Recent News
Help the Herts MARA survey in its final year!
Surveying for the Hertfordshire Mammal, Amphibian and Reptile Atlas project (Herts MARA) has entered its final year – and special efforts are being made to ensure we finish with the best possible county-wide coverage.
Please be sure to submit your sightings, including roadkill, tracks and other signs such as molehills. Records of common species like Grey Squirrel and Rabbit are needed as well as those that are less usually seen. As spawning gets underway, the MARA team are also keen to hear from pond owners about any frogs, toads or newts.
2019 Herts Bird Club/BTO Conference
Please find details below for this year's Herts Bird Club & BTO Conference:
Saturday 2nd March 2019, 2pm - 5:30pm
Affinity Water Office, Tamblin Way, Hatfield, AL10 9EZ
As usual there is a packed programme of presentations and talks as well as the usual stalls, raffle, bird ID and Herts bird photo competitions. Admission is £5 on the door
Warm thanks go to Affinity Water for once again hosting this popular event. Click Directions to download a map.
2:00 Welcome – Peter Delaloye, Chairman, Herts Bird Club
HNHS/Bird Club warn of threat to last Tree Sparrow colony
HNHS and the Herts Bird Club have voiced strong objections to a proposal that would lead to land occupied by the county's last colony of Tree Sparrows being earmarked for housing development.
Tree Sparrow numbers nationally have declined by 90 per cent since the 1970s and the species has been accorded the highest 'red-list' level of concern by the Government's advisory committee on conservation. The last remaining breeding site in Hertfordshire is at Courser's Farm near Tyttenhanger gravel pits and one of only a handful of colonies left in Southeast England.