Local Wildlife Sightings, November 2026

 High pressure dominated the first week of November, with predominantly dull weather and a few showers that produced 4mm of rain in my garden. This was typical November weather which, I have to say, didn't encourage me to get out and about. I had mixed feelings on seeing a Hedgehog roadkill near the bottom of Briary Lane, Royston, on the 2nd. On the one hand, there was sadness at seeing another animal road death. On the other hand, I hadn't seen a Hedgehog, living or dead, in Royston for several years. It was good to know (assuming that this was not Royston's last Hedgehog) that a population still survives on my local patch. I am reminded of the time in the 1990s when a female Hedgehog had a litter of babies in my garden and next door's daughter did a school project about them: a sad decline in our Hedgehog population has occurred since then.

Having established that I am once again fit enough to do the nine mile walk from home around the villages of Reed and Therfield, I set out again on the 6th. I was unlucky with the rain, catching a prolonged shower en route (there being little wind to move the rain over) but came back with an impressively long list of bird sightings (42), with a further five species heard only. Undoubtedly the best sighting was of a Shoveler duck at Phillup's Lake. The bird didn't stay for long, taking off whilst I was there, but I was able to grab a couple of photos before it departed (below). Although the Shoveler is a relatively common breeding bird on Hertfordshire's larger water bodies, this was only my second local sighting, the first being many years ago on a small pond at Park Farm (Therfield).

Male Shoveler, Phillup's Lake, 6 November

Male Shoveler in Flight, near Phillup's Lake, 6 November

Another highlight was to see a flock of 33 Golden Plovers wheeling around over Grey's Farm (Therfield) - my first local sighting this autumn of a species that often over-winters in the area. Red Kites, including seven roosting together in the same tree on Hatchpen Farm, were abundant. Yellowhammers and Fieldfares were seen as individuals or in small flocks at several locations, but no Chiffchaffs were recorded - have they all now left the area? As expected with temperatures hovering around 10C, no butterflies or dragonflies were recorded.

Four (of seven) roosting Red Kites, Hatchpen, 6 November