2023 Patch Summary
The end of 2023 marks the third complete year of our birding and recording exploits on the patch of New Forest between Brockenhurst and Sway. For those who are new readers of this site, a more detailed explanation of the concept of ‘ Patch Birding’ and a map of showing our route and the locations described in this blog, can be found on the 2022 Summary . My birding companion, Mark and I live in the village of Sway, close enough to the route to enable us to conduct our visits entirely on foot. The concept of ‘low carbon’ birding has been encouraged by environmental campaigners in recent years, although we recognise that not all birders are fortunate enough to have such a rich and varied habitat on their doorstep. While our 54 full circuits was ten fewer than in 2022 it still represented an average of over one visit per week over the whole year, which feels like quite an achievement given the variability of the weather. All sightings were recorded on the eBird site where a s...