New Forest Wander

[Deer Stalker]

Hi guys, thought I'd share this one with you. Hope it aint too boring.

Set out from Black Water car park in the New Forest at 6am this morning, still in the grey half-light due to the cloud cover.
I headed east through Poundhill Inclosure with Robins, Wrens & Dark Bushcrickets singing around me. One Roe doe was on the right-hand side of the track & a Roe buck was on the left-hand side, on the corner of a clear-fell site. Goldcrest were singing at the top of the Scots pines & a Tawny owl flew right in front of me from its perch in a young Oak. A Hobby was calling from the eastern end of the Inclosure.
Out on Poundhill Heath about 10 Red hinds were grazing the purple heather with their calves, also a small herd of Fallow does & fawns ran over to the fence line, led by a white doe.
Walking over to Queen's Meadow, about 20 Fallow does & fawns were grazing the grass on the western end of the field. Probably because they'd just come out of wood that side & this end gets the first rays of sun light over the trees in the morning.
Through Brinken Wood, some ancient pasture woodland, & along the Highland Water there were some Grey Wagtails in the stream, Great Spotted & Green Woodpeckers calling along with the common birds like Nuthatch, Blue, Great & Long-tailed Tits, Blackbirds, Song Thrush, Blackcap, Treecreeper & Buzzard. Wood Pigeons & a Stock Dove were singing. A bat (at 6.50am) was flying over the stream where it probably had a tree roost nearby. There were several more herds of Fallow does & 2 lone Fallow prickets (yearling bucks) which were still in velvet. There were alot of Ganoderma bracket fungi on the old Beech trees & alot of Oyster mushrooms & Stereum hirsutum on the fallen ones. The only other fungi were the Blushing Bracket, Birch Polypore & an old Chicken of the Woods. Along the stream were the leaves of Coltsfoot, Common Figwort, Wood Sorrel, Marsh Cudweed. Marsh Willowherb, Tutsan, Butchers Broom, Tormentil, Lady fern, Hard fern, Polypody ferns(in Oaks) & Lemon-scented & Golden Male ferns.
Coming out of Brinken wood & crossing the top of Wide Lawn, a patch of humid\wet heath, there was Marsh St.Johnswort & Marsh Pennywort.
Walking through Hursthill Inclosure, Drivers Nursery & New Park Plantation there were all the common birds again with Siskins & Crossbills flying over the trees. Most flowers had gone over here but there was still plenty of Tormentil, Common Cow-wheat, Water Pepper, Lesser Spearwort, Selfheal & Water Mint.
Meeting back up with the Highland Water down-stream, more flowers: Marsh & Hedge Woundwort, Betony, Harebells, Enchanters Nightshade, Wood Sage, Wood Spurge, Herb Robert & Creeping Jenny. As I was walking along I heard the whistle of a Kingfisher, so I stood still & waited. The Kingfisher came shooting past.........closely followed by a male Sparrowhawk! The Sparrowhawk gave up the chase just as it passed me so I got a good view of it as he perched just a few meters away for a minute before he flew on. Further upstream a couple of Grey Herons flew off.
On to Poundhill Heath again the Red deer were still there. It was 8.50am & not enough people had gone past to make them move on yet.
By now the sun had come out & back in Poundhill Inclosure it was just warm enough for a Grayling butterfly to start flitting about & some Meadow Grasshoppers, Long-winged Coneheads & Wood Crickets to start singing.
Worth getting up early in the morning.
How many of you are still awake?

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by Deer Stalker

.
How many of you are still awake?

I am!! sounds really lovely and makes me wish I had opened my eye fully when I considered heading out at 7:30am this morning when I saw the sun was out instead of rolling over and falling back to sleep (and dreaming about furniture....... )...
but I was at a festival on Sunday so I probably would've just fallen asleep under a tree anyway hee hee.

Lucky to be able to see so much of the deer behaviour

[aeshna5]

Sounds like a superb day out in the country. Don't think I can hear Long-winged Coneheads anymore ( I could 3/4 years ago!), but can hear Dark + Roesel's BC well still. Found a brown form of LW Conehead near where I live in Greenford today, previously I've only seen green forms + these are now common in grassland around London.

This morning went to Wormwood Scrubs for migrants + saw pair of Whinchats, Spotted Flycatcher in White Willow, c15 Whitethroat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap, hunting Sparrowhawk + a delightful charm of c.50 Goldfinches.

Roesel's BC were beginning to sing + there were mini swarms of Horse Chestnut Leafminers around said trees + sadly causing devastation of the trees!

[Deer Stalker]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

but I was at a festival on Sunday so I probably would've just fallen asleep under a tree anyway hee hee.

Was that the 'V' festival you were on about a while ago? A tree is my 2nd favourite place to fall asleep.

[Deer Stalker]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

This morning went to Wormwood Scrubs for migrants + saw pair of Whinchats, Spotted Flycatcher in White Willow, c15 Whitethroat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap, hunting Sparrowhawk + a delightful charm of c.50 Goldfinches.

Usually I see more bird life around there like Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, Hawfinches, Spotted Flycatchers, Firecrest etc, but I had to rush round a bit to get home by 9.30 so I missed them. Same with the insects, a bit too early. Would spend all day walking round the Forest if I could.....

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by Deer Stalker

Usually I see more bird life around there like Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, Hawfinches, Spotted Flycatchers, Firecrest etc, but I had to rush round a bit to get home by 9.30 so I missed them. Same with the insects, a bit too early. Would spend all day walking round the Forest if I could.....

no this one was Reading, I went a bit festival mad this year what with no mortgage to pay, back into the rat race though as of next week so thought I'd make the most of it!!
Yes I have been known after a long Breeding Birds Survey to fall asleep under a tree waiting for colleagues..Lovely esp when there's lots of polytrichum moss (I have no idea how to spell that properly) and it's all soft and cushiony.......

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

no this one was Reading, I went a bit festival mad this year what with no mortgage to pay, back into the rat race though as of next week so thought I'd make the most of it!!
Yes I have been known after a long Breeding Birds Survey to fall asleep under a tree waiting for colleagues..Lovely esp when there's lots of polytrichum moss (I have no idea how to spell that properly) and it's all soft and cushiony.......

I did that after a dawn bat survey once , but my colleagues just left me there woke up 7 hours later with a stiff neck and covered in dew

[Wolfhill]

Sounds like you had a great morning
Fergus

[Alan]

Nice report. A proper days nature watching in a great area...you got a lot in!

[Mr Mag00]

great read and thoroughly jealous not only of area but all those id skills!!!

[speckled wood]

Travelled down to the New Forest by train quite a few times. I love to see the Silver-studded Blues and what was magical was walking from Beaulieu Road towards Lyndhurst Road and having my first sighting of a White Admiral.

On another ocassion (in 2004) I was able to watch a Little Egret feeding at a pool along the road through Beaulieu village

[Deer Stalker]

The big areas of heath around Beaulieu Road Station are realy good for Silver Studdeds. Good around there for birds: Dartford Warblers, Hobbies & the other heathland birds. Great Grey Shrike & Hen Harriers are regulars in winter. Marsh Harriers, Short-eared owls & just about everything else at migration time. Little Egrets are now quite common on the south of the Forest.

[speckled wood]

Another first sighting (or should I say hearing) for me right by Beaulieu Road Station was a Stonechat, amazing that a bird can make a sound like that (as the name suggests just like two stones being knocked together). my visits to Beaulieu Road now messed up by current train service .... just a couple of trains in each direction a day!