Eyeworth Pond

Mid February and time to make our annual trip to the New Forest to see Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. Or, as it turns out almost every year, to spend a morning listening to distant drumming and to leave without managing to set eyes on them. This year was no exception. Greater spots drumming and a distant half hearted drumming from a Lesser Spot but no sight of them at all.

Plenty of birds in the forest but all of them difficult to approach although we did get the opportunity to photograph a juvenile Buzzard just after we entered the forest. It is not an unusual bird to see but it is one that I have always found difficulty in photographing.

We had a look at Blashford and a few of the enclosures but there was not much to see and even less to photograph. There were a few of the more common birds about but there was little point in spending time chasing them when our final stop of the day, at Eyeworth Pond Fritham,  would deliver close up views of all of these birds.

You do need to take a few handfulls of peanuts or sunflower seeds to keep their attention but the birds are conditioned to being fed and to being close to people.  It's not our usual idea of birding but it does lift the spirit to have so many "wild" birds almost close enough to touch.

Blackbird

Blue Tit

Blue Tit

Chaffinch

Coal Tit

Marsh Tit

Marsh Tit

Nuthatch

Nuthatch

Nuthatch

Even the Mandarins are happy to come over looking for food. We had seen ten of these at the northern end of Swanbourne Lake earlier in the week but they were very wary of people, staying well away from the feeding areas. The Eyeworth birds were out on the pond edge often too close to be able to get the picture.

Mandarin

Displaying to the ladies

Female Mandarin

Last time we visited there were a pair of Wood Ducks on the pond. I was hoping they would have stayed and I could have another go at photographing them but we did not see any sign of them this time.


As you leave the forest there are some areas of open grassland which are always good for Thrush species. Most were a bit distant but we were fortunate to get a pair of Mistle Thrushes that were feeding close to the car.

Mistle Thrush

Mistle Thrush

We didn't see anything spectacular and we didn't add any year ticks but it just felt good to be in close contact with the birds and to be taking pictures all day. The alternatives were standing in the cold all day waiting for the  Thayer's or Ross's Gulls to turn up -- boring!!

Long-billed Dowitcher

Today it really felt as though Spring had arrived. We were off down to Pennington to look for the Long-billed Dowitcher. It wasn't exactly warm but the sun was shinning, the sky was blue, and there was no wind, and for the first time this year the birds seemed to be out singing and marking out their territories.

On the walk down to the lagoons from the car park we had Linnets, that I didn't manage to photograph, a Reed Bunting and even a Wren happy too be sitting out in the open singing.

Reed Bunting

Wren

Waders were in short supply, as they have been for most of this Winter, but the comparison of this Spotted Redshank and Redshank made an interesting picture.

Spotted Redshank and Redshank

Spotted Redshank

A search for the Long-billed Dowitcher found it sleeping in the reeds along side three Snipe. It looked promising when we first spotted it but it wasn't until it raised its head and revealed the bill that we could be sure.

Long-billed Dowitcher and three Snipe

We watched it for a while and it was beginning to look as though it would not leave the cover of the reeds. Luckily a low flying Lapwing spooked the Snipe and the Dowitcher took to the air with them. I would normally have expect it to head deeper into cover.

The flight shot gives a good view of the white cigar shape on its back.

Long-billed Dowitcher - showing cigar shaped white mark on its back

The bird did not travel far and was soon heading back to its favoured resting place in the reeds

Long-billed Dowitcher

With the shot below showing the greenish/yellow legs and truncated bill with slightly down turned end.

and heading back to the reeds

Next stop was at Mark Ash wood in the New Forest but our usually reliable Tawny Owl seems to have moved on and our quick search for a Lesser-spotted Woodpecker revealed no sighting and no sound of drumming. Perhaps still a little too early in the year and certainly a little late in the day.

Next stop was Eyeworth Pond at Fritham. The small birds are always easy to photograph here  as they are very tame and use to visitors providing them with food. The only difficulty is getting a decent shot of the bird without piles of seeds getting in the way.

There are usually Mandarins on display although they tend to stay on the far side and shelter under the trees but the bonus on this visit were four Goosanders, three male and one female.

Goosander

Goosander and Mandarin Duck

Goosander and Mandarin Duck

Mandarins escorting the female.

