New Forest Holiday Day 1 : Beaulieu Road / Shatterford Bottom : 26th June 2011

New Forest Holiday Day 1 : Beaulieu Road / Shatterford Bottom  : 26th June  2011

We arrived at East Boldre from Montacute by early afternoon. We were booked in at the Turfcutters Arms for three nights and this was to be our base for various outings into the New Forest. The room we had was a bit basic but it was close to everything and the pub was friendly enough. Our first outing was a brief recce of the Beaulieu Road / Shatterford Bottom area. We parked at the parking spot at Shatterford Bottom and walked the path to the left as far as Denny Wood which we made a brief venture into before returning. The habitat was typical for large areas of the New Forest being scrubby heathland with a few small shrubs and lots of gorse. It was very hot and this may have inclined the birds to keep their heads down because there was not a great deal on the heath. We did see two Grey Heron and Rooks and Starlings and even an Oystercatcher !

However our interest was specifically in seeing a Dartford Warbler. We saw several Stonechats, both male and female, and we possibly did get a view of a Dartford Warbler but it was so brief that we could not really claim it as a certain sighting. In Denny Woods we also saw a Willow Tit. It was just a quick first look so we were not too dejected and we returned to our room to get cleaned up before having dinner. After dinner we sat in the beer garden of the pub where we had great views of a Song Thrush family quartering the lawn looking for some supper. I even though that a stray Woodlark landed on the fence in front of us – but perhaps it was just a juvenile Song Thrush ; so, like the Dartford Warbler, perhaps I was imagining it. Black Headed Gulls and Blackbirds flew overhead, we saw some bats flitting around us and as the light faded the Song Thrush sang loud and clear.
 
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