Black Water - 28th August

Set out from Black Water car park in the New Forest at about 6am, still in the grey half-light due to a bit of cloud cover.
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 some Scots pines & a Tawny owl flew right out 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 on 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 Queens Meadow, 20 Fallow does & their fawns were grazing on the grass at the western end of the feild, probably because they'd just come from the wood that side & this end gets the first rays of sunlight over the trees in the morning. Deer like to dry off the mornings dew & last nights rain.
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, Treecreeper, Buzzard. Wood pigeons & Stock Doves singing & also a bat (at 6.50am) flying around the stream, where it probably had a tree roost nearby.
There were several more herds of Fallow does & 2 lone prickets (yearling bucks) which were still in velvet.
There are alot of Ganoderma bracket fungi on the old Beech trees & alot of Oyster mushrooms & Stereum hirsutm on fallen ones. The only other fungi were the Blushing Bracket, Birch Polypore & an old Chicken of the Woods.
Along the stream there were the leaves of Coltsfoot, Wood Sorrel, Common Figwort, Marsh Cudweed, Marsh Willowherb, Tutsan, Butchers Broom, Tormentil, Lady fern, Hard fern, Polypody ferns, Lemon-scented & Golden Male ferns.
Coming out of Brinken Wood & crossing the top of Wide Lawn there were Marsh St.johnswort, & Marsh Pennywort.
Walking through Hursthill Inclosure, Drivers Nursery & New Park Plantation were all the common birds again with Siskin & Crossbills flying over the trees. Most of the flowers here had gone over but there was still lots of Tormentil, Common Cow-wheat, Water Pepper, Lesser Spearwort, Selfheal & Water Mint.
Meeting back up with the Highland Water down-stream there were 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 perched on a branch only a few meters away for about a minute before it flew on. Further upstream a couple of Grey Herons took off.
Onto Poundhill Heath again the Red deer were still there. It was only 8.50am & not enough people had gone passed 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.
Makes it worth getting up early in the morning.

Simon Currie.