Acres Down and the New Forest.

Saturday 25th January 2025.

The male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in Acres Down this morning.

Another busy days birding with Geoff and Andy and today, we paid a good visit to the New Forest and make our way to Acres Down for our annual pilgrimage to see the elusive Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. One of the ‘Lazee Birders’ saw and filmed one of the birds earlier this week and despite the recent Storm Eowyn blowing itself out here on the south coast, this morning produced a clear blue sky, sunshine but a very cold icy start. We took in various sites today that included Acres Down, Bolderwood (briefly) Fritham and Eyeworth Pond and finished off at a well-known Hen-Harrier site which shall remain nameless. Sadly, some ‘toggers’ have been disturbing the roosting site of these rare raptors and so I will not name the actual site on my blog. I managed to see 10 new species for my year list today, of which there were a few unexpected species.

Acres Down, nr Lyndhurst, New Forest:

My first moth of 2025, the micro moth Acleris notana/ferrguana.

My day kicked off with my first moth of the year. Andy had his moth trap out last night and it caught just the one moth, the micro moth Acleris notana / ferrugana. Sadly, one has to dissect the moth's genitalia to get a true ID on this species of which I will not do. Still, a good moth to start the year. After a refreshing coffee, we then set off westbound to join a small group of birders by the usual ‘Lesser Spotted Woodpecker’ tree.

Above, a singing Coal Tit showed well near Acres Down car park. Below, some of the woodland that holds a large variety of birds here.

On our way there, from the car park, we encountered our first Mistle Thrush of the year (for myself and Andy) to kick off our first ‘year-ticks’ of the day. A showy Coal Tit was singing high up in a conifer as we walked along the footpath to the main tree and though we didn't join the dozen or so birders already there, we got a good vantage point and waited for the next hour or so for the bird to put in an appearance. During that hour, our first Crossbills of the year flew in briefly with a small flock of 5 birds and a little while later, 9 more birds flew in though they quickly departed. Stock Doves were seen flying over and some were calling deep within the woodland. A small flock of three Siskins flew overhead, but poor Andy ‘dipped’ on them as the birds sped over the woodland and out of view.

Above, a female Crossbill perched high up in one of the trees and below, a singing Song Thrush echoed throughout the woodland.

After around an hour or so and a few cups of coffee from my flask, the male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker flew in, but was on the opposite side of the bough of the tree. We quickly rushed over to join the other birders and got much better views of the bird, but it remained all of around five minutes, ‘drummed briefly’ then flew off into the woodland and out of view. Happy with our annual sighting of this gorgeous little bird, we made our way to the viewing area overlooking the woodland from the heath.

Above, there were plenty of Stock Doves seen within the woodland this morning and below, another photo of the male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

A very brief film footage of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

Though I didn't take my scope, there was always a chance of a Goshawk over the woodland and some birders gave the shout that one was soaring over the nearby woods. It didn't take long to find the bird, a female soaring high over the trees, though some distance away. Sadly, a bit too distant to get a decent photo, but I managed a record shot of the bird. It got better when our first Hawfinch of the year flew north over the heath and then dropped into the woodland. This was quickly followed by a singing Woodlark of which we eventually got to see singing over the heath. A few Fallow Deer were seen running down by the edge of the woodland and a Raven, another ‘year-tick’ for Andy, flew over the heath and headed off north, ‘cronking’ in doing so. On the way back to the car, a flock of 7 Redwing flew across our path of which Andy grabbed another ‘year-tick’ to his already increasing year list. Another single bird quickly followed the seven birds as we walked back down the hill to the car park.

Above and below, Geoff and Andy admiring the amazing views at Acres Down.

Above, Andy's first Nuthatch of the year and below, the soaring female Goshawk over the woodland.

Above, several Fallow Deer were seen from the viewpoint.

Bolderwood, New Forest:

Though we had already seen a Hawfinch briefly at Acres Down, I fancied my chances in getting better views by the large Bolderwood car park. However, there were none to be seen despite a lengthy search around the Holly trees. Andy managed to pick up his first Treecreeper of the year while down in the field near the Cottage, we had good views of several Redwings and a pair of Reed Buntings. Marsh Tit was on the agenda, but as we walked further down into the woodland, we came to realise there were simply too many people around and a lot of dogs too. So we gave up on being here and made our way to Eyeworth Pond instead.

Fritham & Eyeworth Pond:

The male and female Goosander on Eyeworth Pond.

As we made our way to Fritham, just before turning off to Eyeworth Pond; Andy’s sharp eyesight picked out a few Fieldfare among a flock of feeding Redwing on the short grass. I quickly pulled over and looked through Andy’s binoculars to view the thrushes as both Andy and myself added Fieldfare to our year list. I did get out of the car to try to take some photos of the birds but they all flew into a nearby tree and remained there.

Above, the pair of Goosanders on Eyeworth Pond and below, my first Marsh Tit of the year in the same area. 

As we pulled into a packed car park by Eyeworth Pond, we quickly found a pair of Goosanders swimming quietly on the Pond; our first of the year. What a good start to our trip here and totally unexpected. Eyeworth Pond is famous for the Mandarins here, but, according to an old Birder nearby, who was taking photos some ten feet away from a line of Titmice, there had been no sightings of any Mandarins here for some time. There were plenty of passerines here that included a few Nuthatches; Blue, Great, Coal and our first Marsh Tits of the year………..at last! Many a ‘togger’ can get some good photos of the birds here as long as they put plenty of seed down!

Above, there were plenty of passerines making the most of the free seed put out by the photographers at Eyeworth Pond including Dunnocks and below, Blue Tits.

Above, a Nuthatch showed well and below, Chaffinches got in on the act too.

Another Nuthatch joined in.

Our final destination was for the Hen-harriers and Merlins out on the heath and though I will not mention exactly where, we spent the next couple of hours freezing our nuts off overlooking a vast expanse of heathland in front of us. We were joined by a fellow ‘Lazee Birder’ Tim Doran, who Geoff chatted with and then a large number of ‘Lady Birders’ (they have their own Whatsapp group) were seen and was headed by Keith Betton who also came over to us for a chat. During our long wait, a flock of 5 Mistle Thrushes were resting in the bare branches of a bush in the distance. A Raven flew off north over the heath and a splendid Red Kite drifted over and then headed off west over the heath only to land in a small bush way in the distance. Some Linnets flew over and a probable Reed Bunting was seen on a bush down in the valley below. 

The Red Kite was a nice surprise flying over the heath.

When we arrived here, a ‘togger’ (photographer) stopped for a chat and he showed us the photos he took of a superb male Hen-Harrier he had watched earlier in the morning. The chap said he had his own farm near Fordingbridge and regularly took photos of all nature. Judging by the huge length of his lens on his camera, he was seriously dedicated to photography. We made our way to a good spot overlooking the heath and heard a Dartford Warbler ‘churring’ someone amongst the Gorse bushes; but there was no sighting of the bird. Bugger! After nearly two hours here, the shout went up from Keith Betten that a male Hen-Harrier was showing. Both Geoff and I managed to see the bird slowly flap low against the heath and then along the top of the hill in the distance until it flew over the hill and out of view. Poor Andy failed to see the bird and as it was now 4pm, I had to blow the final whistle on today's birding. Yes, we were very lucky with the weather and the birds really performed for us today.