Back to the Kings Langley Local Patch (23rd December)

Had a long walk around my old stomping grounds of Kings Langley, down Barnes Lane and through Scatterdells Wood in hope of Little Owl on the usual perch near Barnes Lane and Yellowhammer, both of which I have not seen in Cornwall since moving down there in September.  Also typical of the patch, I failed on both, well nearly.  Not much down Barnes Lane at all to be honest but it was nice to see the Black-headed Gulls back on the KL State School playing fields along with a scattering of Common Gulls.  I'm still very hopefull that it will eventually turn up a Med Gull despite Herring Gull being the best I have ever recorded here before.  A Buzzard was also amongst them but still no sign of any Yellowhammers.  Recently, I've been seeing less and less of the Little Owl on the perch down Barnes Lane so I was a little worried to find the area deserted, perhaps a sign of the national decline in this species that I have probably underestimated until now.  Next, I had a wander around Scatterdells Wood, visited the usual Marsh Tit spot but that too was deserted.  However, I did hear and later see a Marsh Tit on the south side of the wood, a place I haven't recorded them in before so that was a bonus and I finally heard my first Yellowhammer of the day on my walk back along Chipperfield Road.