September Update: a Change of Season

 

The change of season has brought a good month of birding on our New Forest heathland patch. Weekly counts of 53 species on three occasions beat our previous September record of 52, with some warm, sunny weather enabling plenty of opportunities to get out and about. Several additions to the year list have brought the 2023 total up to 95; as usual, full lists and bar charts are available on eBird at:  https://ebird.org/hotspot/L12697095

The arrival of Yellow Wagtails (fig 1) on the 1st of September was a week later than last year; as usual their appearance on the football pitches coincided with the presence of cattle, and was often associated with a large, mixed flock of Pied Wagtails and Meadow Pipits. Sightings continued until the last week of the month, which was also later than in 2022.  Wheatear and Spotted Flycatcher were seen regularly throughout September, along with Whinchat and Redstart in the earlier weeks. Chiffchaff, Common Whitethroat and Blackcap were all still present in good numbers, and the warm weather even encouraged one of the few passing Willow Warblers into song on 29^th. A single Lesser Whitethroat finally showed itself in the scrub at Marlpit Oak on 22^nd September, which was the same week as our lone sighting last year. Sadly, no Pied Flycatchers were seen to pass through the patch this year, which has also been reflected in a relatively small number of autumn reports of this species from elsewhere in the New Forest.

Fig 1: Yellow Wagtail - a regular autumn passage migrant (photo credit: Mark Halligan)

One of the birding highlights of the month was a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (fig 2), which alighted briefly on a birch stump close to Cater’s Cottage. Although this Nationally scarce species is known to breed in the New Forest, it was the first patch record since Mark’s single heathland sighting in 2017 and a ‘patch lifer’ for me. It also enabled a ‘double hat-trick’ of all three British woodpeckers (with Green and Great Spotted) and all three wagtails (Yellow, Grey and Pied) on the same day – a full collection of w’s that I suspect will not be achieved on our patch again.

Fig 2: Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Buzzard and Kestrel continued to be our only regular raptors. A single Marsh Harrier was our first record for September, and we were treated to distant views of an adult Hobby, perched on a dead tree at Trenley Lawn in the second week of the month. Two Sparrowhawks on 23^rd September and one on 30th were our first since April.

The final week of the month brought some unusual sightings to the patch. The continued abundance of Hawthorn berries on Longslade tempted down our first Ring Ouzel of the year, a male bird which stayed for a single morning on 27^th. Previous sightings have been much later in October and early November, so we remain hopeful for more records this autumn. On the same day, a skein of 7 Egyptian Geese passed overhead and a pair of Mallard returned to Setley Pond for the fist time since July. A single Moorhen on 29^th and 30th was our first record for 2023 and a Kingfisher at Hichelsea Bog was the first since New Year's Day. A Common Gull on the football pitch was only our second ever patch record of this species.

Fig 3: Common Gull - an uncommon visitor to the football pitches (photo credit: Mark Halligan)

A healthy passage of Swallows and House Martin was continuing right up until the final day of September. Previous experience suggests that both will be gone by mid-October, along with the majority of the warbler species, hopefully to be replaced by the winter thrushes, a few more passing Ouzels and maybe (just maybe!) another Wryneck. We live in hope!