Standing Hat in the New Forest

A cloudy afternoon with a little drizzle. Highlights were flowers of Bush Vetch and Common Cow-wheat, Treecreeper and a Great-spotted Woodpecker at its nest. No butterflies were seen at all.

We met at Standing Hat car park to light rain, but this soon eased off leaving a cool and cloudy afternoon. We decided to concentrate on the flowers and birds that we might see rather than the butterflies which were likely to be absent. The first flowers we saw were Wood Spurge, Bugle, Common Vetch, Foxgloves, Creeping Buttercup and Marsh Thistle. The cheery yellow flowers of Tormentil were also along the ride edges. Soon we found some Bitter Vetch, a less common species of woods. A large open area was a little richer in flowers. One path had most of the above and Meadow Buttercup, Creeping Cinquefoil, Milkwort, Hedge Bedstraw and Lousewort, while a small pond had plenty of Water Mint (not yet in flower) and the damp path sides had Lesser Spearwort. A path through the open area had Heath Speedwell and Honeysuckle covered a few of the Bramble patches. Amazingly there was some Cross-leaved Heath already in flower. Nearby we found the leaves of Bell Heather and Ling and so we were able to compare the three heathers of the New Forest. Further on as the path turned a little more wooded again we found some Common Cow-wheat in flower.
On the bird front we heard several Song Thrushes, Wren and Robins singing in the woods and then a Redstart. We tried to see the Redstart, but he was hidden in the leafy twigs of a tree. In the next wooded area we saw a couple of Song Thrushes and fleeting glimpses of Chiffchaff. Further on Del found two Treecreepers and a Marsh Tit. We got to Hollands Wood camp site and saw several Jackdaws and a Pied Wagtail. Then we heard a Great-spotted Woodpecker calling from a tree and another calling close by. The first one was in a nest hole and the other came along with some food. They were both being upset by a Jackdaw that was trying to get into the nest and take the eggs. We couldn’t scare the Jackdaw off so we left it up to the Woodpeckers to defend their nest. We walked over Balmer Lawn back towards the cars. An amazing landscape here with a huge area of flat grassland being covered with small mounds. These may have been formed by clumps of grass catching soil as it gets washed through on winter rains, but we weren’t sure. We saw 3 Lapwings at the far end of this and more flowers – Silverweed, Lousewort and Chamomile leaves.
Simon Curson