We had great fun watching and photographing these and there were a number of flight shots that nearly made the grade but in the end were all consigned to the bin. It is amazing how different the male Mandarin looks in flight.

Then it was back to the feeding station and a few shots of the more common birds.

Great Tit

Great Tit

Marsh Tit

Marsh Tit

Nuthatch

A great days birding with, for a change, some decent lighting for the photography.

Mandarin Ducks and others

I only walked away for a couple of minutes but I missed the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, a bird that has been on my hit list for a long time.

We had travelled down to the New Forest in the hope of seeing the Lesser Spotted and initially things looked very promising. It or possibly both of them were very mobile but we could hear the drumming and it seemed as though we could track it back to the individual trees it was using. However, each time we found a tree and stood at the bottom searching for movement we came up empty handed and the bird would suddenly start up again fifty or sixty yards away.

After about an hour and a half of this we ended up back in the car park talking to a couple of other birders. The drumming had stopped so I decided to wander off and take a few photographs of a Tawny Owl that was resident close by. It's usually hidden behind branches so you never get good pictures but it's always worth a look. Bad move, I was only a couple of minutes from the car park when I had a call from Dave to say that the Lesser Spotted had just flown over them. Mission drift, how many times does it happen. I had come for the Lesser Spotted and that is all I should have been looking for.

I raced back to the car park but it was gone. Dave had only gotten a few seconds view but it was enough for all three of them to confirm the sighting. We looked but the bird was nowhere to be seen and the drumming did not start up again. I suppose you have to look on the positive side. We do at least know where to look and the next couple of months will give the best opportunities for sightings and possibly even a photograph.

So what of the rest of the day. Well I did get pictures of the Tawny Owl.

Tawny Owl

There were large Chaffinch flocks around as well but we could not see any signs of Bramblings flying with them.

After a time we decided to move onto Eyworth Pond. The hope was that the pond would still be frozen over and that the resident Mandarins would be out on the ice instead of hiding away under the bushes on the far bank. It looked good when we first arrived. There was only one area of open water and all the Mandarins were crowded around it. There was plenty to look at and some great views but picture wise it was difficult to frame any decent shots. I counted sixteen of them but most of the pictures just turned out to be a jumble of colours and shapes. Some of the more acceptable ones are shown below.

There were also a pair of Gadwall on the ice

Gadwall

The female seemed quite sure footed but the male spent most of his time sitting down

Eyworth Pond is also a good place to photograph the smaller birds. They are fed regularly and are not worried about people being close but do remember to take some bird food if you go.

Marsh Tit

Marsh Tit

Nuthatch

Coal Tit

The Coal Tit was just a bit too fast for me although I eventually managed to get the picture above but this Long-tailed Tit seemed happy to hang around eating its seed whilst I took pictures.

Long-tailed Tit

There were also three Muscovy Ducks cleaning up any dropped food and seeming to have intimate conversations gently hissing at each other.

Muscovys  - perhaps not the prettiest of ducks but there looks to be some character there

I wonder how many of these there are living and breeding in the wild. They are South American in origin and are not migratory so any out in the wild are escapees or descendants of such. Reading up on them they are meant to be great farmyard ducks and do not need their wings clipped as they do not wonder far from home. I think somebody forgot to tell the ducks! They are also meant to be some of the finest meat available from any animal or bird so their population in the wild is likely to be well controlled.

We then headed down to Blashford Lakes to see if there were any Redpolls or Siskin about. Siskin there were although we could not get any pictures. Why they have hides with windows that do not open and others that have blue glass in them I have never really understood.

There were other unusual birds around.

Perhaps they were expecting a visit from the "Next Generation Birders"

By early afternoon the light had started to go. We called back into the car park and had one final look for the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker but there was no sign of it. There was a nice Goldcrest hunting close by but the light was too low for a picture so we decided to head for home.

On the way out of the forest we had one more stroke of luck. Dave spotted a bird sitting out on top of a small tree. I stopped the car and we reversed back for a closer look. We were really pleased to find a pair of Crossbills, there have not been many reported so far this year. The light was low and they were a long way off but any record shot of these birds is worth having.

Overall, a great days birding. I missed the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker but then that leaves me something for another day. Dave might have seen it but he didn't get a picture so I know he will be keen to go back and have another go.