Acres Down NF 23/02/26

I realised with a bit of a jolt yesterday that today, Monday, was the last Monday of the month. Which also means Dad's final day off in the month... so of course I got straight down to looking around if there was anywhere we could go this morning. For a bit of context, us three kids alternate months to go out for a meal with Dad and do something (I always pick birding ofc), and this month is my turn, and its not ideal the trip trailing over to the next month. So, I had to find somewhere to go today, or the trip would be postponed for a while. Also the fact that it wasn't raining all day today probably won't happen again this year sooo.... Anyway, with some reports of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker being seen at Acres Down, I asked Dad if that would work, we agreed it did, so booked breakfast at the Beefeater in Cosham (it's the best one around imo). I suppose I should stop using "keyboard slang" such as ofc, imo, lol, etc. etc.... pretty sure fellow Gen Z's aren't quite the audience I'm getting... 

We left late as usual at around 7:10 and arrived 10 minutes late for our breakfast, which we thoroughly enjoyed before forgetting to fill up on petrol on our way out of Cosham. The traffic was awful through Southampton, and managed to work out a way for us to go past Southampton Airport in the only 10 minutes a plane wasn't landing or taking off. Typical. The petrolometer(I think I've invented a word there) continued going down, but we made it to Acres Down finally with a brilliant 20 miles in the tank... dont ask why we didn't fill up on the way... more on this later though...

We arrived at about 9:30... long after we had been hoping. I was 90% certain we wouldn't miss the woodpecker as most days it had been seen between 7-9 A.M. at the latest. But, all the same we got out the car and walked towards "the tree." Only three or four birders were there, which was a little bit of a surprise, when we dipped it last year, there had been about twenty around. The news was good and bad- the woodpecker had been heard briefly about 45 minutes ago, but no one had actually seen it and there had been no sign since the brief drumming 45 minutes erlier. 

Quite a few Chaffinches were moving about, along with plenty of Blue Tits and Long-tailed Tits. A few Robins were singing, but after 15 minutes there was no sign at all of the woodpecker. Two Dunnocks flew into the top of the dead tree getting our hopes up for a second, but that was all. 

I didn't, for some reason take a photo of the tree for those who haven't been before to see it, but sometimes the noodles don't think straight... well, here's a photo of it on Ebird for you- ML651080073 - Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - Macaulay Library 

Finally, something of interest was about with 4 Stock Doves landing on the tree- always great to see.

Still nothing was showing, so I got chatting to two other birders one from Somerset the other from Staines... they had been putting off leaving for ages, but finally decided to go- they'd been there since 7 this morning. One of them, who apparently the birds all hate and turn up always after he's left, said that the bird would almost certainly turn up now that he was going, and with that, off they walked. I jokingly said to Dad "Should I start a timer?" in reference to a certain time at Titchwell- read it here if you want In Flight: Aves Observata: RSPB Titchwell Marshes- 30/10/25 

Surely that wouldn't happen again...? Lighting doesn't strike the same place twice, right?

But unfortunately, and much to the frustration of thousands of birders across the globe, certain birds seem to just really not want to see specific people. So yes, of course, it happened again. 

Right on cue, after just a minute, in it flew, landing in the famed tree. 

"There it is" was the cry in unison from the 5 birders present. And there it was all right. A stunning Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. What a bird!

I know I'm not very original its always "what a bird" when a good bird turns up but it always is just a "what a bird!" moment when a lifer turns up.

I was buzzing, absolutely static. I got the scope on it... incredible views. Dad got the bird through the bins, before I went to photographing the bird and he could look through the scope. Just as I was wondering if this could get any better, it drummed. If you think hearing a Great Spot drum is impressive, you need to see one of these lil guys. The noise they make is so loud... and they are, well tiny. The size of a sparrow in fact. Europes smallest woodpecker making a noise from drumming on dead wood that could be heard from a mile away. Wow!

I was really, like really enjoying this. Here's a BW edit.

Here's a heavily cropped image.

It continued happy drumming, before preening for a while and moving slightly further up the tree. You could really see the red cap identifying it as a male while it was preening.

