New Forest Wildlife Weekend November 2009

We had a great weekend in the New Forest. The weather was mild and we managed to miss almost all of the rain. We saw quite a lot of birds over the weekend and highlights were Hawfinch, Goosander, Short-eared Owl, Crossbill, Goldeneye, Avocet and Golden Plover.

Saturday 28th Nov
We started off at Pennington and Keyhaven Marshes. There were quite a lot of birds around. At the first areas of water we looked at we saw a few Teal, Mallard, Coot and Little Grebe while a Buzzard flew over the reeds and settled on a bush. At the balancing pond up the track there were Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall and Tufted Duck with 1 male Shoveler. A large flock of Golden Plover were in the first field of the marshes with some Pintail. On the lagoons and estuary we saw the commoner waders such as Redshank, Curlew, Grey Plover, Oystercatcher and more Shoveler and some Brent Geese. A surprise at the far end of Keyhaven Lagoon was an Avocet with several Shelduck.
In the afternoon we went to Beaulieu Road Heath. A few Crossbills were seen well in the pines at the car park by most people and just after we set out on the walk we saw a distant Short-eared Owl. However the rest of the walk was very quiet with just a few Stonechat and Redwing. Maureen did see a Treecreeper as she stopped for a rest though!

Sunday 29th Nov
The morning was spent at Blashford Lakes, sheltering from the rain in the hides. We saw Ruddy Duck, Pochard, Gadwall, Great Crested Grebe, Goldeneye and Goosander. There were also many Black-tailed Godwit in the distance. From the car park we also saw a Sparrowhawk whiz by.
In the afternoon we had a walk down to Queens Meadow where a herd of Fallow Deer graced us with their presence including a fine stag with big antlers. We also saw Redwing and a Heron in the meadow. We then walked up to Blackwater Arboretum and waited. It wasn’t long before the Hawfinches started to show and we all got great views of these shy birds.

Simon Curson.