Ashley Walk - 16th Dec 07

Dropped the girlfriend round her mums in Ringwood today, then went up towards Godshill in the North West of the Forest & parked in Ashley Walk car park which looks out over the heath at 11am this morning.
There was a cold easterly wind today so I didn’t see too many of the heathland birds.
I walked down the hill, across Ditchend Brook, then up to Little Cockley Plain. On the way up Redwings were in the Holly trees at the side of the track.
I could see a group of Fallow bucks & a few does on the other side of a valley. They were about 400 meters away & this is the best shot I could get of them.

I decided to walk towards Leaden Hall (part of the WWII bombing range that’s now a patch of grass with a few Hawthorns & Birch round the edge). I was still watching the herd of Fallow when a Peregrine Falcon flew past, then along the valley, & to my surprise to be joined by another Peregrine coming from the other direction.
There was a bit of a territorial dispute with flashing of talons & calling at each other for about 20 seconds until they broke & went their separate ways again. The one that came from my end flew back towards me, then right over my head & back to Leaden Hall.
I carried on walking; the Gorse bushes seemed to be filled with Dartford Warblers.
I had a quick look around when I got to Leaden Hall. The Peregrine had been perched in a Birch & flew off. A couple of Reed Buntings were in the Hawthorns with Blackbirds & Robins but that was about it so I walked back to Little Cockley Plain & the Dartford’s were still calling at me along the way.
I walked on down into Pitts Wood Inclosure. The top part, before you go into the Inclosure, where Ashley Lodge used to be, is usually good for Hawfinches, but not today. There were plenty of Redwings, Mistle Thrushes, Song Thrushes & Blackbirds.
In the Inclosure, a Roe doe & her kid crossed the track in front of me & some Long-tailed Tits were in the trees by the stream. I walked straight up the hill & out the other side of Pitts Wood & had a Little look around on the heathland at Ashley Cross & the start of Hampton Ridge.



I saw a shape over the other side of the ridge about 200 meters away, looked through my bins & it was one of the Peregrines again. This time it had a small bird in its talons. I lost sight of it as it flew down to Alderhill Bottom. A few more Dartford Warblers were in the heather & gorse & a few Meadow Pipits flew up.
I decided to go back into Pitts Wood & have a wander round & see if I could find some more bird activity. There were a few mushrooms about but it was very quiet, virtually not a peep out of anything except from the Long-tailed Tits & the Roe doe (she barked at me as I walked past).

Time was getting on, so I walked back to the car & drove a little way down the road to a point where you can see Hen Harriers come in to roost. I parked up at 3.30pm, walked down a bit, stood by a gorse bush, out of the wind & waited, scanning the heath the other side of the valley. The sun was quickly going down. 2 or 3 flocks of linnets settled into a group of gorse bushes in front of me & another Dartford Warbler was over to my left.
The first Hen Harrier came in at 4pm. It was a Ring-tail. She didn’t quarter the ground much like they usually do before roosting; instead she just dropped into the heather.
At 4.20 when it was almost dark, a male came in. He also dropped pretty much straight down.