A Patch of New Forest Heathland

  The warm, dry theme of March and April continued into May, providing ideal conditions for Hawthorn blossom in the first few weeks of the month. After the disappointment of last Autumn’s berries this hopefully augers well for a better haul in 2025. As usual, May also delivered the highest species counts of the year so far, although the peak of 59 was still seven short of our record from 2023. All lists and bar charts can be found at our eBird Hotspot , and a patch map is also available by clicking here . Watching me, Watching you: A Fallow Doe in the Gorse The birding highlight of the month was undoubtedly our first ever Common Sandpiper , which flushed from the gravel at the edge of Setley Pond on 10 th May, bringing the overall patch list up to 120. A Moorhen returned to the same location at the end of the month and three Mediterranean Gulls overhead on 25 th were slightly earlier than our previous June records of this species. While many of the summer migrants have been n...

  Apart from the inevitable Easter washout, April 2025 has been a dry month in the New Forest, with plenty of warm sunshine providing some great birding opportunities. The gorse bloom has been as good as I can ever remember, and with Blackthorn and Hawthorn blossom emerging strongly we can hopefully look forward a better Autumn berry crop than in 2024. Species numbers were similar to previous years, with no spectacular sightings – our optimistic scanning of the paddocks for Hoopoe proved fruitless, despite many reports elsewhere on the South Coast. The highest count of 55 was two short of our previous April record and the year list now stands at 77. As usual all lists and bar charts are recorded on our ebird hotspot and the route map is available here for new readers unfamiliar with the area. Goldfinch - enjoying some Spring sunshine on the heathland Gorse Following the early arrival of Willow Warblers and Chiffchaff in March, the Spring migration pattern appeared to settle i...

March 2025 seems to have raced by, with some misty mornings, spring sunshine and - thankfully - a lot less rain than last year. On the birding front, it was the early arrivals or our 'Little Green Birds' which provided the main headlines, with no new sightings to add to the patch life list. Our highest count of 53 species on 30 th equaled our previous record for the month, and the year list has crept up to 71, which is just one short of our total at this time in 2024. As usual, all counts and bar charts can be found at our eBird ‘hotspot’ and a patch map is available here for readers who are unfamiliar with the locations mentioned below. Chiffchaff - an early summer visitor Chiffchaff are usually the first of the summer warblers to arrive, but the influx in the first week of March was far earlier and larger than in previous years; by the 6 th they were singing in double figures at various locations across the patch. Reports from elsewhere in the New Forest and coastal loca...

  As a wise old birdwatcher once told me: 'the only good thing about February is that it’s 10% shorter than January’. This month's New Forest birding exploits lived up to these limited expectations, with species counts in the low 40s falling well short of our (rather surprising) record of 51 from 2022. No new species were added to the patch list this month, with the year total creeping up to 63 which is 3 short of our figure at the end of February 2024. As usual, all checklists and bar charts can be found on our eBird Hotspot , and there is a map of our patch route here for new readers. On a more positive note, the recent weather has been considerably less wet than at this time in 2024, and although the puddles reappeared in the last week of the month, the lower water levels ensured that all areas remained accessible. After the wildfowl ‘bonanza’ of December and January, Setley Pond yielded just the usual Mallards , Grey Heron and Cormorant ; a couple of Little Egret over...

  Finding the motivation to get out birding on an inland patch can be a challenge during the damp, dark days of January. Our plans to kick off 2025 with a New Year’s Day ‘bonanza’ were certainly scuppered by a dawn to dusk deluge, which returned the heath to its familiar winter sludge, after a relatively dry December. When we did manage to get out, our first circuit of the year was rewarded by a sighting of one of our most overdue target species, when two drake Eurasian Teal circled overhead at Setley Pond. Although plentiful during winter on the nearby coast, this was a new record for our patch, bringing the total count to 119, and a great start to the year list, which is marginally lower than in January 2024 at 58 species. As usual, all of this month’s checklists can be found at our eBird ‘hotspot’ , along with bar charts and other statistics. A map of the patch and usual route can be found here  for readers who are new to this site. A male Hen Harrier over Widden Bottom ...

  When all things are considered, 2024 was a good year for birding on our New Forest Patch. Despite a few disappointing omissions, our species list reached 102 by the end of December, equaling our previous record from 2022 and comfortably exceeding the 97 seen in 2023. Six new patch ‘lifers’ have brought the total count to 118 – as always, all lists are recorded on our eBird ‘hotspot’ , which now includes 4 full years of data; a map of the patch route is available here , for those who are unfamiliar with the area. Setley pond – usually a source of more hope than expectation – managed to exceed our wildest dreams in 2024, producing three of our six ‘lifers’: a group of three Cattle Egrets overhead in June, a single drake Wigeon in November and a pair of male Shoveler in December. A Moorhen lingered for most of the summer and was joined, briefly by a Coot in April. Mallards produced two broods of ducklings and Canada Geese were a regular presence during the Spring. Greylag a...