New Forest, 2023:- Pt.4 - 11th & 12th July

Herewith, Pt.4 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.

In spite of a dire weather forecast before we had set off from home at the end of the previous week, we had got off relatively lightly as far as adverse weather was concerned, although the winds had been less than ideal. However, things went downhill a little at about this time, although the weather was still workable with.

Tuesday, 11th July          Cadman's Pool : Cadnam Common

The day was forecast to be dull and windy, with the occasional light shower of rain, and that is just what it turned out to be. The night before, we had agreed that this would be a family day and, as Georgie (our granddaughter) would be unlikely to surface much before mid-day, we all had a bit of a much-needed lie-in, and it was getting on for 09.00 before I was showered and ready for breakfast. 

I spent some time sorting out the aftermath of Sunday night's moth trapping, but much of the remaing morning was spent chatting. When Georgie did join us, it was decided that the girls would take Georgie crabbing. This was definitely 'not my thing', so I  fixed up a picnic and departed to try and find a location that had been recommended to me - Cadman's Pool. I guess this place might have been more attractive if it was not so windy and dull, and there had been less people around, but the only photos I took were of New Forest Ponies that had come to the pool for a drink.

 

New Forest Ponies - Cadman's Pool

From there, I  moved on to Cadnam Moor. Yes, it can be confusing having a Cadman and a Cadnam relatively close to each other! My visit was just to check if, by some slim chance, there were any dragonflies around the small pool - there weren't, but I did find ponies and donkeys feeding and drinking at the pool. One of the donkeys was, unusually, white, and it did look to be rather old.

 

Donkey - Cadnam Common

New Forest Pony - Cadnam Common

It then started to rain, so I headed back to the car and went into Lyndhurst to do some shopping and have an ice cream.

I got back to base to find the girls had just beaten me back. They had not managed to go crabbing as, on arrival, they had found the place rather busy. A major part of Georgie's autism is that she has difficulty with people, especially children, and she just couldn't manage to get out of the car.

 

After a quick coffee, the girls wanted to go into Lyndhurst to visit 'Down To The Wood' - a shop selling a huge variety of attractive wooden ornaments, trinkets, games, etc. Of course, the main objective was for Georgie to have a huge tub of sorbet from the ice cream shop, resulting in me having my second ice cream of the afternoon.

The day ended with a relaxing evening back at base.

 

Wednesday, 12th July          Keyhaven : Janesmoor Pond : Stoney Cross : Cadnam Common

 

The forecast for the day was for fairly high winds, with sunny spells in the morning and some heavy rain showers in the afternoon. It made sense, therefore, for me to do the bulk of my outdoor activities in the morning. I am rarely able to manage an early departure, mainly for technical reasons, but I did get out at about 08.45 and arrived in the Keyhaven area at 09.30. 

The car parking area was full when I arrived, but as I turned the car round someone departed. At the gate, two persons who were obviously birders were chatting. As I approached the gate, one of them said "it's gone". It turns out that, unbeknown to me, the twitchers had been out in force as there had been a Curlew Sandpiper on the reserve. This would have been a 'lifer' for me.

I spent three hours on a circular walk, seeing a few birds, all at a distance, and a few butterflies. Frustratingly, I had my fourth sighting of the week of a Marbled White butterfly here, and still came away without a shot.

The walk southward from the car park to the sea wall, as usual, yielded mainly insects to photograph.

 

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) (male) - Keyhaven Marshes

Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus) (male) - Keyhaven Marshes

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) - Keyhaven Marshes

From the path to the sea wall there are occasional views through to the marshes on the west side of the path. A distant Grey Heron seemed to have a punk hairdo, and the sight of an even more distant Little Ringed Plover had me quite excited as it is 16 years since I last saw and photographed one.

 

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) - Keyhaven Marshes

Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius) - Keyhaven Marshes

On reaching the sea wall, I headed westward on the lower path beside Fishtail Lagoon. Here, the juvenile Shelduck were mainly sleeping on an island, while an adult was out on the water.

Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) (juvenile) - Keyhaven Marshes

Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) (female) - Keyhaven Marshes

There were a couple of Redshank in the water at the edge of the nearside of the island.

Redshank (Tringa totanus) - Keyhaven Marshes

A Lapwing was obligingly rather closer than most things.

 

Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) - Keyhaven Marshes

Most of my time, however, was focussed on photographing those irresistable Avocets. I thought this youngster was particularly charming.

Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) (juvenile) - Keyhaven Marshes

The adults were quite active. I have included a video clip to show the feeding action, and the sound may give you an indication of the wind factor. I was quite surprised as to how quick that sweeping action was.

Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) - Keyhaven Marshes

Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) - Keyhaven Marshes

I then continued towards Keyhaven Lagoon. I had been seeing a few birds at a distance that had me a little puzzled. They were behaving like wagtails, and were grey and white, but had short tails. As I approached Keyhaven Lagoon, three of these were on the path ahead of me. One flew up onto the fence beside the path and I was able to get a shot before it flew off. From my photo, I reckon it was an immature Pied or White Wagtail. Any help with nailing the ID would be much appreciated. Note:- Pete Woodruff has kindly advised me that he believes this to be a Pied Wagtail, and as Pete is a life-long birder I am more than happy to accept this - thank you, Pete.

