Acres Down - 26th January

The weather was sunny and a bit windy. Highlights were Crossbills and a distant Goshawk.

We had a walk around the woods before going up onto Acres Down to scan for displaying Goshawks. The first area is deciduous and there were plenty of birds about. Tony found a Great-spotted Woodpecker and Nicky found a second one. There were also Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Nuthatch, Great Tit and Chaffinch around. A bit further along and 3 Crossbill flew over. Wonderfully they settled at the top of a nearby tree and we all got pretty good views of them before they flew off. Further still and Chris found a couple of Treecreeper which kept hidden behind the tree trunks a lot of the time, but most of us saw them. Further on the trees are mostly conifer and it was very quiet here. Several Goldcrest and a few Robin were all that was seen. Walking back into the deciduous area again we saw more of the common woodland birds and a couple of Marsh Tit at the base of an old Oak.
We collected our scopes from the cars and headed up the hill onto Acres Down. It is clear and heathy at the top and gives brilliant views over miles of woodland. Birds of Prey have flight displays to establish their territories and so this is a great place to look for them. The weather conditions were pretty good too – mostly clear skies and not too windy. We saw several Meadow Pipit before we got to the best viewing place where we stood and waited. One of the first birds we saw was a Goshawk. It was distant and soon disappeared and only a few of us saw it. Over the next hour we saw several Buzzard circling over distant woodlands, Woodpigeons and some Mistle Thrushes flying by and a Sparrowhawk briefly over the trees, but no more Goshawks. We shall have to return and see if we can see them another time.
Simon Curson