Beaulieu Road Heath - 3rd December

The weather was sunny with one rain shower! Highlight was Fieldfares and Redwings.

We met in Shatterford Bottom car park. I was suspicious of the sunny weather – last Sunday had been bright and sunny to start with and ended very wet!! However we set off, walking along the path parallel to the railway.
The heaths of the Forest can be very quiet in winter and today was no exception to begin with. One or two Meadow Pipits ran along the path in front of John, maybe they were reluctant to fly as the weather was blowy and just about to rain. A few Woodpigeons flew around the woodlands ahead of us. Then the rain hit! Here we go again I thought. The rain wasn’t too heavy, but the cold wind was blowing it in our faces, so it was a bit uncomfortable. However it only lasted 10 minutes or so and then the sun came out.
As soon as we rounded the corner and got to some scrub we started to see birds. A Mistle Thrush flew off calling and Blackbirds were flying towards a line of bushes. Dennis saw a larger thrush flew up into a tree. Brown back, grey head and rum and black tail – a Fieldfare. Most of us got a pretty good view of it before it disappeared. As we watched it Lyz saw a couple of Fallow Deer on the far side of the heath. Looking at the line of scrub more closely there were more Blackbirds, a few Fieldfare, Robins, a Green Woodpecker and a few Redwing – one of which gave us great views as it sat in a treetop. When they are settled you don’t really see red under the wing very easily, but the bold white eyestripe makes the head look quite stripy and it a good identification feature. Alistair also found a Stonechat on the grass which flew up into the heather.
We walked into Denny Wood and turned to walk along the edge of it back towards the car park. It always seems to be good for birds here. There were small flocks of Great Tit, Blue Tit, Marsh Tit with Nuthatch and Great-spotted Woodpecker. Dennis managed to glimpse a Lesser-spotted Woodpecker, but it disappeared before anyone else could see it. A few Jackdaws flew over calling and several flocks of Chaffinch were milling about in the trees.
We walked out onto the heath and walked towards the car park. This is an area where Hen Harriers can sometimes be seen, so we waited. Nothing appeared except a Carrion Crow in the distance. We wandered back to the car park. It had been quite a productive walk and less wet than we had thought it might be.
Simon Curson