It continued for another 30 seconds or so, before drumming one last breathtaking time, before looking around, and flying off above our heads.

Now, before continuing in over revelling in the delight of seeing the bird, I should mention that the birder who missed it heard the bird drumming and managed to get back to see it. Which was great... now back to the important stuff

I was so thrilled. Having missed these a few times already, it was so, so good to finally lay eyes on these tiny delights. This bird puts my British list up to 216 (I think) which is incredible. It comes as a brilliant third lifer of the yrar, and the first of Feb. Previous two being the Cirl Bunting and the Killdeer. Yet another successful Feb time out with Dad seeing scarce British residents- last year we saw the Long-eared Owls at Pagham. He was so pleased to have seen it too... with the traffic on the way it was quite a drive so it was so, so good for the trip to have paid off. It's always just so cool to finally lay eyes on a species that you've dipped before. And especialy an incredible one like this. Wow. 

Seeing as the bird had flown right off, we decided to walk around the area, so headed back towards the car park and up the hill to the raptor viewpoint. 

Quite a few Buzzards were about, but the best thing that was seen were 4 or 5 Ravens flying around loudly cronking, really cool. Here's one direct into the sun...

We walked down the hill on a path that seemingly abruptly stopped. Knowing there was a path somewhere up the hill on our left, I took what looked like a suitable route in that direction. Well to not sugarcoat it, I ended up on my side in muddy water, my right hand, glove and sleeve all fully submerged, and carrying out a very delecate balancing act keeping my scope I have on loan completely dry, whilst also managing to do the same with my camera, bins and bag. But, the less said about me wallowing in mud the better, so I shall move on. 

After we were on the path... we heard a Woodlark singing and saw it overhead. It unfortunately didn't land, but we heard its song very well. Another one soon appeared but also didn't land.

We walked around the heathland for quite a while, with some incredible Buzzard views and one raptor which may have been a Goshawk seen briefly but in very bad lighting. The Ravens were also always about, it was so great to see them up close and well. 

It was so great to just watch the horizon with the raptors circling, with the call of Woodlarks in our ears. Relaxing is the word I think. Very, very relaxing. As I mentioned in my last post at Southsea, and sorry to use Gen Z lingo again, but birding just hits different sometimes. It really does. Love it.

The Woodlarks moved on, and with time pressing we reluctantly thought we should start heading back in the direction of the car, making sure to stay on proper paths this time...

As we got right near the raptor viewpoint, a Firecrest was heard calling and a Lesser, or well I suppose just a Redpoll now was seen. 

At the viewpoint, a Buzzard was actually perched in a tree very close, which made for incredibly detailed scope views, and some decent photos.

Here's the view from the viewpoint, it always catches me by surprise every time I'm here. And with one last look out towards the horizon, admiring the incredible beauty of this world, and specifically the New Forest, we headed off and home...

I did mention earlier about the petrol situation. Well, it seemed alright as google reckoned it would be just 11 miles to a bp, and with 20 left in the tank, we got on the road thinking we would be fine. But then google changed its mind when it picked up data, and said it would be 21 miles. Oof. So, after a bit of frantic searching, I found a place in the opposite direction... only 5 miles away. Phew. We went there got some petrol (not much, it was 137.39, sooo pricey) and started driving again with one more stop to acquire necessary hot drinks and some cookies that were on offer... who doesn't love cheap food, like I mean come on!

Well, what a day. I'm sitting here bleary eyed having finished table tennis training half-an-hour early to get home so I could write this, and also because I am very, very tired. We did, of course manage to hit one of the millions of potholes and burst our tyre on the way home from table tennis, so I'm finishing this much later than i wouldve liked. Well, I still can't quite believe we actually saw the bird! Such a tiny gem. Things do seem pretty slow at the minute, but there's a certain duck in Berkshire at the minute that may well require a visit... we'll see (my favourite two words at this point). On that note, I'm going to end here. Sorry to not have much to say, I usually spend ages on these conclusions, but I neeeed to sleep. Good night:)

