Trip reports
 | Sunday, 15 March 2020 The weather wasn't great, but we managed to enjoy the delights of this lovely reserve adjacent to the River Trent in what turned out to be our last meeting of the season. More... |
 | Sunday, 16 February 2020 Coach trip to RSPB Titchwell Marsh (Joint trip with RSPB Stevenage Local Group). Despite adverse weather we had an enjoyable visit to Titchwell, seeing lots of birds (86 species in all). More... |
 | Sunday, 19 January 2020 Coach Trip to RSPB Lakenheath Fen Blue skies, frosty ground, lots of water pipits and a very showy water rail were notable features of our first field trip of 2020. More... |
 | Sunday, 8 December 2019 Own transport visit to Ferry Meadows (am) and Woodwalton Fen (pm). There was an excellent turnout for our visit, on a sunny but windy day, to two sites in Cambridgeshire. More... |
 | Sunday, 17 November 2019 Coach trip to Blashford Lakes H & IOWWT (Joint trip with RSPB Stevenage Local Group). We were lucky with the weather (again) and saw some interesting birds on our visit to Blashford Lakes More... |
 | Sunday, 20 October 2019 Coach Trip to Holkham and Wells An impressive selection of wildlife kept us all happy during our visit to Holkham and Wells More... |
 | Sunday, 15 September 2019 Coach trip to Rye Harbour SWT (Joint trip with RSPB Stevenage Local Group) We enjoyed glorious weather and some great wildlife during our group visit to Rye Harbour, on the East Sussex coast. More... |
 | Sunday, 25 August 2019 Own Transport Visit to College Lake and the Tring Reservoirs Despite tropical temperatures we managed to find plenty of birds on the Hertfordshire/Buckinghamshire border More... |
 | Wednesday, 19 June 2019 Half Day Visit to RSPB Lakenheath Fen and Thetford Forest Our final field trip of the season did not disappoint, despite some heavy and prolonged rain showers. More... |
 | Sunday, 16 June 2019 Our final coach trip of the season provided a fabulous finale at the amazing RSPB Minsmere reserve.. More... |
 | Sunday, 19 May 2019 Coach Trip to Frensham Common and Ponds We enjoyed an excellent visit to this Surrey heathland habitat. More... |
 | Sunday, 14 April 2019 Coach Trip to RSPB Pagham Harbour (Joint Trip with RSPB Stevenage Local Group). We saw 83 bird species, including an excellent selection of waders, when we visited RSPB Pagham Harbour reserve. More... |
 | Sunday, 17 March 2019 Coach Trip to RSPB Frampton Marsh We enjoyed an excellent day out at this splendid RSPB reserve. More... |
 | Sunday, 17 February 2019 Coach Trip to Abberton Reservoir EWT and Tollesbury EWT Reserves Super birds at Abberton, combined with a pleasant walk by the Blackwater Estuary at Tollesbury, made for a varied and enjoyable day out, with over 80 bird species seen. More... |
 | Sunday, 20 January 2019 Coach Trip to Lackford Lakes SWT and Lynford Arboretum We had a great day out at two Breckland reserves. More... |
 | Sunday, 9 December 2018 Own Transport Visit to The Lee Valley, including RSPB Rye Meads Our final field trip of 2018 saw us visiting three reserves along the River Lee valley. More... |
 | Sunday, 18 November 2018 A coach full of RSPB Hitchin and Letchworth and RSPB Stevenage Local Group members had a great day out at RSPB Old Moor reserve in South Yorkshire. More... |
 | Sunday, 21 October 2018 Coach Trip to RSPB Dungeness and Dungeness NNR Beautiful weather, birds, butterflies and dragonflies were all enjoyed on our visit to the two nature reserves at Dungeness on the south coast of Kent. More... |
 | Sunday, 16 September 2018 Coach Trip to Cley NWT Reserve Otter, arctic skua, arctic tern and pink-footed geese were some of the highlights of our first coach trip of the season, to Cley NWT. More... |
 | Sunday, 26 August 2018 Own Transport Visit to Rutland Water We saw some cracking birds on our first field trip of the 2018-19 season, to Rutland Water. More... |
