White Bucks

Started off from Mark Ash Wood, half way up the Bolderwood Ornamental Drive this afternoon.
As I walked through the ancient Oaks & Beech trees there were loads of Great, Blue & Coal Tits foraging in the leaf litter, with Nuthatch & Great Spotted Woodpecker in the branches above them. A Nuthatch was singing in the distance.
Straight into North Oakley Inclosure. All that was about in here were some Goldcrest in the Douglas Firs as I walked along the grass track. I crossed the gravel track, carried on down the hill, forded the stream, then onto a gravel track & headed north & then east until I came to a gate onto the heathland looking towards Sandy Ridge with Bratley Wood about 2/3 of a mile away.

Out on the heath a male Stonechat perched on a seedling pine, a Reed Bunting flew over calling, Some Dartford Warblers called from the heather, a Jay flew from a Scots Pine, some Meadow Pipits went up & a Crossbill flew over singing.
I got to Bratley Wood. As I walked through it there were the same birds as in Mark Ash but with some Long-tailed Tits, Chaffinches & a Treecreeper.
I came out of the eastern edge of the wood & then walked along the northern edge of North Oakley Inclosure up the hill towards the Deer Sanctuary at Bolderwood.
There were only a few does & prickets on the fields as I walked around the boundary.
I decided to have a look over the heath to the north which over looks the valley back towards Bratley.
Luckily enough I could see several pairs of Fallow antlers poking up out of the heather as the bucks were laying up, chewing the cud. There were about 10 there with both the 4 year old & the 6 year old white bucks.
Unfortunately I couldn’t get a pic with both white bucks in, & only one with one standing while he shifted position & led straight back down again.





As I was watching them a Dartford Warbler was singing in a Gorse bush & a male Sparrowhawk flew over.
It was getting dark so I crept away & left them to it. As I walked straight through the Holly trees back to car park end of the sanctuary a Bullfinch was calling in the dense cover of the Holly branches & a Pheasant ran through.
There were still quite a few cars in Bolderwood car park even this late, but most of the people were near the Deer Sanctuary. I went through Bolderwood Grounds Inclosure, then into North Oakley & then into Mark Ash Wood & back to the car. As I walked through the woods in the near-darkness, the usual chattering of the Blackbirds & tics of the Robins filled the trees & a Fallow doe watched me as I went past.