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii) (immature) - Keyhaven Marshes

Keyhaven Lagoon didn't yield anything of great interest, and the only thing I photographed was a Common Blue butterfly.

 

Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) (male) - Keyhaven Marshes

The path then continues round and ends up at the place where the Solent cuts inland to Keyhaven. There I found Little Egret and Oystercatcher.

 

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) - Keyhaven

Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) - Keyhaven

I then headed back eastwards, along the ancient highway that is now a cycle way and constitutes the northern edge of the reserve. In the past, I have seen dragonflies along here, including Golden-ringed, but I had no such luck this time. Part way along this track, I took a northward path through a wooded section that passed close to a good-sized pond. However, the bushes between the path and the water were much more dense than when I previously visited and I could not get a view of the water. I did find a damselfly though.

 

Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans) (male) - by Keyhaven Marshes

Having turned around and gone back to the ancient highway, I continued towards the car park. This stretch was quite rich with butterflies.

 

Comma (Polygonia c-album) - by Keyhaven Marshes

Peacock (Aglais io) - by Keyhaven Marshes

Large White (Pieris brassicae) - by Keyhaven Marshes

Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) - by Keyhaven Marshes

Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris) (female) - by Keyhaven Marshes

I couldn't resist a shot of one of nature's architectural perfections.

 

Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) - by Keyhaven Marshes

Shortly before reaching my car, there was a section of track with an open aspect to the north. While looking around, I photographed a couple of distant birds in flight. To my surprise, only when looking at my photos on the computer, I found that one of them was a Sand Martin.

 

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) - by Keyhaven Marshes

Sand Martin (Riparia riparia) - by Keyhaven Marshes

I had my picnic lunch at the car, then contacted the girls to arrange to meet up. We settled on meeting at Stoney Cross, and I arrived there and got a message to say that they were just down the road at Janesmoor Pond. They'd stopped there because Georgie had seen Donkeys and wanted to photograph them.

After a short session there, we went down the Road to the Stoney Cross parking area, and a very heavy rain shower started as we arrived. Melanie (our daughter) and Georgie went out in the rain to photograph some deer. I waited until the rain stopped before I went to photograph them! In the meantime, Melanie and Georgie had set off for Cadnam Common, using the what3words reference that I'd given Melanie.

 

Fallow Deer are known for their wide variation in colour. This group was entirely comprised of males of three or more years of age, as witnessed by the antlers.

 

Fallow Deer (Dama dama) (male) - Stoney Cross

They were very relaxed about the proximity of humans, as can be seen in the following video clips.

We caught up with Melanie and Georgie before they reached Cadnam Common as they had stopped to photograph some donkeys. We pulled up behind them and Lindsay started to get out of the car but was stopped in her tracks by the rapid approach of a donkey coming to greet her. I had opened my window to take some photos but I had a donkey's head in through the window before I managed. It was far too close for my camera to focus on.

Until I was informed a couple of days prior to this, I was unaware that there is now a fine of up to £1,000 for feeding or petting the livestock (deer, ponies, donkeys, pigs) which roam free in the New Forest, and I can now understand why.

After a brief interlude here, we moved on to Cadnam Common,  where we all got out for a walk, although Lindsay didn't make it as far as the pool. Melanie and Georgie headed back to the car, while I spent a short time looking for dragonflies, although the light was not good. I'd not long found one and was photographing a male Broad-bodied Chaser dipping the rear of its abdomen into the water (as shown in the video clip, below), when the heavens opened and I  got soaked before I got back to the car. I am not sure what this dragonfly was doing (perhaps just washing its anal appendages?), and would be grateful for any suggestions.

 

Broad-bodied Chaser (Libellula depressa) (male) - Cadnam Common

Back at the car, the air-conditioning in the car dried me out somewhat, so we were able to shop for gifts, cakes, and ice creams in Lyndhurst before heading back to base for a relaxing rest of afternoon and evening.

 

 

It is planned that my next blog post will cover the final day of our New Forest break, and a brief mention of the journey home the following day.

 

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

 

Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard 

April 'Odds and Sods', Pt.1 - 7th to 24th April, 2023

I have already published blog posts featuring some April excursions. This post will fill in the gaps with some garden observations and local short visits.

(Good) Friday, 7th April                    Garden

The appearance of a Long-tailed Tit will always lift the spirits, and this day we had two! Here's a photo of one of them.

Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) - garden on 7th April, 2023

Hoverflies were appearing. This one favoured the Ipheon uniflorum - a plant that I once decided seemed attractive so acquired some from a nursery and put in a flower bed, not realising how invasive they are! The same can be said for Bluebells and Muscari! I suspect that this is Syrphus vitripennis - a female.

hoverfly (Syrphus vitripennis?) (female) - garden on 7th April, 2023

This Comma also showed up and I suspect, due to its tattered appearance, that it might have been a speciment that had overwintered as an adult.

