Beaulieu Road Station and Ashley Walk : 29th APril 2014

Beaulieu Road Station / Shatterford : 29th April 2014
For our first full day in the New Forest we decided on two main sites. The first was the walk from Beaulieu Road Station down past Bishop’s Dyke and then into the woods At Woodfidley, turning right an walking through the woods as far as Denny Lodge then turning right again through the woods and picking up the return path across the heath at Shatterford Bottom ending up back at the car park.

We had a quick look for Crossbills at the car park as this is supposed to be a good site for them. Just like last time we were here, we had no luck. We walked on down through the heath and took a slight detour over to the railway bridge which affords a good view of the surrounding landscape. A Curlew flew in, singing, and came to land in the heath. As we continued we saw a lot of Stonechats, both male and female, but our main target was, of course, the Dartford Warbler – an elusive bird at best.

However we stopped for a while at Bishop’s Dyke and when I heard an interesting call I set my scope up. By the time I had done this Anne had found the bird and I had just enough time to get the scope on a beautiful and unmistakeable male Dartford Warbler. I could really have gone home then but I would have missed a really nice walk – apart from the mud. The terrain was incredibly wet in general and it made for a muddy walk. The woods were even worse but we did get to hear what sounded like an army of Song Thrushes all in full song. At intervals we also heard a Cuckoo and Great Spotted Woodpecker as well.

As we reached Denny Lodge, we stopped to talk to a Canadian carpenter who was working on the lodge and it appears that he rarely encountered other people in the course of his working day. We had a nice chat with him and he was telling us about the Green Woodpeckers he sees in the gardens of the lodge. I believed him all the more when, just as we parted company, I heard a yaffle and looked up to see a bright green bird cross my sight and land in a tree nearby. I just could not find it again but it was without doubt a Green Woodpecker.

The weather had been threatening for a while so we headed back to the car via the path through Shatterford Bottom. I was thinking that it was not quite so good as the path we started out on, it having less trees and gorse bushes, but I was proved wrong when we sighted several pipits. I was sure from their colouring that they were Meadow Pipits but closer examination through a scope of one perched on a Gorse bush for a while showed that it was, in fact, a Tree Pipit. The others were more of an olive green colour though, which made me think that they were Meadow Pipits.

As we reached the car park, the skies opened and even though we were only twenty feet from the car when it started really chucking it down, we still got properly drenched. We dried off for a bit in the car and watched the rain pour down. We couldn’t drive off anyway because it was raining too hard to see! When it cleared we headed off for a cup of tea and a sandwich before our afternoon session.

In the afternoon we headed to Ashley Walk intending to walk across the heath and into the woods and up to Hampton Ridge where we hoped to see some raptors. As with three years ago when we last did this walk it was much further than we estimated and the wet conditions underfoot were no help either; there were many large pools of water on the pathway so a lot of ducking and diving was needed to keep relatively dry. The predominant bird sound was of Stonechat and Chaffinch with a few Robins and Blackbirds thrown in. Anne had a glimpse of what she thought was a Redstart but I didn’t see this one. We walked up and down the very undulating path but the going was poor and the weather was always threatening. We stopped short at going up the last rise to Hampton Ridge because it was more than likely going to bucket down and the weather did not seem good for birds of prey. Apart from a Buzzard on the way back, that was it for raptors. A bit disappointing really but a good walk and we were totally beat at the end of it. On our return drive home the heavens opened and we drove through a very heavy downpour grateful that we hadn’t been walking in it. This has been the problem with this holiday so far; the weather always threatens to turn to torrential rain and the skies are often dark grey with thunder and lightning an ominous warning to the unprepared walker. The temperatures have been quite warm so often you are caught between wearing waterproof coats and keeping cool.

Bird Sightings : Beaulieu Road

Bird Sightings : Ashley Walk