Mammal, Amphibian and Reptile survey – staying focused for the last six months
Covid restrictions have twice postponed the final year of the Hertfordshire Mammal, Amphibian and Reptile Atlas (Herts MARA) project. But it's been full steam ahead in 2022, with a strong focus on under-recorded parts of the county during the closing months.
Beane Valley Spindle stripped bare by caterpillars
Spindle bushes along Hertfordshire's Beane Valley are being stripped bare of leaves by a spectacular eruption of caterpillars.
HNHS member Harry Bott was astonished by the sight of a bush smothered in the silken webs protecting thousands of feeding caterpillars on his farm at Bennington, near Stevenage. As he puts it: "The most extraordinary sight that I have never seen before in 60 years of farming here."
Breeding Peregrines, mugger ducks and fabulous photos – the 2022 Herts Bird Conference
Hertfordshire’s increasing breeding population of the spectacular Peregrine Falcon and the influence of climate change on wintering wildfowl in the Lee Valley were among topics highlighted at the annual Herts Bird Club / BTO conference.
More than 70 members and their guests joined the event online to hear Barry Trevis talk about steps being taken to monitor and assist breeding Peregrines, illustrated with his own impressive, close-up photographs.
Living in Hertfordshire – the past 100 million years
Hertfordshire is not normally noted for shark-infested waters. But fossil remains have revealed how 50 million years ago the seas covering what became our county were home to ancestors of today's sharks.
This was one among many intriguing insights into the county's geological history provided by chalk micropalaeontologist Haydon Bailey when he gave the online Gerald Salisbury Memorial Lecture on the evening of Wednesday 23 February.
Breeding Peregrines and thieving ducks to feature at Herts Bird Conference
Hertfordshire's breeding Peregrines and kleptoparasitic ducks in the Lea Valley will feature at the 2022 Bird Conference taking place online on the morning of Saturday 19 March (10.30am to 1pm).
Award-winning naturalist Barry Trevis will talk about exciting developments that led to breeding by Peregrine Falcons at three county sites being reported in the 2020 Herts Bird Report (with further news to come).