March 27, 2007
23rd to 25th MARCH
NEW FOREST
This weekend was spent in and around the New Forest; the weather was generally grey and cold with a brisk northerly wind. The only photographs were obtained using a ridiculously high ISO setting and the results were a tad grainy.
We had Friday afternoon off and went to Keyhaven, where from the car park opposite the Gun Inn we walked the inland path as far as Pennington, returning along the sea wall. Firstly we had a look over the Avon floods where we failed to see the Garganey which had been reported there. There were good numbers of Brent Geese, Wigeon, Teal, and Pintail; other birds there included Little Egret, Lapwing, Redshank and Black-tailed Godwits.
Among other birds we saw on the walk were Cettis Warbler, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Tufted Duck, Eider, a Slavonian Grebe off Oxey, Snipe, Grey Plover and Dunlin. Nearly home, thirty or so Golden Plover wheeled over the fields at Collingwood Corner.
In an attempt to escape the wind, on Saturday afternoon we walked in Highland Water and Puckpits Inclosures in the New Forest. It was quiet bird wise, but we did see or hear Siskins, Goldcrest, Blue, Great, Coal, Marsh and Long-tailed Tits, our first Bramblings of the year, Green Woodpecker and Stock Dove. On the way home we added Mandarins on Eyeworth Pond, and Corn Buntings on wires along the Salisbury Road at South Down. Somewhere today we had excellent views of a Firecrest, although the photo wasn't up to much.
On Sunday afternoon we went to Blashford Lakes once again, where we walked a circuit of Ivy Lake. Yesterday’s Garganey had gone, but among the birds of the walk were Greater-spotted and Green Woodpeckers, four or five singing Chiffchaffs, Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Jay, Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Teal, Great-crested Grebe, Pochard, and on the woodland feeders, Siskins and Goldfinches.
Crow
Firecrest
Goldfinch
Red-breasted Merganser
Siskins and Goldfinch
Siskins
Posted by Frampton25 at March 27, 2007 07:33 PM