Herts Rare Birds Panel secretary

MIke Ilett

Mike was born in Hertford and birded since he was 12 years old in local woods and gravel pits around the county town.He discovered Amwell in 1979 whilst walking back from Rye Meads RSPB to Hertford and has been birding there on and off ever since, having seen approximately 200 species there.

Rare birds found by Mike include Franklin’s Gull (first for Herts), Great Reed Warbler (second for Herts) Corncrake and Great Northern Diver at Amwell, Rough-legged Buzzard at Hay Street and Montagu’s Harrier at Wallington and relocating seven Bee-eaters at Bayford as well as a number of semi rarities. He also proved the first breeding of Raven in Hertfordshire for 160 years

Mike was county Bird recorder approximately five years. He is a keen British lister (currently having seen over 530 species in the UK) as well as widely travelled outside the Uk throughout Africa, Asia, Australia and North & South America. Mike is co-author of the Birds of Hertfordshire published in 2015.

Herts Rare Birds Panel member

Graham White

Graham has been birding in Hertfordshire since the late 1960s, treading on every square foot of the Lee Valley. After writing a letter to St Albans Sand and Gravel Co in the late 70’s, he became instrumental in steering the creation of Amwell nature reserve, along with Trevor James and Tom Gladwin. Rare birds found in the county include Black Stork, Falcated Teal, Marsh Sandpiper, Short-toed Lark and White-winged Tern. An Ecologist throughout his working life, with HMWT and RSPB, he has designed and managed nature reserves for conservation priority birds all around the world.

Herts Rare Birds Panel member

Rob Martin

Rob only found the delights of birding in Hertfordshire after moving from Norfolk in 2017. His day job is assessing the global extinction risk of birds for the IUCN Red List, before which he carried out field research on Critically Endangered birds in Indonesia, worked in ecotourism in Cambodia and as an ecologist in the UK.

He's an eBird reviewer for Herts, Beds and Cambridge (and Sulawesi), having embraced the technology early on when studying in California. Before moving to Herts he used to find a rare bird or two, like the Norfolk Rufous-tailed Robin on his 30th birthday. Two young daughters means his recent focus is around home in Baldock, testing to destruction the theory that good birds can appear anywhere.

Herts Rare Birds Panel member (Recorder)

Chris Hocking

Chris's interest in birds began at age eight, when his grandmother introduced him to woodland birds. The bug really bit in the late 1970s, when Bernard King encouraged him to look for a Green-winged Teal at Marazion - his first rarity, although not even a species then! Shortly after, watching the once-numerous Wood Warblers at Ashridge with Chris Mead deepened that interest. His birding has since taken him around the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North America, where he has met many other enthusiastic birders. All these encounters have shown him how sharing knowledge and enthusiasm can inspire a lifelong interest. He is keen to help others find their own enjoyment of birding, whether through understanding bird behaviour, photography, contributing records or simply watching birds.

Herts Rare Birds Panel member

Roy Hargreaves

Roy was born in Lancashire and moved to Hampshire at an early age. From there he moved to Tring in 1988 and made Tring Reservoirs his local patch before unpacking. Since 1988 he has worked for BT in software development and is currently a Data Migration Specialist. Since 2004 he has largely worked from home and this has allowed him to walk down to and round Wilstone Reservoir on most mornings before work. As a result he has been able find several notable Hertfordshire birds of which Icterine Warbler, Richard?s Pipit and Red-footed Falcon are probably the most memorable. When he is away from Tring Roy loves to visit Shetland in the autumn and when travelling further afield has been to many countries, including less-visited ones such as Angola. He is also a moderately keen British lister and has seen over 500 species in Britain, but these days puts most of his efforts into trying to increase the list of species he has found at Tring Reservoirs. Roy also takes part in national surveys both at the reservoirs and on a nearby square for BBS. He also took part in the Timed Tetrad survey in 2007 to 2011. Roy has always had an interest in bird identification and many years ago wrote identification articles for Bird Watching magazine and particularly likes LBJs and the challenges they can present. Roy joined the Panel in 2015.

Herts Rare Bird Panel member

Barry Reed

Barry lives in Ware, goes birding almost every day and keeps a close eye on the birds at Amwell NR. He has found many county rarities and has an impressive knowledge of Herts rarities and their historical context. He has a special interested in gulls. He is one of the Top 20 Listing Birders in the UK and has been birding all over the world.