Very rare visitor

One record: One grounded by heavy rain showers was found in the Tesco Superstore Car Park in the Town Centre, where it spent a few hours on 11 September 2025.

Very rare visitor

One Record: One at Fairlands Valley Lakes on 1 June 2023.

Rare passage migrant

Seven records: 28 flying north over Fairlands Valley in the evening of 11 May 1970; four flying north east over Box Wood on 22 April 1990; five on waste ground of the former Kodak Factory site on 2 May 2004; one flying low south, south west and calling at St Nicholas Park in the evening of 21 August 2006; one at Norton Green Tip on 6 May 2007; 20 flying south on 2 August 2008; one at Fairlands Valley Lakes on 11 April 2021.

Uncommon passage migrant.

Curlew have often been recorded flying over Stevenage (including at night), indicating a regular migration route.

The earliest records are, three at Stevenage on 4 December 1884, two of which were shot, “some” Curlew flying over with three Dunlin (Calidris alpina) on 9 August 1907, and one seen on 12 September 1913.

Other records are: one calling over Box Wood on 21 April 1965; an unknown number calling at night over the Mobbsbury area on 6 July 1966; heard calling at night on 23 July 1968; heard flying over Monks Wood and Whomerly Wood 1969; an unusual winter record of four on 8 December 1973; several heard over at night on 13 March 1974; five flew over Chells at 22.00 hours on 19 June 1975; Some heard at night at Chells on 8 March 1976; Fairlands Valley Lakes 20 April 1976; four over at night, calling, 1 March 1977; One heard at Fairlands Valley Lakes 16 November 1978; Fairlands Valley Lakes 5 May 1980; two flew north on 5 July 1983; nine flew over Watery Grove on 15 May 1988; one on 26 October 1991; one flying over Norton Green Tip on 31 March 2008; one at Fairlands Valley Lakes on 3 February 2012.

Very rare visitor.

One record: one at Fairlands Valley Lakes on 27 July 1984, this was the first record for North Hertfordshire. 

Very rare visitor.

One record: a reeve (female) shot at Chesfield around 1882, and was according to Crossman (1902) in the possession of Mr C. Poyntz Stewart of Chesfield Park. This was the first record for Hertfordshire.

Uncommon passage migrant.

The earliest record is of three seen flying over Stevenage with some Curlew (Numenius arquata) on 9 August 1907.

At Fairlands Valley Lakes they have been seen on spring and autumn passage and, there are two winter records. The records are: one on 3 May 1973; one on 20 December 1973; one 10 May 1974; one 25 May 1974; one 18 August and 21 September 1974; two 30 January 1976; two 25 May 1977; one 12 July 1977; one from 3 to 5 May 1980; one 23 July 1999; three 15 September 1999; one 2 May 2003; two 27 April 2004; seven seen in snow on 1 and 2 March 2018; one on 15 April 2019.

There is one record from Norton Green Tip of a bird seen on 23 March 1992.

Regular spring and autumn passage migrant.

Common Sandpipers are regularly seen on passage at Fairlands Valley Lakes from where they were first recorded on 1 May 1973. Since 1994, except for 2006 they have been recorded annually.

On spring migration usually single birds are seen but, three were seen on 20 April 1977, two on 3 May 1977, four on 5 and 11 May 1978, three on 26 May 1978, five between 3 and 9 May 1980, two on 14 May 1981, two seen displaying by the Environmental Lake on 9 May 2016 and three seen on 29 April 2023 and 30 April 2024.

They are also seen on autumn migration, mostly single birds recorded during July August and September the exceptions being, two seen on 27 July 1981, four on 12 August 2004, two on 18 July 2021, two plus on 21 July 2022, two on 19 August 2022, five on 16 July 2023, three, possibly four on 18 August 2023, 15 on 13 September 2023, three on 7 July 2024 and two on 23 July 2024.

The latest date they have been recorded is 29 September 2021.

There are also five records from June: two seen on 30 June 1998; one on 26 June 2009; three on 2 June 2023; two on 30 June 2023; one on 24 June 2025.

Migration through Stevenage was also, noted by Foster (1914) and by the Stevenage Woodland Conservation Trust, which recorded in 1969 that they are often heard over Whomerley Wood at night during the spring and, autumn, indicating that Stevenage is on an ancient and regular passage route for Common Sandpipers. 

In 1907 Mr S. Maples reported that a Common Sandpiper was picked up near a roadside at Stevenage and that another was killed in a pond near the sewage farm on 2 November 1907. (The sewage Farm is now the site of the Roaring Meg Retail Park.)

