New Forest, 2023:- Pt.5 - 13th & 14th July

Herewith, Pt.5 (the final part) of my account of our family holiday in The New Forest. If you missed any of the earlier installments, you can find them by clicking 'Older Posts' at the bottom of this post.

Thursday, 13th July          Normandy Lagoon : Hatchet Moor : Pig Bush 

This was our last day at the property, with us having to vacate the premises by 10.00 the following day. The local weather forecast for the day was for it to be cloudy and breezy, with occasional heavy showers. However, that for the south coast, which was only about 10 miles (16 km) away, was for sunny periods and a relatively low chance of rain. A return to the coast was, therefore, indicated. 

I left base at 09.45 and about half way to my destination ran into torrential rain, requiring the windscreen wipers to be on their high speed setting. It was sunny, but rather windy when I arrived at the point to park to gain access to Normandy Lagoon. I arrived at the lagoon to find someone with tractor and trailer collecting a few victims of avian influenza. I get the impression, however,  that this horrific and very worrying disease is having a much greater impact on birds the further north one goes.

 

I spent the first part of my visit trying for flight shots as I need practice in that aspect of photography. Although quite distant, I was quite pleased to get the shot with both Common Tern and Little Tern, which were having a bit of an altercation.

 

Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) - Normandy Lagoon

Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) and Little Tern (Sternula albifrons) - Normandy Lagoon

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) - Normandy Lagoon

Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) - Normandy Lagoon

An Avocet was at one end of the island with a youngster.

 

Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) (adult + juvenile) - Normandy Lagoon

You may have noticed the gull in that last shot. Its identity puzzled me for a while but, having seen it closer and side-on, I came to the conclusion that it was a young Black-headed Gull.

 

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) (immature) - Normandy Lagoon

Here are a few of the other birds that I photographed on the lagoon.

 

Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) - Normandy Lagoon

Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) - Normandy Lagoon

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) - Normandy Lagoon

With the sea wall behind the path I was on, it was relatively sheltered from the southerly wind. This brought out some butterflies.

Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris) (female) - Normandy Lagoon

Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) (male) - Normandy Lagoon

I'd told Lindsay  that  I would be back between 12.00 and 12.30 to take her out for lunch, so my time here was limited. I started heading back to the car, but took a couple of shots of an overhead  immature Black-headed Gull (maybe the same one as seen earlier?).

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) (immature) - Normandy Lagoon

I left at about 11.30, giving me just enough time for a lightning-quick visit to the pond at Hatchet Moor. Considering the visit lasted about 15 minutes, it was quite productive.

 

A young Robin looked as if it was establishing a territory

Robin (Erithacus rubecula) (juvenile) - Hatchet Moor

At this location, I have found, particularly in breezy weather, that the gorsey area to the south of the small pond can be very productive for perched dragonflies - especially Keeled Skimmers. It is definitely worth enduring the spikes of the gorse while exploring this area!

Keeled Skimmer (Orthetrum coerulescens) (male) - Hatchet Moor

In past blog posts, I have spoken of the metallic gold appearance of fresh female Keeled Skimmers. This next one is a rather mature one and more like old gold, whereas the one following that is even more mature and looks decidedly tarnished.

Keeled Skimmer (Orthetrum coerulescens) (female) - Hatchet Moor

In a previous post, I mentioned that I'd missed seeing a Sundew until I'd viewed my photos. It happened again! In the first image of the female Keeled Skimmer above, you may notice something bottom right which I did not notice at the time of shooting - I guess that I was wholly pre-occupied with the dragonfly. That image was quite highly cropped from the original. This gave me the ability to extract a Sundew image from that area of the image.

 

Round-leaved Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) - Hatchet Moor

I also found a Common Darter. This image serves as a reminder as to how uncomfortable waling through the gorse can be!

Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) (female) - Hatchet Moor

Lindsay had requested a visit to Lepe, on the shore of the Solent with views over to the Isle of Wight, with lunch at the cafe there. Melanie and Georgie asked to join us and we were, of course, delighted to have them along. 

On the way back, we stopped at the intriguingly name Pig Bush car park as it had been recommended to me by a fellow I'd been chatting to at Normandy that morning. This brief visit was an interesting one as we saw two very large beetles, one of which was a Lesser Stag Beetle - a species that I'd first seen only four weeks previously in Norfolk. The other was one that was as bright green as an emerald.

 

Lesser Stag Beetle ( Dorcus parallelipipedus) (female) - Pig Bush

Rose Chafer (Cetonia aurata) - Pig Bush

The real treat however was getting a Stonechat fix. I'd been hearing Stonechats quite frequently during the week but, frustratingly, they'd not been showing themselves. This time, I enjoyed several sightings and got some photos, including some of what I  believe is a juvenile.

 

Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) (juvenile) - Pig Bush

Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) (male) - Pig Bush

 Thus, the wildlife and photography aspects of the holiday came to a delightful end.

The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent sorting out for the following days departure, with a break to go and fetch a Chinese takeaway for our evening meal.

Friday, 14th July          Lyndhurst to Ashby de la Zouch

The forecast was for a wet day all day. Melanie and Georgie departed at around 09.40 and Lindsay and I got away on the dot of 10.00. It rained heavily for the whole of the journey home, and the traffic was horrific. We like to take a cross-country route rather than use motorways. What should have been a journey of less than four hours duration, including a brief stop for a picnic lunch, took six and a half hours. Melanie likes to use motorways and her journey (she doesn't stop for lunch) should have been about three hours long, but it took her about six and a half hours too!

We all had enjoyed a wonderful break in the New Forest and look forward to returning at some time - maybe next year.

 

This break brought home to me a couple of factors that I'd not really given much thought to before. The first was, not entirely unexpectedly, that I no longer have the stamina for long walks without stopping for the occasional rest. The second is that my powers of observation are rather diminished, largely due to my deteriorating eyesight (cataracts, and both wet and dry macular degeneration), but also partly due to my reduced stability which means that I have to concentrate on where I'm puting my feet. Unless I'm standing still, I don't spend as much time as I should do looking upward. The main realisation was that the first factor contributes to the second! As I get tired, I lose concentration and find myself daydreaming as I walk along, and forgetting the job in hand! I have a lot to be thankful for, however, and I think that I'm doing OK for my age. While I am able to get out and take walks in nature with my camera I shall remain happy.

 

I believe that my next blog post will cover more local observations and be a catch-up, as I have not touched on this subject since reporting on a visit in late May!

 

In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature.

 

Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard