Tetrad Work in KL (TL00R) and Whippendell Bottom (TL00L) (26th February)

With the "New Winter Atlas" soon ending on the 29th February I was tasked with finding some of the commoner bird species that had not yet been recorded around my local area. 

KINGS LANGLEY TETRAD (TL00R)

I started out with Theo (my dog) behind the RSSKL but only walked along the eastern edge of the field in hope of finding Stock Dove, unfortunately none were present today and the only birds present included Blackbirds, Chaffinches and Robins feeding amongst the stubble.

WHIPPENDELL BOTTOM TETRAD (TL00L)

On a previous visit on the 19th June 2011 I had found an adult and 2 juvenile Little Owls just east of Whippendell Bottom itself and despite revisiting the same location on several following occasions I could never relocate any Owls.  However, today I was in luck when I was taken totally by surprise at the site of an ad. LITTLE OWL perched in the open and resting in bright sunshine in the horse field just west of Balls Pond Farm.  Surprisingly, 1 Grey Heron was also standing in a nearby field at Balls Pond Farm.  On the opposite side of Chipperfield Road (east of Whippendell Farm) a flock of 60+ Redwing were hopping about amongst the horses on the open field.  Other birds of note in the same area included 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Green Woodpecker a calling Jay and a single Treecreeper in "The Wings" at the eastern end of Scatterdells Wood.  After emerging from the woods again I noticed a Grey Heron flying towards Kings Langley from a NW direction over the A41.  A flock of 42+ Skylarks were in the fields neighbouring Barnes Lane and a further 2 Skylarks rose into the sky doing their classic song flight.