Herts Bird Club – making the most of local birdwatching

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Welcome to the Herts Bird Club website. We promote the study and recording of birds in Hertfordshire and encourage a wider interest in natural history including the conservation of wildlife habitats.

Avian Flu advice

Latest news

The Herts Local Patch Big Weekend 2026

Competing teams found 111 species on a weekend that highlighted the best of patch birding!

The weekend of Sat 25th & Sun 26th April saw nine teams head out into their local patches to see what could be found in the 48 hours available.  Alarm clocks were set early and four of the nine teams headed out on foot immediately securing them 20 ‘green’ points.  Well done to the Ver Dippers, the Aquadrome Adventurer, the Mill End Lone Ranger and the Park Street Part-timer for clocking up a huge number of carbon-free steps over the weekend!  Fewer steps but just as ‘green’ were the Wise Birders who watched from their garden!

2026 Rookery Survey

Rooks are busy nest building at this time of year and the Herts Bird Club is once again asking submission of Rookery nest counts in Hertfordshire in 2026.

In 2025, 228 Rookeries with 4338 nests were found, a big increase on the 2024 totals as a result of better observer coverage. Rooks have been surveyed for a long period in Hertfordshire going back to a complete survey in 1960/61 where 521 Rookeries with 15739 nests were found (Sage & Nau, 1963). Numbers declined until the 1990's, but appear to be stable since, with a loss of Rookeries in the south of the county and trend towards more but smaller Rookeries (Knight, Herts Bird Report 2021).  

House Martin Conservation – Call for records

House Martin Conservation is an independent charity that aims to increase knowledge of the house martin and create a channel for support throughout the UK and Ireland. The 2026 season sees the charity make a renewed call for all nesting records of this declining species.

In partnership with Coreo,

Latest Hertfordshire Bird Report

The Hertfordshire Bird Report 2024

The Hertfordshire Bird Report 2024 was published and circulated to members in November 2025. (Transactions of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society Vol 57 (2) pp. 89-168 ISSN 0375 3409)

Contents

Editorial (Clifford Smout)

Guidelines for observers - a checklist of the birds of Hertfordshire

Review of the year (Clifford Smout)

Read more

Latest HNHS publication

 

Herts Invertebrate Project

Read here about how to join this new recording initiative.

Herts Atlas of Mammals, Amphibians and Reptiles

Please submit sightings and field signs of mammals, amphibians and reptiles to our countywide survey, full details at the Herts MARA website.

Hertfordshire Bird Atlas

All the results from the most recent Atlas (2007-12) and both previous atlas surveys available here.

Bird records

Please send us your Herts bird sightings through the records submission page. Use the Breeding status dropdown where applicable and Comment field to add notes of interest.

Latest sightings of interest are published on the right hand side of this page, once they have been checked by a moderator. Search for older published records by month/site/species in Sightings Archive. 

 

See details of some great places to visit in Hertfordshire at this time of year.

Take part in our  projects and surveys.

Buy a book, most HNHS books are now for sale at half price or less.

The success of the site depends on you, the users, entering your records and sending in interesting information, not only sightings which can be entered online but also reports on trips and additional site guides. We also welcome feedback on what you would like to see on the site: email birdweb@hnhs.org

Injured or orphan birds ? advice here.

The Herts Bird Club is part of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society and our websites are integrated. We hope this will encourage those of you who have not investigated other aspects of wildlife in Hertfordshire to have a look around the HNHS website, discover what is available. Please submit your records of other wildlife, including mammals, amphibians, reptiles and dragonflies through the HNHS website.

Who's who in the Herts Bird Club.