 | Sunday, 17 June 2018 Coach Trip to Stodmarsh NNR and RSPB Blean Woods Two reserves in Kent provided us with a wealth of wildlife on our final coach trip of the season. More... |
 | Sunday, 20 May 2018 The sun shone, the birds sang and we had a great time in The New Forest. More... |
 | Sunday, 15 April 2018 Coach Trip to Titchfield Haven NNR (joint trip with RSPB Stevenage Local Group) Water vole and great white egret were amongst many highlights of our visit to Titchfield Haven. More... |
 | Sunday, 18 March 2018 Coach Trip to Fingringhoe Wick EWT The 'Mini Beast from the East' failed to deter (most of) us as we visited the beautiful Fingringhoe Wick Essex Wildlife Trust nature reserve. More... |
 | Sunday, 18 February 2018 Coach Trip to RSPB Pulborough Brooks (joint trip with RSPB Stevenage Local Group) We enjoyed a pleasant day at one of the RSPB's flagship reserves, with the star bird being an over-wintering Temminck's stint. More... |
 | Sunday, 21 January 2018 Coach Trip to RSPB Fen Drayton and WWT Welney Rain, sleet and snow all day failed to prevent our members from having a good day out at two (fairly) local reserves. More... |
 | Sunday, 10 December 2017 Own Transport Visit to Paxton Pits and Woodwalton Fen Sadly, this trip was cancelled on the day due to adverse weather conditions (snow and ice, hazardous driving conditions and a forecast of further rain, sleet and snow throughout the day). More... |
 | Sunday, 19 November 2017 Coach Trip to RSPB Rainham Marshes The Local Group enjoyed a cold but sunny and calm bird-filled day by the side of The Thames, recording over 80 species of bird. More... |
 | Sunday, 15 October 2017 Coach Trip to Holkham and Wells (joint trip with RSPB Stevenage Local Group) Great birds and fantastic weather followed us again on our visit to Holkham and Wells, on the North Norfolk coast. More... |
 | Sunday, 17 September 2017 Coach Trip to RSPB Titchwell Marsh RSPB Titchwell Marsh 'produced the goods' again, including 17 different species of wader, on a brilliant warm and sunny day. More... |
 | Sunday, 27 August 2017 Own Transport Visit to RSPB Lakenheath Fen We enjoyed glorious summer weather, some fine birds and a wide variety of insect life on our first field trip of the new season. More... |
 | Sunday, 18 June 2017 Coach Trip to RSPB Strumpshaw Fen Our final coach trip of the season, in sweltering heat, provided an extravaganza of insects and some good birds as well. More... |
 | Sunday, 21 May 2017 RSPB Minsmere in May is at its zenith and, on a gloriously sunny day, we recorded 99 bird species and a host of other plants, mammals and insects. More... |
 | Sunday, 23 April 2017 Most of this Surrey heathland's special birds showed themselves well on a lovely sunny day. More... |
 | Sunday, 19 March 2017 Coach Trip to RSPB Frampton Marsh Despite the strong wind we had an enjoyable visit to a top RSPB reserve in Lincolnshire. More... |
 | Sunday, 19 February 2017 We enjoyed an excellent day's bird watching at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust's flagship reserve, adjacent to the Severn Estuary. More... |
 | Sunday, 15 January 2017 Coach Trip to West Stow CP and Lynford Arboretum Despite poor weather we still managed to have an enjoyable visit to two Breckland Sites. More... |
 | Sunday, 11 December 2016 Own Transport Visit to Rutland Water Ten local members enjoyed a wonderful day's birdwatching at Rutland Water, with an exceptional selection of rare wintering grebes and wildfowl being seen. More... |
 | Sunday, 20 November 2016 Coach Trip to HIWWT Blashford Lakes Our first visit to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust Blashford Lakes reserve provided an excellent day's birdwatching, despite the very wet conditions. More... |
 | Sunday, 16 October 2016 Coach Trip to RSPB Dungeness and Dungeness NNR Despite some hold-ups on the way down we were able to spend nearly 5 hours at Dungeness, enjoying good views of a wide variety of birds and other wildlife. More... |
 | Sunday, 18 September 2016 Our first coach trip of the season proved to be enjoyable for all, with no fewer than 91 bird species seen together with a host of other wildlife. More... |
 | Sunday, 28 August 2016 Own Transport Visit to RSPB Sandy and Grafham Water The new season got under way with a morning visit to 'HQ', followed by a trip to the shores of Grafham Water. More... |
 | Sunday, 12 June 2016 Coach Trip to NWT Hickling Broad Our final coach trip of the season took us to Norfolk Wildlife Trust's Hickling Broad reserve, where most of us enjoyed boat trips on the broad and all of us saw some great wildlife. More... |
 | Sunday, 15 May 2016 Coach Trip to The Peak District Our longest trip of the season saw us in Staffordshire, enjoying the magnificent scenery and upland breeding birds of this special National Park. More... |
 | Sunday, 17 April 2016 We encountered lots of recently arrived passage migrants and summer visitors during an excellent day at Rye Harbour on the East Sussex coast. More... |
 | Sunday, 20 March 2016 Coach Trip to Attenborough Gravel Pits Our visit to Attenborough was blessed with good weather, excellent birds and even a few butterflies. More... |
 | Sunday, 21 February 2016 Coach Trip to RSPB Titchwell Marsh One of our very favourite reserves didn't disappoint when we shared a visit to RSPB Titchwell Marsh with the Stevenage Local Group. More... |
 | Sunday, 17 January 2016 Coach Trip to Lackford Lakes SWT and RSPB Lakenheath Fen Our first coach trip of the New Year took us to two Suffolk reserves which hosted an impressive variety of bird species. More... |
 | Sunday, 13 December 2015 Own Transport Visit to Stockers Lake and Amwell Gravel Pits A few of us braved cold and cheerless weather to visit two Hertfordshire nature reserves and were rewarded with some good bird sightings. More... |
 | Sunday, 15 November 2015 Coach Trip to Elmley Marshes NNR Our first visit for some time to Elmley Marshes NNR was full of interesting sightings and enjoyed by all. More... |
 | Thursday, 15 October 2015 Coach Trip to Gibraltar Point NNR Our visit to Gibraltar Point NNR (near Skegness in Lincolnshire) provided an interesting mixture of passage migrants and commoner birds. More... |
 | Sunday, 20 September 2015 We had a wonderful trip to Cley NWT on the Norfolk coast. Not only did we have cracking weather, but we also managed to see nearly 90 species on the day! More... |
 | Sunday, 30 August 2015 Own Transport Visit to College Lake and the Tring Reservoirs Two whinchats, eight spotted flycatchers and a host of wading birds were highlights of our first field trip of the 2015-16 season, to College Lake and the Tring Reservoirs. More... |
 | Sunday, 21 June 2015 Coach Trip to Stodmarsh NNR and RSPB Blean Woods We concluded our 2014-15 season with a highly successful field trip to two reserves in Kent. More... |
 | Sunday, 17 May 2015 We found a fantastic variety of wildlife on our recent coach trip to RSPB Minsmere. More... |
 | Sunday, 19 April 2015 Coach Trip to Sculthorpe Moor and Pensthorpe (Fakenham) We enjoyed a visit to two reserves near Fakenham (Norfolk), neither of which we had visited before! More... |
 | Sunday, 15 March 2015 Coach Trip to Abberton Reservoir and Tollesbury Wick EWT Reserves We had an enjoyable visit to two Essex Wildlife Trust reserves on Sunday 15 March More... |
 | Sunday, 15 February 2015 Coach Trip to RSPB Rainham Marshes We enjoyed a full day visit to an excellent reserve on the banks of The Thames. More... |
 | Wednesday, 21 January 2015 Coach Trip to RSPB Fen Drayton and WWT Welney Cloudless skies and some cracking birds made our first field trip of the year very enjoyable. More... |
 | Sunday, 14 December 2014 Own Transport Visit to the Lee Valley We signed off 2014 with an excellent day's bird watching in the Lee Valley's nature reserves More... |