Other records are: one flying across the pitch at Broadhall Way during a floodlight match on 26 March 1969, one heard calling over the town on 14 August 1969, one heard calling over Chells at night on 5 July 1970, one seen by the stream at Bragbury End on 2 September 1973, one at Astonbury Manor House Pond on 18 May 1975, and one at Norton Green Tip on 3 May 2012.

Very rare autumn passage migrant.

The earliest record is of one shot near Stevenage on 1 August 1907.

Eight records from Fairlands Valley Lakes: one on 21 September 1974; two on 15 May 1981; one on 27 July 1994; two flying over and calling on 22 December 2010; one on 28 June 2018; one on 1 and 2 August 2018; one on 22 and 23 August 2019; two on 11 August 2020.

Other records are of single birds: Astonbury (by a stream) on 6 August 1975; Astonbury Wood on 27 July 1990; the Stevenage Brook (opposite B & Q) on 19 January 2009; Norton Green Tip on 27 August 2010; on a flooded field next to Norton Green Tip on 20 March 2024.

Rare passage migrant.

Two records from Fairlands Valley Lakes of single birds: 22 August 1977 and 1 September 1979 and one from Pin Green of a bird flying over on 27 May 2020.

Rare passage migrant.

The earliest record is of two shot near Stevenage in 1907, one on the 25 August and the other on 28 November. One was also shot at Bedwell Plash in November 1909, (the pond and marshy ground that is now the Town Centre Gardens in St. George’s Way.)

Eight records from Fairlands Valley Lakes: six on 27 March 1979 and, single birds on, 27 March 1981, 14 April 1997, 18 March 2003, 16 April 2003, 25 July 2015, 23 March 2019 and 18 March 2021.

Other records: two calling over Box Wood on 8 July 1981, and single birds at Norton Green Tip in February 1987, and on 22 April 1990.

Rare winter visitor.

Foster (1914) recorded that Jack Snipe had been reported from the Stevenage area.

Other records: birds seen at the Old Sewage Works, Roaring Meg on 24 and 31 December 1966 and, 4 March 1967; two flushed from, “Shephall Brook” on 2 January 1979; up to two at an unrecorded location on 1 and 27 January 1997; one at Norton Green Tip on 16 March 2005.

Uncommon passage migrant and winter visitor that formerly bred.

Woodcocks were uncommon in Britain until around 1820, during the following 10 or 20 years they had spread to breed throughout Britain. This increase was probably as a result of the protection of woodland where Pheasants (Phasianus colchis) were nesting. They are now in decline, but the cause is unknown. In Hertfordshire the decline has been noted since 1981.

The earliest record of Woodcock at Stevenage comes from the Game Book of Colonel Unwin-Heathcote of Shephalbury Manor when one was shot at Ridlins Wood on 8 January 1894. Single birds were subsequently shot at, Monks Wood (17 January and 24 October 1894), Half Hyde (1 November and 5 December 1895), Astonbury (26 December 1895) and, Humley (Whomerley) Wood (31 October 1898).

Foster (1914) stated that the Woodcock, “occurs regularly in woods near Stevenage”.

In the 1960s they were recorded from: Astonbury Wood, (1969) Box Wood (1965, 1967, 1968, 1969) and Watery Grove (1967).

During the 1970s they were recorded from (with unusual records): Ashtree Wood 1979; Astonbury Wood 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978 (one flew into conifers presumably to settle for the night 6 February 1976, five flushed during a Squirrel shoot on 18 March 1978); Box Wood 1970, 1975, 1976, 1979; Chells 1978; “Chells” Wood 1979; John Lewis Warehouse (now Costco) 1977; Martins Wood 1976; Pin Green 1979; Shephall 1978 (one sitting in a back garden on 16 November 1978), Symonds Green 1975, 1979 (one in a flooded horse field on 14 December 1979); Watery Grove 1970, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979; Whomerley Wood 1974.

In the 1980s they were recorded from (with unusual records): Astonbury Wood 1986; Box Wood 1980, 1987; Chells 1981 (where one was seen in a garden on 6 February 1981); Monkswood Way 1988 (two seen on the water meadow at the old college, now the Asda Car Park, spring 1988); Norton Green Tip 1989; Pin Green 1989; Shephall 1989; Stevenage Football Ground, Broadhall Way 1981 (one flying over the pitch before a game on 14 March 1981); Watery Grove 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989.

During the 1990s records came from: Astonbury Wood 1994; Monks Wood 1998; Watery Grove 1990, 1994, 1999.

