Corn Bunting, several Yellowhammers and a flock of 30 Fieldfares were also seen. I built up a list of over 30 species recorded, quite a lot for a relatively short walk.
A few of 100+ Linnets seen at Hatchpen Farm, 14 November
Red Kite, Hatchpen Farm, 14 November
Sparrowhawk, Hatchpen Farm, 14 November
Moving further afield, a Short-eared Owl was regularly reported hunting along the Baldock to Wallington road in the early part of the month. When I visited on the 6th I was lucky to see two: one hunting and the other sitting in a field. This appears to have been the only day when two owls were seen. One report of interest was a sighting of two Ring-necked Parakeets on a garden feeder in Therfield village. I wonder how long it will be before I add this species to my local patch list.
On the 17th I embarked on the longest of my local walks (and one that I rarely do), a there and back 10.5 mile slog (mainly) on the Icknield Way, from my house to Heydon Pig Farm, in Cambridgeshire. On the way, I saw a few Reed Buntings (the first I've seen locally this year) and, just across the Cambridgeshire border, a loose flock of 70-80 Corn Buntings. So this is where all my local buntings go in the winter! A Stonechat was also seen and lots of Redwings and (particularly) Fieldfares were feeding in the bushes along the route. Around 400 gulls were loafing at the pig farm, including a good candidate for an adult Caspian Gull. However, the star bird of the day was a female ('ringtail') Hen Harrier, seen in flight over rough grassland to the west of Heydon Grange Golf Club on the way back.
Corn Bunting (top) and Starling on wire, near Heydon, 17 November
Pigs and Gulls at Heydon Pig Farm, 17 November
Perhaps this long walk hastened its arrival, but overnight on the 17/18th I developed a Flu-like viral infection that laid me low for several days and was made worse by a disastrous trip to the Norfolk coast on the 21st (see my UK blog). I didn't get out much locally and saw nothing of interest until the 30th, when I decided to test my returning strength and fitness with a long walk round the villages of Therfield and Reed. I passed a small flock of eight Golden Plovers at Hatchpen Farm (possibly displaced by a partridge shoot that was going on as I walked up the hill towards Reed). The weather was extremely cold, with farm ponds iced over, which may explain why so many birds were found on ice-free Phillup's Lake. I counted 60, roughly half of which were Canada Geese. Also present were seven Tufted Ducks (no sign of the Scaup x Tufted hybrid) and an impressive six Gadwall (three males and three females), easily my highest count of this species on the lake. Coot and Mallard made up the numbers, whilst a small bird that dived and didn't reappear as I approached the lake was typical behaviour for a Little Grebe. My best sighting of the walk came on the way back down the Icknield Way from Therfield, when a Barn Owl put in a brief appearance - my first local sighting for three years!
Male Mallard (left) and Gadwall, Phillup's Lake, Reed End, 30 November
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