Ingrebourne Valley - List Topping

I got to Ingrebourne for 09.00am and was there until about 11.30ish and managed to have my best visit to the Valley so far with a species count of 53.

I'm really pleased with how today went as i managed to see all 53 birds and a lot were tracked down by song or call.

There was the odd exception, like the Garden Warbler that turned out to be a Blackcap on four occaisions before i managed to get it right; however the Garden Warbler finally showed itself over by the heronry.

The highlights including a few raptors; a pair of Kestrel which i managed to view for a while along with what i thought was a Buzzard later on in the morning (not sure on that one so left it off the tally)

A female Bullfinch around tit lake; Meadow Pippit & Skylark on Ingrebourne Hill.

Over in the fisheries i saw my first young Great Crested Grebe with their black and white strippy heads.

I got a good recording of a Yellowhammer over in the Berwick Glades below the Top Paddock and hope to put it on here if it cleans up ok and one of them had a good background song of a Willow Warbler in it. This particular bird then afforded me my best views of this species to date.

A couple of the easier ones not on the list today; Long Tailed Tit & Goldfinch.

So nothing new today for any list but it was a great morning with i think a lot learnt on the calls and songs; a few more bits seemed to fall into place!