17th February - Acres Down, New Forest, Hampshire

Having been unsuccessful at the weekend with the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker I had to return.  Today's forecast was good, sunshine a little cool but still with very little wind.  I made my way to Acres Down car park where there were already a lot of cars.  I walked around to the usual spot that looks up at the usual tree, where there was also a lot of usual faces.

It didn't take long this time for the star of the show to appear, a male flying in and settling on the dead branch.  At first out of view then came around the branch to show off.

The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is the smallest of our native woodpeckers, about the size of a House Sparrow, something not appreciated by many.  They rely on standing dead wood for food and to ensure they have sufficient they have a very big territory, one Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers territory would support 500 Blue Tits.  As we tidy up our woodlands we are removing the very standing dead wood these woodpeckers rely on.  The New Forest though is something of a stronghold for the species and this tree sees the woodpeckers use it every year.  Not for food at this time but for drumming to secure that territory.

Outside of the breeding season they are very hard to see and oncer the territory is established they fall silent for the year, melting into the forest and going about their lives mostly unseen.

The drumming is faster and a little higher than that of the Great Spotted Woodpecker and the woodpecker finds the ideal spots on the dead branch.

These photographs are almost identical to those taken over the last few years, baring out the statement that this is the usual tree.

It is another of those pilgrimages that I hope to never miss, it is another sign that spring is on the way at last.

Here a short video.  halfway through the male drumming is joined by another male and they fly off, one returning to continue with he drumming, what we don't know is which one returned.

I joined up with a coupleof other birders and we walked up to Hart Hill to see if we could find more Crossbill.  As we approached the conifers I could hear them calling and very quickly picked a male out at the top of a small pine.

It was preening and looked as if it had just had a bath.

As we found on Saturday, despite the deforestation in the area the Crossbills do not seem to have been bothered, in fact it has probably made it easier to see them.

Walking back there wasn't any sign of the Tawny Owl in his Treetop House, so we walked up on to the down where we searched for Woodlark.  Today it didn't take long to find them one singing high above the cleared area.

It then dropped from the sky, parachuting and diving.

Settling on a nearby tree where it continued its song.

Also a small snatch of video and song.

We spent some time at the Raptor view point where we were able to get on a couple of distant Goshawks, two Ravens and a Buzzard.  But then some information came in that I just couldn't ignore today so I made my way back to the car and headed east.