The bird breeding season is underway. So we no longer carry out jobs such as hedge laying and coppicing that might interrupt our feathered friends.

So we did something quite different that enabled us to appreciate and enjoy Stocker’s from a different perspective, whilst contributing to countrywide data records of breeding birds around the lake. Our efforts are helping to build up a detailed understanding of how many of which species are breeding at Stockers Lake, the locations of their preferred habitat, and population change over time.

We recorded many of the common song birds including Blackcap, Blackbird, Goldcrest, Wren, Robin, Dunnock, Chiffchaff and Cetti's Warbler. It was interesting to see (hear!) just how many territories there were in the short section we covered from Stockers House meadow to the Heronry viewing platform.

It was more of a training session, as we could not have performed this task without the knowledge and guidance of Josh Kalms from Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust. The hope is to repeat the task some time next month to consolidate the learning and add a few migrant species to the chorus!

Many thanks to Josh Kalms, Ken Davies, Mike Lansdown, Rob, Anna & Alex Liddel, Christine & Nick Gray, Philip & Julia Davies, Amy Gornall, Alison Marriott, Shaan Purohit, Alex Poppel, Russell Ball, Jay Vala, and Janet Reynolds.

Jack Westbrook