Dawn Chorus Walk – 15^th May 2017

We were greeted with a spectacular sunrise this morning at 5am when we arrived on the field for our Dawn Chorus walk. Lots of red in the sky - sailors warning - but the rain held off till we’d almost finished our walk at 7am.

The birds were singing very loudly, especially a Blackcap who serenaded us beautifully, although his song was suddenly interrupted by the call of a Muntjac deer which was even louder! We heard 18 different species of bird in all including Whitethroat, and we saw a Heron flying over Warner’s End wood. The Starlings were particularly numerous and Steve counted 96 birds feeding on the top field, including many fledglings.

We had to take care not to tread on the many Roman, and also Brown-lipped and White-lipped snails, while we admired some of the spring flowers, including Bird’s foot trefoil, Common Vetch and Bugle.

The party was invited back to our house for coffee and toast, where the Bluetits in our camera nest box obligingly started to fledge in spite of the chilly, damp weather. “Better than Breakfast TV!” was the conclusion.

Birds seen/heard

Thank you to Stuart Downhill for getting up so early to lead our walk!

The Grand opening of the Halsey Field - July 16th 2017

A successful Opening - article for the Gazette newspaper

There was an extra buzz on The Halsey Field in Gadebridge last Sunday, when the Mayor Councillor David Collins came to open our new Wildlife Site.

The former Mayor, Maureen Flint, and writer and broadcaster Dennis Furnell also spoke about the importance of preserving the natural environment. Other prominent local figures, including Councillors Janice Marshall and Fiona Guest, the chairman of the Boxmoor Trust David Kirk, and ecology advisor Martin Hicks came for stroll around the site. Many local residents joined us and took part in all the activities.

The weather was kind to us, and the warmth meant there were lots of butterflies on the wing for our Big Butterfly Count in the afternoon, when 16 species of butterfly and 1 species of day flying moth were spotted. Other activities included a guided tour around the field for the Mayor and other visitors, several wild flower walks, a children's bug hunt, and a children's poster competition, with several cake, tea and coffee breaks to sustain us throughout the day. Neal from the Osbourne Property Group kindly came to help us with the catering and photography. There was also a display of live moths from the moth sampling event carried out over the previous evening; all the moths were released back into the field at the end of the day.

A big thank you to everyone who took the time to attend the event and show such enthusiasm for the site, and to all the many people who helped with the day's activities.

 

We Won! - The Friends of Halsey Field are now officially the Community Champion Award winners for 2017

This article is now on the Dacorum website:

The Awards are now in their ninth year, and recognise individuals and groups who go out of their way to make Dacorum a cleaner, safer and greener place to live.

To celebrate the hard work that our Community Champions do in their neighbourhoods, they were invited to a ceremony on Thursday (5 October) where the Mayor of Dacorum presented them with their awards.

Councillor Janice Marshall, Portfolio Holder for Environmental, Sustainability and Regulatory Services, said: "These awards are a perfect opportunity to showcase the selfless people that we have in Dacorum, those who dedicate their spare time to making their communities cleaner, safer and greener. Your hard work is an inspiration to others and does not go unnoticed. Thank you for making Dacorum a better place for all to enjoy!"

Christine Ridley, one of the founding members of the Friends of Halsey Field Group, said: "We are delighted that so many people are able to enjoy this new wildlife site in so many ways - for exercise, socialising, education, and peace and wellbeing."

Find more at the following links:

Early morning bird walk led by Richard Tomlin - Thursday 3rd May 2018

Richard led an excellent walk, and he spotted a Whitethroat before we'd even started walking! On our way round the field, we all had a really good view of a Whitethroat singing at the top of a bush, and Richard  heard a Lesser Whitethroat (which is a much rarer bird) on several occasions. He explained that if it can find a female in the area, it may well stay on the field to breed. 

We also had wonderful views of a Green Woodpecker on the field and Great Spotted Woodpeckers in Warners End wood  (Richard brought  along his telescope for a better view). Altogether we saw/ heard 25 different species of bird, which are listed below.

Early Morning Bird Walk on Sunday 28^th April 2019

led by Richard Tomlin

Our Bird Walk started with the call of a Lesser Whitethroat singing from the middle of a bush on the slope, just near the bench where we assembled. It moved from bush to bush several times calling loudly, but we couldn’t catch a glimpse. However, we did get an excellent view of a Whitethroat singing from the top of a bush, and later down at the bottom of the field, a Willow Warbler singing from the top of a tree. Then Richard spotted a flash of red with a white rump - a Bulfinch flying past, and after a few minutes we could see it clearly as it perched low in the vegetation. He thought it highly likely that this bird will breed on the field this spring, as the habitat is just right for the species.

As we stepped into the wood, we were treated to a chorus of an extremely loud Song Thrush, a beautifully melodic Blackcap, the trill of a Wren and the ‘teacher, teacher’ sound of a great tit, and more. Enough to raise anyone’s spirits!

Despite the rather cool, cloudy weather, we saw or heard 25 species of bird altogether this morning as we wandered through the Hasley Field then into Warners End wood:

_{**Birds on the red list        *Birds on the Amber list}

Thank you, Richard for a truly memorable bird walk!

Early Morning Bird walk on Halsey Field 23.04.2023

Matt Morton and his brother who are both superb birders led an excellent bird walk this morning and we were very lucky that the rain held off for the whole event.

Both Matt and his brother had brought scopes to give us a better view of the birds. From the top of the slope, we had several sightings of Yellowhammer, which undoubtedly means that this species is using the site to breed again this year. Then we were serenaded by a beautiful male Blackbird sitting at the top of a tall tree and we could see several Blue tits and Great tits flitting around in the bushes and a Red Kite flying overhead. Many Blackbirds were singing during our tour of the field, then a stunning Blackcap flew to the top of a bush and began to sing beautifully. Green Woodpeckers yaffled frequently, a Song Thrush could be heard from deep within the vegetation, then a Mistle thrush flew directly overhead towards the woods. The highlight in Warners End Wood was a Nuthatch obviously feeding a family in a tree hole high up in the canopy. Altogether we saw 23 species which is quite a few less than the record number of 40 species that we saw last year. Unfortunately, there was no sign of Whitethroat or Lesser Whitethroat and Matt is of the opinion that the cold weather is responsible for these migrants putting in a late appearance in Britain this spring. He has very kindly offered to arrange another early morning bird walk in about three weeks’ time, once he returns form his trip to Canada.

Birds seen: