Finished work for the Christmas holiday at lunch time today & as the sun was shining decided to go straight up the Forest. Grabbed my parent’s dog on the way up & parked at Shatterford at about 1.30pm.
Walked out over the heath along the railway line with Meadow Pipits & Dartford Warblers in the heather, Goldfinches flying over & Stonechats in the Gorse in the distance.
Getting to the bridge, there were a couple of Reed Buntings calling in the Willows by the railway...

Deer Stalker

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...

Deer Stalker

Walked from Eyeworth pond first thing this morning. As soon as I got out of the car I could hear Redwings near the car park. It was still too dark to see anything on the pond, so I headed on up the hill through Eyeworth Wood.
I left the track & walked through the trees for a few minutes until I found the fallen Beech that had the fungus Hericium erinaceus that I got a pic of back in November, just on the off-chance it was still there & I could try my new camera on it. No such luck,...

Deer Stalker

Had a bit of time to go out this afternoon once it stopped raining & decided to cheat & go & have a look at the Hawfinches come into roost at the Arboretum.
I must have seen about 20 come in, but surprisingly not alot of Siskins or Crossbills etc, just a few Chaffinches & Tits.
While I was there I decided to go out the other end of the arboretum into Vinney ridge Inclosure & managed to get a couple of pics of some fungi.
Candle-snuff
...

Deer Stalker

I took advantage of a short break in the rain today & drove to Pig Bush, near Beaulieu in the New Forest. It was 2.15pm, still very dark, cloudy & windy but at least it wasn’t raining although the clouds were threatening it any second.
I walked round the edge of the small wood in front of the car park. A lone Blue Tit was foraging in the branches of an Oak tree. I then struck out over the heath towards Furzy Brow where I could over-look the ground below. The ground was sodden...

Deer Stalker