A Patch of New Forest Heathland

  A part from a couple of ‘named’ storms, the mild, dry theme of spring and summer continued well into November, enabling plenty of autumn patch birding. Our year list has grown steadily, but remains five below our record figure of 103 in 2024 with no species added to the overall total since March. Checklist numbers were similar overall to previous years; our highest count of 47 on 8 th November was a new record for that month. As usual, all lists and bar charts can be found on the ebird ‘hotspot’, by clicking on this hyperlink , and I have also included links to pictures of the birds mentioned in this blog. For new readers, a map and description of the route can be found on the first blog post on this site, here . 'Devil's Fingers': a regular autumn fungus on Setley Plain The migration season was slightly disappointing this year, with no further sightings of Wheatear or Whinchat and just a single Yellow Wagtail overhead during September, despite large numbers being rec...

  While the long dry summer of 2025 will, no doubt, be talked about for years to come, our birding achievements over the past three months will be quickly forgotten. Weekly species lists between June and August were generally around average, although our highest count of 63 on 8 th June was a new record for that month. Four species were added to the year list during summer, bringing the total to 90, which remains well short of the 97 that we had achieved by the end of August 2024. As usual, all checklists can be found at our eBird site, here . New readers will find a map of the patch on the first blog post on this site by clicking this link . Birds of prey have been notably hard to find this summer. Our regular female Marsh Harrier made a few appearances in June and a pair of Kestrels fledged three young from the nest box behind Sway Allotments for the second year in succession; however Buzzards and Sparrowhawk were fewer in number and we did not see a Hobby or Peregrine. ...

  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...