GARDEN BIRDING #3 17-22/02/26

It's the holidays. Which, normally, would mean a full week of birding. But being England, it was raining most of the time... so the holidays entailed lots of wet dog walks, sleeping in, listening to England scrape past Associate teams in the T20 WC, enjoying the annual Arsenal bottling of the league, and then being dissapointed by yet another shocking Chelsea performance against the worst of the newly promoted teams(😒) So, naturally, not as much garden birding has been squeezed in, but all the same some great species were seen, including two new birds... so overall a good result i guess! We only got home from London late on Monday, so this week's post starts with Tuesday:)

Tuesday 17/02

Tuesday was a day with not much really about, but the usuals were seen, including Goldfinches(of which the number has increased largely recently), Sparrows, Blue Tits, Jackdaws, Crows, Robins, Magpies, Woodpigeons, Feral Pigeons, Long-tailed Tits and Starlings. Two good things were a Wren that I managed to get a photo of (first photo of one I've got in the garden) and a Black-headed Gull that flew past- only the second one seen here. Botd goes to the Wren... great to finally get evidence they are present:)

Wren

Wednesday 18/02

Wednesday held one clear highlight, but the common species included Goldfinches, Robins, Woodpigeons, Starlings, Blue Tits, Blackbirds, Jackdaws, Sparrows, and Magpies. The highlight in question was four Siskins (2M, 2F) that were with the Goldfinches mid-morning. 

Goldfinches and Siskins

Thursday 19/02

Thursday was quite misty, but held some good species. Usuals included Sparrows, Blue Tits, Jackdaws, Crows, Robins, Magpies, Woodpigeons, Great Tits, Wrens, Long-tailed Tits and Starlings. The three good birds were a Buzzard circling in the afternoon, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, and the Greenfinches again. Botd goes to the Great Spotted Woodpecker, always a privilege to see. 

Friday 20/02

Friday was mainly making up for the lack of birding done in the previous few days. Lots and lots of birds were seen, including a garden tick... All of the above-mentioned usuals were present, along with some slightly better species being two Herring Gulls, a Song Thrush, and a Collared Dove. The Greenfinches were heard again, and the male Bullfinch made its first appearance of the week, but the overwhelming winner of the best bird of the day goes to two Cormorants that flew past lateish afternoon, making for a garden tick:) Two foxes were also about mid-morning, the first I've actually seen here.

Collared Dove (above), Magpie, Song Thrushes, Cormorants, Bullfinch and a Fox

Saturday 21/02

Saturday was practically void of any birding, but a brief look mid-morning produced what I presume to be a Herring Gull circling about, and bird of the day went to a long, long overdue garden tick in the form of a Dunnock that ever so nicely allowed me to get some photos of it.

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Another week, another two garden ticks. Considering the week didn't really hold very much commited staring out the window, I'm quite pleased with the spoils!

Southsea Castle 19/02/26

It's been quite a quiet month in reality. And with not doing the whole year list malarkey this year, there's not as much need to go and twitch things I've already seen before. I have been doing lots of garden birding, of course, which is great, but there's nothing quite like a really early morning multi-hour commute in freezing conditions to twitch a rarity. I imagine I will end up doing another big year of sorts next year, but we'll see how things pan out. Onto today.

It's the holidays, so we all as a family decided to go for a nice walk along the beach at Southsea with hot drinks from a cafe. Like old times, before my older brother was at college for what seems like 24/7. We parked by the canoe lake, planning to walk past the pier to the castle and get drinks at the D-Day Memorial Museum cafe. There's always something or other to look at around there, and there was a possibility of Purple Sandpipers, so of course, I was fully decked out with bins, camera, and scope. The tide was forecast to be pretty far out, though, so the likelihood of the purple sands was low, but all the same, still a possibility. 

The canoe lake was full of Mute Swans and various duck species, and there was a large splattering of juv. gulls about.    

We made it to the beach, and immediately, a shape on the sea right by the pier caught my eye. I put the scope down and checked through the bins. Very cool- a Great Northern Diver. I wasn't expecting to see this here, so was of course very happy to see it. 

It stayed around for a bit before drifting past the pier out of sight. I caught up with the others and walked briskly past the pier to see it from the other side.

As soon as we passed the pier, I checked whether it was visible, and was surprised to see that it, and another, were both close in to shore. Dad and I walked down to the waterline, and although they were constantly diving, we got incredible scope views, and I managed some decent photos.

