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!
New UK-wide survey - Birds in Greenspaces
This new BTO citizen science survey, will run from April to June 2026, is open to all, and aims to find out just how important public-access greenspaces are for UK birds.
Go to Bird in Greenspaces to learn more including how to take part
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,
Herts Spring Migrant Tracker
The Herts Spring Migrant Tracker is back for 2026.
Track when our regular spring migrants are most likely to be first seen in the county.
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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.