8th May - Acres Down, New Forest and Fishlake Meadows, Hampshire

At the start of the week the weather forecast was showing a little rain but south easterly winds for the weekend.  By Friday this had become heavy rain and a southerly wind.  A south east would have been ideal, the switch to south not so.  As a result I took the decision not to start early, but to wait for the rain to move through.  The bad weather would also keep the crowds, seen in the New Forest recently, away too.  So, as I negotiated the ford on the lane leading to the car park at Acres Down, I was pleased to see just one other car in the car park.

The rain had eased, but there was still quite a fresh wind that was now blowing from the south west.  All around the car park there was the noise of rustling leaves and creaking of branches.  Leaving the car park I could hear the song of a Firecrest.  This little bird has been a recent staple of my "Around Four Marks" blog, but I have not had that many encounters when venturing further afield, so I decided to find the owner of the song.  This didn't take long as it was singing in the holly trees alongside the main path.

It then came out into the open, working its way through the low branches of the trees

Then back into the Holly tree

Leaving the Firecrest I headed down the hill, but very quickly came across two more territories where they were singing.  With the rain having passed there was a good amount of song for the time of day.  I could hear a Redstart, but wasn't able to locate it.  Song Thrush, Robin Blackbird, Chiffchaff, Chaffinch and Wren were the dominate songs, but as I walked past the new conifer plantation I could just make out the song of a Willow Warbler.  There is always one here at this time of year, but over the years the conifers have grown making it harder to see them.  However they like to sing from the top of the trees and I found this one quite quickly.

Despite the overcast conditions and the wind, the wood was looking beautiful, the delicate greens of the newly emerged Beech leaves contrasting with the dark of the rain soaked bark of the surrounding trees.

On reaching the meanders of Highland Water a female Redstart was mixing with Robins around the fallen tree trunks, while a Grey Wagtail flew low over the water upstream.

Crossing the bridge there was another singing Redstart was proving to be just as illusive as the first one I came across.  Here in the forest at this time of year they seem to sing from high in the canopy making it very difficult to locate them.  A typical Redstart photograph at this time of year is one over exposed and washed out against a pale sky or white sky.

The Beach trees were continuing to provide interest as I walked on.

The Redstarts are always nice, but I was here for a special bird.  I haven't managed to catch up with the Wood Warbler in the Forest for a few years now and I was reliably informed that there was one singing in a location we had seen them before.  I continued to follow the path past a clearing with young conifers and a parachuting Tree Pipit.  I decided not to stop for the pipit as my quarry was more important, if necessary I would come back for it.

On arriving at the spot there was no song at all, just a few Goldcrests and a distant Blackcap singing.  I walked up and down listening, but at the same time getting concerned I was not going to be lucky.  Wood Warbler has become increasingly difficult to locate in the Forest,  It would appear that the numbers are reducing as a breeding bird.

I decided to cross the path and try and area of open trees.  Away in the distance the Beech leaves were contrasting with the dark bark creating a band of green and black.

I was about to give up when I head a burst of trilling song.  It didn't last long so I wasn't sure, normally it then goes on to add a series of "pew-pews", but it didn't happen, had I just imagined it, was it one of the Goldcrests again?  Then I heard it once again and it went on to deliver the "pew-pew-pew" conclusion.  It was no w a case of locating the bird in a dense canopy which is not always easy.

Unusually it was concentrating on calling a single "pew" repeated over and over again, but finally I was able to pick it up, but above me and against the pure light grey sky.  A combination of the grey sky and the dull conditions does not make for very successful photographs and unfortunately my first encounter with a Hampshire Wood Warbler is going to only be a set of record shots.

I can make out two colour rings on the right leg, blue on yellow.

Wood Warblers have declined in the UK by more than 65% between 1989 & 2015. The RSPB found that nest success rates had not changed suggesting that the problems facing Wood Warblers may be occurring along their migration routes and on their African wintering grounds. Ringing recoveries indicate Wood Warblers stopover in Italy in late summer. No UK ringed wood warblers have ever been recovered in sub-Saharan Africa although stable feather isotopes suggest that most of Europe’s breeding wood warblers may spend the winter in the humid forest zone of the Congo basin in central Africa.

Very light geolocators may help us understand the routes they take and the timings of their migrations. Knowing this will enable us to look at potential impacts of events across their annual cycle on population trends.

I stayed hoping it would show better, but it continued to call and never burst into song once more.  After following it through the upper branches I decided the views were not going to improve, so I decided to leave it.