We stayed watching the two for as long as possible before walking along the beach to catch up with the others. A non-birding walk, with non-birders, in a location with lots of birds, always involves quite a lot of catching up...

Quite a few gull species were moving through, including a few Black-headed Gulls, Herring Gulls, a Great Black-backed Gull and one Common Gull. I think a Common pictured here, ID'd from other similarly dodgy pics but def not sure.

We made it to Southsea Castle, so I started scanning the rocks, but nothing in terms of sandpipers was visible. The tide was much further out than when I had seen the sandpipers last, so I kind of just focused on what I actually could see, which came in the form of a Great Crested Grebe feeding along the shoreline. 

After scanning around once more, I thought it would be best to join the others in the quest for mochas (or hot chocolates for some). We acquired our drinks and made it back to the seawall. By now, it was getting somewhat dark, so viewing things was not so easy. The view over towards IOW was beautiful, with orange hues glowing in the sky above the huge island.

As we walked past the castle again, a Cormorant was ever so briefly above the water before diving down, and much further out, what I think was a Shag was just visible. 

As we walked along, I inevitably fell behind again, this time checking out what a small dot of dark on the sea in the distance was. A buoy, of course. It's always later in the day that you feel overly reflective. Here I was, walking along the beach with a cold, blustery wind in my face, thinking for a millionth time about last year's expeditions. It does feel weird not having a year list, as I always have done for the two and a half years of birding I've done. But in a way, it is quite relaxing just enjoying what comes, and now and again going on a panicked twitch for a lifer. As the sun slowly slipped down out of view, I continued on along the beach, with the gap to the others ever increasing. I was really enjoying myself, however. The sea air, the relaxing sound of waves lapping along the shoreline, and the dark, cold air seemlessly moving about. Being outdoors just hits different sometimes. And, to top it all off, a Great Northern Diver put in one last performance, flying past far, far out in the seemingly endless sea, before disappearing out of sight. 

Well, I enjoyed that. A lot. Taking things slowly, one bird at a time. It's been quite a while since I've actually been out and about birding, so it was a really nice breath of fresh air to be out and about again.

Dad and I are due for a birding trip this month at some point, so we'll see what happens with that. It's always so much fun; he really enjoys the trips, however much (or more precisely, little) he knows about birds. That is a bit harsh, I suppose. He does try to learn how to ID things:) Last year in Feb we saw Long-eared Owls at the North Wall at Pagham together (accurately described as the worst-kept secret ever). That's quite a story, but unfortunately pre-blog days. Long story short, we knew the owls were probably in a two-meter area between two ivy bushes, searched for an hour or so, looking at that one spot with no sign. It was freezing cold, we had breakfast booked for after the birding, and time was up so I started walking back towards the car. Dad went for an absolutely incredible, even legendary "one last look" and picked out one of the owls in amongst the dense reeds and bushes. A very fond memory. Another good story was after seeing the Cranes at Ouse Washes involving his favourite bird... Alas, there is no time to explain, but you can read all about it here- In Flight: Aves Observata: Ouse Washes RSPB- 01/11/25  Well, with all this reminiscing, my time is up and I need to get to bed, so good night all:)

GARDEN BIRDING #2 08-13/02/26

 It's been, unsurprisingly, a very wet week. But there have been some good birds seen, with sunshine breaking through quite a bit. We have been up in London since Friday evening, hence why the week ends on thursday. We pick up on Sunday afternoon, which was somewhat sunny and held a new bird...

SUNDAY 08/02

Sunday was mild, but the sun was out for periods, and some good species were seen. Usual species seen included 5 Goldfinches, Jackdaws, 2 Collared Doves, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long-tailed Tits, Starlings, Crows, Blackbirds, and c20 Linnets that were around all afternoon and allowed for some photos. Two very good species included a flyover Raven, and one Firecrest calling and moving about in the bushes. These are both the second times I have seen these species here. The best bird was a first for the garden in the form of a Siskin that was briefly present with the Goldfinches. It was distant and, as stated, very brief, but a garden tick all the same! