1st for Herts - Peregrine Nest Live Cam!
Over 46,000 views of the Live Cam page! (as of 18 April)
In a first for Hertfordshire a live webcam on a Peregrine Falcon nest has been launched today (31-March-2023) at St Albans Cathedral.
Go to Peregrine Live Cam to view where you can also download a Peregrine Falcon Fact File providing further information.
The Live Cam has been launched by St Albans Cathedral working with the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust and Barry Trevis and follows their first successful breeding season at the cathedral in 2022.
Request for Rookery counts
Early spring is here and once again we are asking for records of rookery nest counts to be submitted to the website. Rookeries have been counted in Hertfordshire for a long time and for the past few years we have been collating the counts to try and chart the fortunes of this species.
Herts Spring Migrant Tracker
The first Sand Martin of 2023 was seen on 11-Mar just one day out from its average arrival date in Herts.
Back for its second year, track the first dates of 20 more of our most common spring arrivals using the excellent Herts Spring Migrant Tracker developed by Chris Ruis.
Latest arrivals:
Hobby, 17-Apr, High Wych nr Sawbridgeworth
Cuckoo, 15-Apr, Essendon
Lesser Whitethroat, 10-Apr, Stanborough GPs
BTO National Woodcock Survey 2023
This summer the BTO are organising a national Woodcock survey. For more details about how to contribute in Hertfordshire please click here where a list of priority sites can be found along with a link to the BTO and the interactive map displaying the survey sites. Details of other ongoing national surveys can also be found by clicking the survey tab on the left-hand side of the website
LOCAL PATCH BIG WEEKEND 2023 - 29th April to 1st May
Following a twitter poll the dates of the 2023 Herts Local Patch Big Weekend are confirmed as Saturday 29th April to Monday 1st May. This is of course a bank holiday weekend allowing for an additional 24 hours of glorious patch birding!
More details to follow, but the format is expected to be very similar to last year's event, a review of which can be found here >> 2022 Herts Local Patch Weekend
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HNHS News
The Hertfordshire Naturalist 2026 – contributions sought
Stuart Warrington, editor of the Hertfordshire Naturalist, is looking for for contributions to the 2026 edition.
These can be articles or observations or photos about the wildlife, habitats or geology of the county. We are happy to look at a range of content and styles, so please do consider making a contribution to our long-running journal.
Website Upgrade
The HNHS and Bird Club management committees are working together to redevelop and upgrade the HNHS and Bird Club websites. The project is currently in the early planning stages and, as part of this, we would like users of the websites to provide feedback on the websites to help us understand what needs improving via two short surveys linked below. All feedback received will be collated and reviewed during the planning process.
Please provide feedback on the HNHS website here.
Please provide feedback on the Bird Club website here.
How to help Swifts – the 2026 Herts Bird Conference
The 2026 Hertfordshire Bird Conference attracted a full house of HNHS/Bird Club members and friends on Saturday 7 March to hear fascinating talks on Swift conservation, birds in urban greenspaces and the 'journey' of a bird record submitted through the Bird Club website.
Videos of all the main presentations can be found on the HNHS YouTube channel
Swifts are our fastest bird in level flight and famously only land when nesting. They otherwise feed, drink, sleep and mate on the wing.