Rather than follow the path back the way I had came, I walked across the wood and it joined the main path once again before the bridge across Highland Water.  I spent dome time here looking for yet another Redstart and also a singing Firecrest, I then took the path through the Holmhill inclosure.  There was little about of major interest.  As I reached the path that leads up through a copse to Acres Down I heard yet another Redstart singing.  This time I was determined to find it.  As ever it was elusive but I finally managed to locate it and to demonstrate the point I made earlier about Redstart pictures at this time of the year in the Forest here is it.

But then it moved and while it is still washed out it was a bit better.

A Dartford Warbler flying  from gorse to gorse at the top of the hill was the only bird of note.  As I made my way back to the car park, I paused for a quick view of a very bird empty view.

Back at the car park the number of cars had increased by two, it was quite pleasant being the only one around.  After lunch I decided to check out Eyeworth Pond where there were no cars in the car park and no birds to be found on the pond.

Next was Fishlake Meadows with a similar number of cars in the car park.  A walk to the viewing point revealed hundreds of hirundine low over the water.  Lesser Black-backed gulls were on the dead trees and several Great-crested Grebes were at the back of the lake.  I thought that maybe I would be able to get better views of the hirundines from the screens in the middle of the reserve so I headed along the canal path.  A Blackcap was singing near the bridge and I could hear both Sedge and Reed Warbler singing from the scrub and reeds on the reserve.

I came across a squabble between a Cetti's Warbler and a Whitethroat which came to a head with the Whitethroat acting like an old gentleman with a white fluffy beard.

The Cetti's Warbler gave way to the Whitethroat and things calmed down.

In keeping with the time of year the Cetti's Warblers were in full song all around the reserve.  A Garden Warbler played hide and seek with me, never showing very well.  Out over the reserve a couple of Swifts could be seen.

On arriving at the screens a Water Rail scurried across the boardwalk and was gone as quickly as it appeared, an omen?  There was in did a good collection of hirundines hawking over the water, all three species were present.  These were also joined by several Swift.  A female Pochard swam out of the reeds.  Maybe a potential breeder, Pochard do breed in the county but not in large numbers.

It was grey, windy and early summer so I was obliged to try and photograph the Swifts and hirundines.  Starting with the Swallow

Then a Swift

And a House Martin

But it was the Swifts that were more confiding if still very difficult in the conditions, dull and grey.

A female type Marsh Harrier was hunting over the reed bed

I picked up what I thought was another hirundine high above the pools but it remained static winged and was definitely not a hirundine, getting on it with binoculars it was clearly a falcon and immediately defaulted to a Hobby attracted to the many hirundines.

But it is clearly not a Hobby, broader wings, short tail and the barred underparts giving it away as a Peregrine.

Some interesting behaviour though as it glided across, it appears to be twisting its head to look down, maybe checking the hirundines below.

A pair of Peregrine are nesting in Romsey Abbey and this was probably the male bird, not a Hobby.

Leaving the screens I stopped to try and get views of both Reed Warbler and Cetti's Warbler.  On one of these pauses I noticed movement behind me and turned to see a Great Spotted Woodpecker on one of the fence posts.  I stood stock still as it was quite close and slowly raised the camera, preying that it wouldn't move.

Slowly it edged up the post and then on to it.

A female bird, lacking the red patch on the back of the neck, it settled on the post

Then it looked like it was about to fly off and did.

But only to the next post where it started to hammer away at what bark there was left on the post, hacking through the fungi and bark.  I assume it must be a rich source of insects in the split wood and behind the bark.

Definitely the best views of Great Spotted Woodpecker I have had and I saved the best for last.

Back on the cross path I came across a singing Sedge Warbler.

From an open position it flew to the cover of a willow where it continued to sing.

Back on Canal Path a Chiffchaff was mixing up fly catching and singing.  This completes photographing the three common phylosc warblers on the day

A little further on the Garden Warbler was singing again. You always doubt yourself when you hear a Blackcap sing and wonder could it be a Garden Warbler, but the truth is when you hear a Garden Warbler you know it is a Garden Warbler.  I finally managed to get a prolonged view but nothing I would write home about, either obscured by branches.

Or distant and tucked away in a bush.

Just before I reached the turn for the car park, a falcon flew quickly across the path, long slim wings I wondered if it might just be a Kestrel.  I just managed to get two shots as it disappeared and on checking them I was so pleased to see it was in fact a Hobby, at last.

So the day came to an end.  I had managed to get some quality out of what was a dismal day weather wise.  Quality in the form of the Wood Warbler and Hobby if not the photos and then the lovely close views of the Great Spotted Woodpecker.  When the rain was pelting down at 7:30 this morning I didn't think there was any chance of seeing anything today