A desperation to ensure I had a plan to be out on Saturday I agreed with Paul Bowley to go to the New Forest on a freezing morning. Overnight temperatures were c-5c and we arrived at 7.30am just before sunrise and it didn't feel any warmer.
We set out across the heath, crunching through frost and icy puddles to look for the Great Grey Shrike that had been present in the area all winter, but for the next 3 hours hardly a bird was seen, just MistleThrush, a couple of Meadow Pipits and a brief Dartford Warbler. We disappointingly re-located to approach the area from the Shatterford side of the railway and shortly after starting to walk we heard news the Shrike was visible near Denny Wood. An accelerated march and we were quickly getting scope views of the Great Grey Shrike which was pretty active and wasn't long before it moved out of sight. A single Fieldfare was the only other bird of note.
We called in at Acres Down late morning but despite it being fairly pleasant standing on the ridge in bright sunshine, there was no wind and as a result no raptors were on show and a calling Bullfinch and a few flyover Redwing ended our list for the New Forest.
We left the Forest and headed back into Sussex to a busy Burpham village. Quickly finding the 5 adult Bewick Swans on the flood below the church. 3 Cattle Egrets were in the nearby fields along with c20 Fieldfare and some Redwing and the sewage treatment plant had c10 active Chiffchaffs and a Grey Wagtail, we couldn't make out any certain Chiffchaff subspecies other than collybita
At around 3pm we walked up towards the Dew Pond area of the Burgh, with a few more members of Paul's family. Some Grey Partridge were active and a flock of c50 Corn Buntings was the most I have seen together in Sussex.
Along with over 20 Red Kites and some Common Buzzards, a Kestrel and Sparrowhawk were the only other raptors that appeared, but the first Barn Owl was hunting around 3.45pm, but by 4.30pm there had been no appearance of any Short-Eared Owls, so we started to re-trace our steps and just as we reached the ridge, the call came behind us that more owls were on show.Just about enough light to see 3 Short-eared Owls in the scope and a second Barn Owl.
The day finished very well.
 |
| New Forest at Dawn |
 |
| Great Grey Shrike |
 |
| Cattle Egret |
 |
| Red Kite |
No comments:
Post a Comment