Between 2000 and 2009 records came from: Astonbury Wood (where three were seen on 4 December 2004); Fairlands Valley Lakes (one 31 October 2006); Fishers Green (one flying north 19 March 2005); Great Ashby Way (one flushed off waste ground on 23 December 2000); Norton Green (one 22 March 2006 and 2 January 2008); Watery Grove (“roding” bird 14 May 2005).

The records from between 2010 and 2019 came from: Aston Allotments (one flying over 17 March 2013); Box Wood (25 March 2016); Broaches Wood (28 January 2010); Chesfield Park (25 November 2017);  Fairlands Valley Lakes (27 February 2019); Gresley Way (one flying over into Pryors Wood 19 December 2010); Norton Green Tip (15 and 26 October 2014, 17 January 2015, 25 March 2015); Parsons Green Wood (9 May 2015); Six Hills Way/Caxton Way (flying over 2 December 2012); Stevenage Football Ground, Broadhall Way (one landed in the goalmouth during a match on 7 December 2019); Tilekiln Wood (3 December 2014, 21 November 2019); Warren Springs (three seen in woodland edge bordering the A1 M of the GSK site 28 November 2012); Whomerley Wood (near the Moat 13 April 2018); three flushed on private land on the outskirts of Stevenage November 2012; one found dead under a garden gate 14 March 2018.

The records since 2020 are: One at Norton Green Tip on 22 February 2020, one at Watery Grove on 5 November 2020, one at Fairlands Valley on 9 November 2020, two at Monks Wood on 23 November 2020, one at Whomerley Wood on 8 March 2021 and one at Norton Green Tip on 5 January 2023.

The 1973 Breeding Atlas confirmed breeding from the tetrad covering Norton Green and considered breeding as probable from the tetrads covering Boxbury Farm and Chells Manor. The 1992 Atlas considered breeding as probable from the tetrad covering Norton Green. The 2012 Atlas did not consider breeding from Stevenage.

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

Common Bird Census at Watery Grove recorded their presence in 1972, 1978, 1984, 1987, 1993, 1994 and 1997 and as holding one territory in 1974.

Uncommon winter visitor and passage migrant.

Common Snipe have declined by 26% in Britain since 1995 due to habitat loss, the efficient drainage of low fields, loss of ponds and chemical spraying.

Foster (1914) described them as, “plentiful in the neighbourhood of Stevenage”.

In the 1960s they were recorded from, Box Wood, where one was seen flying over on 24 October 1965 and, the Old Sewage Works (now the site of the Roaring Meg Retail Park) on 3 January 1968 and, two seen there in 1969.

In the 1970s they were recorded from: a meadow by Ashdown Road in January and February 1977; Astonbury during the springs of 1973 to 1976 (with up to five seen on 7 and 8 April 1975 and, one put up in vegetation by the central, “pool” on 5 March 1976), one flushed from under the bridge over the a pool in the Wood on 26 November 1978, seen at Astonbury Pond in December 1978 and, in the meadow adjoining the Wood on 28 January 1979; Aston End February 1979; Fairlands Valley Lakes on 10 October 1975 and in November 1978; “Shephall Brook” nine seen on 2 January 1979; Symonds Green Water Meadow in the autumn of 1978; Town Centre one flying over on 18 March 1979.

In the 1980s and 1990s they were recorded from: Aston (where between 20 February and 16 March 1980 14 to 25 were recorded), Aston Brook on 27 and 28 January 1996; Astonbury 4 January and 9 March 1980; Norton Green Tip during the springs of 1989 to 1991, (with five seen on 10 April 1990).

The only records between 2000 and 2019 were from Norton Green Tip with two seen on 30 March 2007, one on 5 April 2007, one on 2 January 2008, four on 27 March 2008, one on 28 March 2008, one on 12 April 2009, one on 28 November 2015, one on 16 January 2016 and one on 2 January 2017.

Since 2020 they have been recorded from: Fairlands Valley Lakes one seen between 21 and 24 September 2022; one on 12 December 2022; one flying over on 27 September 2023; one at the Balancing Pond on 17 October 2025; Norton Green Tip; two on 31 August 2020; one on 26 February 2023; one flying over on 25 September 2025; Potters Spring six seen on a nearby, “set aside field” on 19 March 2024.

The 1973 Breeding Atlas considered breeding as possible from the tetrad covering Bragbury End and, the 1992 Atlas considered breeding as possible from the tetrads covering Norton Green and, Knebworth. The 2012 Atlas did not consider breeding as possible.

The 2012 Winter Atlas confirmed their presence from the tetrad covering Norton Green.