Beaulieu to Buclklers Hard

The weather had sunny intervals and was fairly mild. Highlights were Narrow-leaved Lungwort and Red-legged Partridge.

The weather was nicer than first thing this morning. We walked out of Beaulieu and stopped at the first fields we came to. There were Jackdaws and a couple of Red-legged Partridge in the field, a Kestrel hovering nearby and Redshank and Cormorant by the river. In the hedges around the field the Blackthorn was in flower and there were Lesser Celandine and Primrose at the base of the hedges. We walked on through the first part of the woods to the first clearing. There was some Narrow-leaved Lungwort, quite a lot of Wood Anemone and lots of Primrose and Lesser Celandine in flower here. We left and walked on through the woods stopping to look at the leaves of Pignut, Barren Strawberry and Bluebells. Coal Tit sang as we passed some conifers and we saw lots of Black-headed Gull and Herring Gull along the river. At a raised observation point we got a good view of the river and saw Canada Goose and several Teal on the opposite side. At other points we saw a few Curlew and Redshank on the river edges. The path left the river side and went through a small area of fields and scrub. Here we saw a Pheasant and there were some Mute Swan and another couple of Teal on the river just before Bucklers Hard.
After a short rest we made our way back taking the more direct route through the woods instead of along the river side. We saw heard Dunnock, Wren, Robin and Great Tit singing in the woods. In some paddocks on the edge of Beaulieu Jane and Chris found some Common Chickweed, Red Dead-nettle and Daisy in flower.

Simon Curson