Current members of the Herts Rare Birds Panel are:

David was born in neighbouring Bedfordshire and has been a keen birder since he was at primary school. Between the mid 1980s to early 1990s he travelled all over the UK chasing rarities but since moving to Hertfordshire in 1997 spends most of his time birding locally around Tring. He can often be found at Wilstone Reservoir, where he has found several county rarities including Red-rumped Swallow, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Ducks and White-winged Black Tern. David is a Herts Bird Club commitee member and was county bird recorder from January 2011 until March 2012.

Tony grew up in Bushey and has been birding in Hertfordshire since the late 1970s. He now lives just over the county boundary, in Stanmore, but his regular birding is in Hertfordshire where he is a WeBS counter, has been a member of the Rare Birds Panel since 2003 and county bird recorder from 2006-2010. He has birded all over the British Isles, from Shetland to Scilly and enjoys chasing rarities whether locally or nationally. He has watched birds in many countries in Europe, including during periods working in France and Belgium; has made many trips to Spain; and undertaken birding visits further afield in Senegal, Hong Kong, Ecuador and Thailand.

Jack has enjoyed seeing rare birds since 1963 when a Western Bonelli’s and two Melodious Warblers turned up on a ringing course at Dungeness. Born in Hertfordshire, much of his birding has been spent in the county, but rarer birds have taken him from Scilly to Shetland. He has birded much of Europe, North, South, East and West Africa, the Middle East, India and Asia. He has spent considerable time birding in North and Central America, particularly the USA where he has birded 23 of the contiguous States. Jack’s design work has brought him into close contact with birders such as Bryan Bland, Peter Grant, David Fisher and Steve Rooke. His second business, since 2000, is a bespoke birding tour company, in partnership with Gary Elton, mainly aimed at North American and other overseas birders visiting Britain. Jack served on the Herts Bird Club committee and edited the Bird Club’s Bulletin for nine years. He helped to edit and produce the second Herts breeding atlas and is co-author of the book Birds at Tring Reservoirs. Jack holds a ringing licence, is a member of the Maple Cross Ringing Group and helps to run a Constant Effort Site at Hilfield Park Reservoir.

Ted Fletcher (non-voting secretary)

Ted has always been interested in birds but started to become more serious once he relocated back to Herts in 1981. He joined the Bird Club immediately and has been involved in some capacity ever since. In addition to the HRBP, he is Secretary of the Club, a member of its Scientific Committee and Editor of the Hertfordshire Bird Report. He also sits on the HNHS Management Committee. Ted is a keen, rather than authoritative birder, and sets himself a modest target of species to see in the UK each year – not always successfully. He became hooked on overseas birding in the late 1980s and now tries to visit two countries each year, an objective greatly improved when he was granted a very early retirement in 1991. Having now visited 39 countries (New Zealand six times) and seen almost 4500 different species, including several with a population of less than 50 birds, he would like to get to 5000 before the legs give out. Other than birding, Ted neglects his garden and follows Arsenal FC – but, unlike the birding, rarely away from home and never outside the UK. 

Alan has bird watched in Hertfordshire since the late 1960s, based mainly in the Lee Valley in the east, centred round Rye Meads. He has operated with the Rye Meads Ringing Group since 1973, and is Honorary Secretary of the group. Alan regularly makes over 100 bird watching visits to Rye Meads each year, and currently coordinates the annual breeding bird survey there, and undertakes the WeBS count. He was co-author of the Birds of Rye Meads, published in 2005. Alan is a well travelled birder and has extensive birding experience in many parts of the world, particularly in the Middle East. Locally (in addition to his Rye Meads activities) he participates in many surveys for the Herts Bird Club and the BTO, including current Atlas work. Over the years Alan has found an impressive list of county rarities including Leach’s Petrel, Squacco Heron, Little Bittern, Spotted Crake, Great Snipe, Pectoral Sandpiper, Great Skua, Sabine’s Gull, Red-rumped Swallow and Marsh Warbler. He has published a number of papers relevant to the county avifauna, both in the Rye Meads Ringing Group reports and the Hertfordshire Bird Report, most recently a review of subspecies in Hertfordshire up until 31 December 2004 (on behalf of the HRBP) (Trans HNHS 39 353-358, 2007). Alan is a book illustrator and has contributed to many ground breaking papers and books on bird identification. He has been a member of the HRBP since 1994.

Mike was born in Hertford and has birded since he was about 12 years old in local woods and gravel pits around the county town. He discovered Amwell in 1979 whilst walking back from Rye Meads RSPB to Hertford and has been birding there on and off ever since. Rare Hertfordshire birds found by Mike include Great Reed Warbler, Corncrake and Great Northern Diver at Amwell, Montagu’s Harrier in North Herts and a number of semi-rare Herts birds. He also proved the first breeding of Raven in Hertfordshire for 160 years. Mike was county recorder for approximately five years and also sits on the Herts Bird Club scientific committee. He is a keen British lister (currently having seen approx 470 species in the UK) as well as widely travelled outside the UK with a world list approaching 4000 species.

Barry Reed