 | Sunday, 16 November 2014 Coach Trip to RSPB Frampton Marsh Reserve Afternoon rain did not dampen the spirits as we enjoyed an excellent day's birdwatching at the RSPB Frampton Marsh reserve near Boston, in Lincolnshire. More... |
 | Sunday, 19 October 2014 Coach Trip to Holkham and Wells We enjoyed a bird-filled visit to the North Norfolk coast More... |
 | Sunday, 21 September 2014 Coach Trip to RSPB Dungeness and Dungeness NNR Our visit to Dungeness produced a whole host of excellent sightings, including glossy ibis, black-necked grebe, great white egret and whinchat at RSPB Dungeness and porpoise, gannet and lots of wheatears at Dungeness NNR. A thoroughly enjoyable day! More... |
 | Sunday, 31 August 2014 Own Transport Visit to Rutland Water The first field trip of our new season was filled with interesting sightings at three locations around Rutland Water and benefited from excellent weather. More... |
 | Sunday, 15 June 2014 Coach Trip to RSPB Strumpshaw Fen Our final coach trip of the season featured many highlights, including a fishing osprey and a pair of mating swallowtail butterflies. More... |
 | Sunday, 18 May 2014 Hot, sunny weather and beautiful birds were highlights of our visit to the New Forest. More... |
 | Saturday, 3 May 2014 Own Transport Visit to Paxton Pits We had good views of nightingales and many more bird species when we made our annual morning visit to Paxton Pits in Cambridge shire. More... |
 | Sunday, 13 April 2014 Coach Trip to RSPB Pagham Harbour We enjoyed a memorable day on the West Sussex coast, with glorious weather and wonderful wildlife. More... |
 | Sunday, 16 March 2014 Coach Trip to Fingringhoe Wick EWT Fantastic weather (for March), some excellent birds and a supporting cast of adders, mammals and five species of butterfly made our visit to Fingringhoe Wick EWT a memorable one. More... |
 | Sunday, 16 February 2014 Coach Trip to RSPB Old Moor, Yorkshire We made our first ever day visit to Yorkshire when we travelled to the excellent RSPB Old Moor reserve. More... |
 | Sunday, 19 January 2014 Coach Trip to Lynford Arboretum and RSPB Lakenheath Fen Our day at Lynford and Lakenheath started spectacularly with a sighting of two otters at Lynford Lakes and finished fantastically with three male hen harriers coming in to the dusk roost at Joist Fen, Lakenheath. The bit in the middle wasn't too bad, either! More... |
 | Sunday, 15 December 2013 Own Transport Visit to Little Paxton Gravel Pits and Woodwalton Fen We rounded off the calendar year in style with bird-rich visits to two contrasting reserves. More... |
 | Sunday, 17 November 2013 Coach Trip to RSPB Pulborough Brooks Although the reserve was a little 'quiet' for our visit, we nevertheless enjoyed our time at one of the RSPB's flagship reserves. More... |
 | Sunday, 20 October 2013 Good birds and better than expected weather made for an enjoyable coach trip to RSPB Titchwell Marsh. More... |
 | Sunday, 15 September 2013 An enjoyable time was had by all on our first coach outing of the 2013-14 season. More... |
 | Sunday, 25 August 2013 Own Transport Trip to RSPB Sandy and Grafham Water Some interesting birds, mammals and insects were seen on our first field trip of the new season. More... |
 | Sunday, 16 June 2013 Fifty bird-watchers from RSPB Hitchin and Letchworth and RSPB Stevenage Local Groups had a fantastic day at RSPB Minsmere, seeing well over 100 bird species, on our final coach trip of the season. More... |
 | Sunday, 19 May 2013 Our coach trip to Frensham Ponds provided good weather and some excellent bird and general wildlife sightings. More... |
 | Sunday, 21 April 2013 A fantastic day out on the East Sussex coast provided us with a list of 100 bird species! More... |
 | Sunday, 17 March 2013 Coach Trip to RSPB Snettisham and Hunstanton Cliffs Our visit to two parts of the coastline of The Wash provided us with some excellent bird-watching and presented one or two conundrums. More... |
 | Sunday, 17 February 2013 Our first Local Group visit to WWT Slimbridge for well over 20 years was an unqualified success, with 48 of us enjoying wonderful views of both wild and captive birds in glorious sunshine. More... |
 | Sunday, 20 January 2013 Coach trip to Lynford Arboretum and Lackford Lakes EWT We braved Arctic conditions on our first coach trip of the year and were rewarded with a good selection of birds. More... |
 | Sunday, 9 December 2012 Own Transport visit to Eyebrook Reservoir Seven smew were the highlight of our final trip of 2012, an 'own transport' visit to Eyebrook Reservoir. More... |
 | Sunday, 18 November 2012 Coach Trip to RSPB Frampton Marsh Excellent weather and great birds made for a very enjoyable day out on the Lincolnshire Wash. More... |
 | Sunday, 21 October 2012 Coach Trip to Dungeness RSPB and Dungeness NNR Our joint trip with the RSPB Stevenage Local Group was a great success.....despite the weather! More... |
 | Sunday, 16 September 2012 Good weather, good sightings and some stunning wading birds were highlights of our first coach trip of the 2012-13 season. More... |
 | Sunday, 26 August 2012 Own Transport Trip to RSPB Lakenheath Fen Cranes, bearded tits, hobbies and lots of butterflies and dragonflies were amongst the highlights of our visit to RSPB Lakenheath Fen. More... |
 | Sunday, 17 June 2012 Coach Trip to Stodmarsh NNR and RSPB Blean Woods Our final coach trip of the season, to two nature reserves in Kent, was a treat for the all-round naturalist with rare butterflies, damselflies and snails (!) observed in addition to a great selection of birds. More... |
 | Sunday, 20 May 2012 Coach Trip to The Peak District We found plenty of birds and other wildlife to enjoy when we visited the Staffordshire Peak District on 20 May. More... |
 | Sunday, 15 April 2012 A Local Group visit to Walberswick NNR on the Suffolk coast produced plenty of interesting wildlife. More... |
 | Sunday, 18 March 2012 Coach Trip to Titchfield Haven NNR A full coach of members of RSPB Hitchin and Letchworth and RSPB Stevenage Local Groups spent an enjoyable day bird-watching on this attractive Hampshire reserve adjacent to the Solent. More... |
 | Sunday, 19 February 2012 Coach Trip to Gibraltar Point NNR Three sub-species of brent goose, barn owls, porpoises and seals were some of the highlights of our visit to Gibraltar Point NNR in Lincolnshire. More... |
 | Sunday, 15 January 2012 Coach Trip to RSPB Fen Drayton and WWT Welney We enjoyed another excellent coach trip to two well-managed reserves. More... |
 | Sunday, 11 December 2011 Own Transport Visit to Stockers Lake Local Group members enjoyed a pleasant stroll round Stockers Lake on the morning of 11 December. More... |
 | Sunday, 20 November 2011 Coach Trip to RSPB Elmley Marshes We found short-eared owl, peregrine, merlin, hen harrier and excellent weather on our joint visit with Stevenage LG to Elmley. More... |
 | Sunday, 23 October 2011 Coach Trip to Holkham and Wells We joined the sun-worshippers along the North Norfolk coast for a most enjoyable day of birdwatching at Holkham and Wells More... |
 | Sunday, 25 September 2011 Coach Trip to RSPB Titchwell Marsh Our first coach trip of the new season was a great success with pleasant, mild weather, almost 100 bird species and some interesting sightings of other wildlife. More... |
 | Sunday, 28 August 2011 Own Transport Trip to Rutland Water We started the new 2011-12 season of outdoor meetings with a pleasant visit to the Egleton reserve at Rutland Water. More... |
 | Sunday, 12 June 2011 Coach Trip to RSPB Strumpshaw Fen Our final coach trip of the season delivered exciting birds, reptiles and amphibians, rare dragonflies and a few swallowtail butterflies. More... |
 | Sunday, 15 May 2011 Redstarts, cuckoos and pearl-bordered fritillary butterflies were highlights of an enjoyable trip to the New Forest National Park. More... |