Increasing regular visitor, which has bred.

In historic times Red Kites were common scavengers of rural and urban carrion and rubbish in Britain. Extinct in Hertfordshire before 1810, and exterminated in England by 1870 through persecution, the decrease in carrion, and the burial of dead farm animals. In 1989 English Nature and the RSPB began a reintroduction scheme releasing Spanish birds in England and Swedish birds in Scotland. Red Kites are now re-established at several locations including in the Chilterns, and now breed in Hertfordshire.

The first local record is of one seen over Aston on 15 February 2000.

Since 2003 they have been recorded annually at Stevenage with records for every month of the year, with the majority coming from between March and June and, are becoming a familiar sight.

The most seen together is 19, seen on 3 July 2014 in fields behind Tilekiln Wood, Great Ashby.

Four Hertfordshire wing-tagged birds have been seen at Stevenage: GY02533 tagged at Benington on 16 June 2020 was seen at Boxbury Farm on 11 August 2020; GR24054 tagged at Brocket Park, Lemsford was seen over the Old Town on 18 March 2022; GY02663 tagged at Benington on 26 June 2020 was seen at Aston End on 16 December 2022; GY18603 tagged at Hatfield on 13 June 2020 was seen at Fairlands Valley Park on 4 February 2023 (this bird was also seen at Newmarket Suffolk on 13 June 2022).

They were confirmed as breeding in the tetrad covering Aston in the 2012 Breeding Atlas.

The 2012 Winter Atlas recorded their presence from six of the tetrads covering Stevenage.

Very rare passage migrant.

Three records; a female/juvenile near Stevenage on 13 August 1990, a female flying near Dye’s Lane on 7 April 2012, one flying north over Norton Green on 19 April 2012.

Very rare visitor.

One record: reported from near Stevenage in August 1932 by Thomas Young, this record only appears as a footnote in Hine (1934) however, in the years preceding this one had also been seen at Jacks Hill near Graveley.

Common breeding resident.

The Sparrowhawk is a very resilient bird. During the nineteenth century landowners and their gamekeepers tried to eradicate it along with other birds of prey. Having survived this persecution a worse fate befell it during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s when the effects of Organochlorine Pesticides used in Agriculture brought the species to the verge of extinction in southern and eastern England. Following the banning of these pesticides it began to increase in numbers again, and by the 1980’s was increasing dramatically.

Foster (1914) reported Sparrowhawks from Box Wood, and Humley Wood (Whomerley Wood).

Having only been recorded from Stevenage on eight occasions between 1965 and 1979, with records coming from, Box Wood, Claypits Spring, Fairlands Valley, Monks Wood, and Watery Grove, their numbers increased rapidly from 1980.

In 1984 they bred again in Box Wood, and since 1984 have re-colonised Watery Grove.

The 1992 Breeding Atlas confirmed breeding from five of the tetrads covering Stevenage but, worryingly from only one tetrad in the 2012 Breeding Atlas. 

The 2012 Winter Atlas confirmed their presence from all the tetrads covering Stevenage.

Two unusual records, one “successfully exploited” a Pheasant Feeder in Box Wood in 1980 and one was seen being mobbed by six Ring-necked Parakeets (Psittacula krameria) over the White Way on 12 January 2023.

Increasing regular visitor that has bred.

Buzzards were extinguished from most parts of southern England during the nineteenth century, mainly by gamekeepers who considered them as vermin. They gradually began to increase in numbers after the First World War, but were badly affected by the loss of Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), their main prey, as a result of myxmatosis in the 1950’s and 1960’s. From their former stronghold in northern and western Britain, a steady but slow expansion east has occurred.

Having previously bred in Hertfordshire prior to 1865, they bred again for the first time in 1996, and are now becoming increasingly common.

The earliest record for Stevenage comes from a letter dated 29 October 1877 from Mr G. Rooper F.Z.S. to the President of the Watford Field Club in which he states that once when hunting he had seen a pair of Buzzards in a wood near Stevenage.

Foster in Hine (1934) claimed that Buzzards had been seen at Box Wood, one had been shot between Stevenage and Walkern on 18 December 1931. They were not recorded again from Stevenage until 21 May 1968, when one was seen circling over the Old Town and being mobbed by Great Black-backed Gulls. There were two other records from the 1960s, two birds seen circling over Astonbury House on 18 September 1969 and one seen at the Town Centre in December 1969. During the 1970s single birds were seen at Fairlands Valley (30 June 1972), from Southgate House (7 August 1975), Aston (4 September 1976) and soaring over Shephall (13 September 1979). In the 1980’s single birds were seen at Box Wood (19 September and 3 October 1981), Watery Grove (3 June 1984), and Chesfield Park (27 March 1989).

During the 1990’s, when the re-colonisation of Hertfordshire took place, single birds were seen on 1 April 1992, 28 December 1995, 4 May 1996 (Norton Green), and 5 September 1999 (Pin Green Industrial Area). Two were also seen soaring north over the Town on 16 January 1994.  

They are now regularly seen, particularly on the eastern and western edges of the Town, with records from every year since 2000, and in recent years, from every month of the year. The most seen together are the seven drifting over Chells Manor on 13 October 2007.  

The 2012 Breeding Atlas confirmed breeding from the tetrad covering Norton Green.

The 2012 Winter Atlas recorded their presence from 10 of the tetrads covering Stevenage. 

A Buzzard that was ringed as a second, year male at Stoke Ferry, Norfolk on 10 July 2010 was found dead on 4 July 2016 on the A1 Stevenage having been hit by a car.

Very rare passage migrant.

Foster in Hine (1934) claimed that Rough-legged Buzzards had been recorded from Box Wood, but no further details were supplied. An unidentified Buzzard seen at Box Wood from 23 to 30 October 1982 may have been of this species. Other possible records are of one flying over Lonsdale Road on 23 October 1985, and a, “hovering Buzzard, with legs dangling”, hunting over a rough field near Sainsburys Supermarket in Magpie Crescent on 10 November 1989, was believed to be of this species (North Herts Birders Log).

One, which had escaped from Wheathampstead was seen over the town on 8 June 1975.

[ thought or known species of introduced or captive origin ]