26
HATFIELD FOREST - GENERAL MEETING NO. 1279
23rd May, 1982
Twelve members met on a day which started warm and
sunny but the vagaries of the British weather were
such that the meeting ended abruptly in mid-afternoon
with thunder and heavy rain. Even so, we were
rewarded by seeing or hearing a total of 53 bird
species which is exactly the same total as was
recorded for a similar meeting in July 1981.
An immature common gull and a glimpse of a tawny
owl in Elgin Coppice (not recorded in the breeding
bird census of 1976) were our most unusual sightings
of the day. Perhaps of greater interest are the
comparisons between the July 1981 and May 1982
meetings. This year we saw or heard rooks,
pheasant and reed bunting, while we missed green
and lesser spotted woodpeckers, jay and snipe, each
of which must surely have been present on both
visits. The cuckoos seen and heard in May would
probably have left Britain by the July visit ('in
July away I fly....'). The spotted flycatchers,
by comparison, might not have arrived in May, being
one of the last migrants to reach us. Black-headed
gulls were have been at their coastal breeding colonies
in May, while, as I was reminded again this year
by their raucous cries over the Selo Factory in
Brentwood, many return inland in July.
Of the birds which we failed to record on either
visit but which appear in the 1976 census, perhaps
nightingales were our greatest disappointment.
Previously they were recorded around Elman's Green
and I heard them near London Bridge (Hatfield Forest!)
in 1978 - of course no song would have been expected
in July since their song period is so short, usually
finishing in early June. The recent absence of
tree pipits from Elgin Coppice is perhaps less
surprising now that the coppice is growing back, but
most surprising was the failure to note any sedge warblers