Comma (Polygonia c-album) - garden on 7th April, 2023

That night, the moth trap went out, but only resulted in three somewhat uninteresting moths of two species.

Thursday, 20th April                    Kelham Bridge Nature Reserve ; Sence Valley Forest Park

The reserve at Kelham Bridge had, I'm sorry to say, been rather unproductive so far this year, but I am not about to give up on this place. It was rather quiet during this visit, with a trio of Canada Geese on the grass to the left of the first hide.

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) - Kellham Bridge NR

Since my last visit to this place, the Sand Martins, the smallest of European Hirundines, had returned to the artificial nesting wall, way off to the left of the hide. This next image, taken with the lens at its full 400mm and already a little cropped, shows the wall. 

Sand Martin (Riparia riparia) - Kelham Bridge NR

I spent some time trying to capture the action, and the best that I could come up with was these next two, highly cropped, images.

Sand Martin (Riparia riparia) - Kelham Bridge NR

It then dawned on me that I should try using the camera's video capability.  The video I took was a bit shakey in the wind so I have applied Microsoft's stabilisation facility, this shrinks the overall size of the video. However, I feel that it better captures the atmosphere.

 

As I left the hide, a Wren was singing its heart out beside the path. It always amazes me that such a small bird can have such a loud voice, but you can see the effort it puts into its output in this next image.

 

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - Kelham Bridge NR

I went to the second hide, but nothing much was visible, and the only thing that presented itself anywhere near enough for a photo was a Little Grebe.

 

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) - Kelham Bridge NR

I decided to abandon ship and see if I could have any more luck at nearby Sence Valley. The short answer was 'no'.  It was pleasing to find Cowslip in flower beside Goss Water.

Cowslip (Primula veris) - Sence Valley FP

While looking for birds to photograph, I spotted what I at first took to be a day-flying moth go past. Fortunately it landed on the bridge over the Sence, where it flows between Horseshoe Lake and Goss Water. It was an Alderfly but, although the most common species is Sialis lutaria, it cannot be readily separated from the very similar Sialis fuliginosa.

 

Alderfly (Sialis sp.) - Sence Valley FP

Seeing little, and reckoning that it was about time I headed home anyway, I returned to my car. However, I found myself distracted by the butterflies at the roadside within ten metres of my car. I can't remember the last time that I saw six species of butterfly in such a small area. Seen were Orange-tip, Brimstone, Green-veined White, Holly Blue, Speckled Wood, and Comma.

 

Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) (male) - by River Sence

Green-veined White (Pieris napi) (female) - by River Sence

Saturday, 22nd April                    Ashby de la Zouch Cemetery

On the county WhatsApp group, there was a report of a Ring Ouzel seen at the cemetery in my home town. I was not even aware that this place existed! It was soon located with the aid of Google Earth and I set off to investigate.

I found another birder there checking the place out. After a relatively thorough check, no such bird was found. We agreed that the place looked to be a highly unlikely environment for a Ring Ouzel to stop in, and both of us wondered if an inexperienced observer had mistaken a female Blackbird (which often exhibit a pale chest crescent) for this species.

While there, I did use my camera on a couple of very common birds sitting on headstones.

Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus) - Ashby de la Zouch Cemetery

Jackdaw (Corvus monedula) - Ashby de la Zouch Cemetery

Sunday, 23rd April                    Garden

Lindsay has a frog phobia, which is why we can't have a conventional pond in our garden. The pond that we do have is a mini-pond, contained in a wooden structure with 18 inch (0.46 m) high vertical side-walls - too high for any frog that I've met! However, we do have a very small part of what used to be my Koi pond that has been retained as a bird drinking and bathing station, and is affectionately known to us as 'the duck pond'.

On this day, I found one of the largest Common Frogs that I've ever seen, sitting on a ledge overlooking the duck pond.

Common Frog (Rana temporaria) - garden on 23rd April, 2023

Having taken my photos, I left it in peace, and it was gone the next time that I looked.

Monday, 24th April                    Garden

Nothing very special was witnessed in the garden during the day, although I did take a few photos, some of which are shown below. However, an interesting event that night was uncovered the following day.

Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) - garden on 24th April, 2023

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) - garden on 24th April, 2023

Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) (female) - garden on 24th April, 2023

Robin (Erithacus rubecula) - garden on 24th April, 2023

I deploy three trailcams in the garden each night, and have been witnessing at least three Hedgehogs visiting our garden. Occasionally we will see two meeting up. Usually this ends with a showdown, resulting in the weakest of the two retreating rapidly or just curling into a ball and waiting until the aggressor has departed. Sometimes, however, we witness more amorous activity. This entails the male circling round the female for a while, until she accepts his advances. On this occasion, the camera caught this behaviour and, although no mating was captured, the remarkable thing was the duration of the event. If you look at the time displayed at the bottom of the video, you will see that it starts at 22.19, and ends at 23.24 - 65 minutes in total! Don't worry - I've only included a few clips and the video is only about a minute and a half in duration.

Thus ends Pt.1 of my April O&S account. Pt.2 will probably be in about a week's time. In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature.

 

Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard