27th May - The New Forest

The weather over the last week has been beautiful, albeit with at times a fresh north easterly wind that takes the edge off the temperature.  Over the last few years sightings of Wood Warbler in the New Forest have been few and far between, so news of one singing in the area of the Canadian War Memorial had Ian and I change our plans to meet in the area just after dawn.  As I drove through the New Forest after coming off the A31 I came across a small herd of Red Deer by the Acres Down turn, a little further along a single Roe Deer and just past the Millyford Bridge car park a herd of Fallow Deer crossed the road in front of me, not a bad start to the morning.

As I pulled up in the car park, Ian was already here and as I sorted out the camera and boots I could hear a Wood Warbler singing, that lovely song, that is often said to sound like a coin spinning on a glass table top, with rapid 'zip' notes accelerating into a trill and then coming to a sudden stop.

As I walked down the path the sun was just coming out below the trees sending a golden glow across the sky.

Ian was there and had seen the warbler, it was singing then and it did not take long to locate it. They they favour mature closed-canopy woodland where there is little or no shrub area, particularly Sessile Oak and Silver Birch, which was the dominant tree here along with Scots Pine.

The wood warbler is a brightly coloured bird with zesty yellow-green upperparts, darker wings and white underparts. It has a distinctive, bold yellow eye stripe and a broad, short tail. One of the larger warblers, it measures around 12–13cm in length.

Singig in the canopy makes it difficult to get clear shots of the Wood Warbler and my attempts in the past have always been looking up at the bird, with the majority of the under parts.  This bird seemed quite happy to come lower to sing and was almost at eye level.

Another challenge has always been the light.  It was early morning and that didn't help, but he dense cover and canopy also restricts the light and a high ISO needs to be used which leads to grainy photographs.  This was the case with some of the first shots, but as the sun rose and the warbler moved more to the edge of the trees the light improved.

The sunlight was catching it in this shot, making the lemony under parts stand out.

It has been a while since being able to get such good views of the lovely little warbler, so every opportunity was taken.

The birds was ringed with silver and blue on the left leg and two green rings on the right leg, this is all part of the study to track the warblers in the hope of understanding why they are declining in the New Forest.

The Wood Warbler has been on the UK Red List since 2009 as a bird in need of conservation action due to a decline in its numbers. It spends the winter months south of the Sahara.

There has been a rapid and significant decline since 1995, and accordingly the species was moved from the green to the amber list in 2002; the continued decline warranted a further shift to the red list in 2009. With declines evident across northern and western Europe, this previously 'secure' species is now provisionally categorised as 'declining'. 

There is little evidence explaining either the demographic or ecological drivers of the decline in this species and the causes are largely unknown.

In Wales, nest predators during 2009-11 were mainly avian and rates of predation did not appear to have changed since 1982-84.  Subsequent analysis, looking at nests from the New Forest (2011-13) and Dartmoor (2012-13) alongside those from Wales also identified avian predators as the most important, but also found that higher predation rates had occurred in the New Forest where the predators were more diverse.  Could it be that the increasing number of Goshawk territories in the New Forest has become a factor in the decline of the Wood Warbler here.

The light was now improving and the images are a lot clearer, some of the best photographs I have taken of Wood Warbler.

Wood warblers breed between May and July and produce 1 or 2 broods a season. They may be monogamous or polygamous. Males establish a territory but the female chooses the nest site and builds the nest, a dome-shaped structure placed on the ground usually under a fallen tree, in a low shrub, or among the roots of plants. The nest is made from bark, stems, grass, and leaves, and lined with finer grasses and hair.

The Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, and Wood Warbler were until the middle of the 18th century thought to be one species of willow wren. Gilbert White, the English naturalist who separated the species, described the wood warbler as a Large Shivering Willow Wren.

These are probably my favourites:

The shivering description afforded by Gilbert Wright relates to the effort taken to deliver the final crescendo of the song, head thrown back and the whole body put into it.

We didn't realise that we had spent an hour with the Wood Warbler, so decided to move on, our original intention was to have started at Acres Down, this was changed with the news of the Wood Warbler, but now we were on our way.  On arriving the car park was empty and after sorting ourselves out we walked up the hill to that wonderful view out across the forest and the Boulderwood plantation.

As we walked the top path we came across a Willow Warbler singing from the top of a Silver Birch.  It seemed appropriate to photograph another of our commoner "phylosc" warblers, all we needed now was a Chiffchaff, but they had their turn earlier in the spring.

The plan was to head to the viewing point and scan in hope of some raptors, the specialty here is the Honey Buzzard, but the sightings have not been so good of late.  We set up camp and watched.

A pipit descended from above and landed in a small birch tree, uncertain of what it was i ventured closer in hope it might be a Tree Pipit, but it turned out to be a Meadow and looked as if it had young nearby.

It was a good opportunity to get a good look, to allow comparison with a Tree Pipit should we find one.  The streaks on the flanks are heavy and similar to those on the chest and belly, it also lacks the white malar stripe.

One or two Hawfinch flew over and a Redstart could be heard singing below us.  Cuckoos were also calling and there was a female about, alerting us through the bubbling call.

With the Redstart singing in the valley it was a surprise to have one drop out of the pine tree in front of us and fly to a nearby birch tree.

As the air warmed up the birds of prey appeared, Buzzards at first then a few Goshawk, sadly never coming that close, but this one tried and you can clearly see what it is.

Other highlights through the morning was a male Cuckoo appearing and disappearing from the top of a tree, a Snipe flying in the valley and Swallow, Swift and House Martin over.

With things going quiet as we approached midday we decided to head back to the cars and to go on a walk around the paths.  We headed down the main track with Redstart singing, but nor showing.  We took a detour through and open clearing, an area that looked a likely habitat for Tree Pipit.

A little further along we heard one singing and then finally managed to see one, again with food in the bill.  Note the streaking on the flanks compared to the Meadow Pipit, it is much finer and not is such density.

We continued through the clearing and then took the open rides that would take us down to Highland Water.  Just before we reached the water and the bridge that would take us across it we heard Goldcrest singing, but very soon it was clear that there was also Firecrest and this individual showed well.

It appeared to have what looked like a small crab spider in its beak.

Once regarded as a rare breeding bird in the New Forest and Hampshire there numbers have increased significantly.  A few years ago we were told there could be 400 pairs in the forest, that must be higher now as it seems every holly bush you pass at this time of year has a singing Firecrest.

As we passed a steam and boggy area there were Broad-bodied Chasers in flight.  This week it was the turn of the males with their grey blue abdomen.

Passing an open area with surrounding trees providing a canopy there were the distinctive seep calls of Spotted Flycatcher, this one showed well on a prominent perch.

Constantly on the look out for any opportunity then flying out and returning to the same perch.

There was another two Redstart at the main crossing of Highland Water and as we tried to get some better views a Kingfisher flew down stream.  The banks as the stream meanders here are quite high and there were several holes in the banks, but no signs of recent activity.

We decided to loop around and walk up to Acres Down from the Millyford Bridge area.  The constant calling of young Great Spotted Woodpeckers gave away a nest hole in an old pine tree.  here the male coming in to feed the young birds that were well developed and probably due to fledge soon

We walked across the boggy part of the slope leading up to Acres Down, there were pockets of Sundew plants, the carnivorous plants that can be found amongst the moss.  These are  “flypaper” plants that trap prey in sticky hairs on their leaves. They make up one of the largest groups of carnivorous plants. Long tentacles protrude from their leaves, each with a sticky gland at the tip. These droplets look like dew glistening in the sun, thus their name. The glands produce nectar to attract prey, powerful adhesive to trap it, and enzymes to digest it. Once an insect becomes stuck, nearby tentacles coil around the insect and smother it

The view from the top of the slope, a beautiful day with a view that stretches out across trees all the way to the Solent and the Isle of Wight.

A little further along we came across a female Wheatear that was always a step ahead of us as we tried to get closer.

The path leads through a copse and there were Spotted Flycatcher once again.  However these appeared elusive, but in an effort get to them we came across a small family of two young Nuthatches being fed by an adult bird.  The youngsters would cling to the side of the trunk waiting for the adult bird.

As the Nuthatch moved about Ian found a Treecreeper close by.

Definitely the quality today with some classic forest birds. It was specially nice to get such great views of Wood Warbler, but you have to worry how many more years they will be here.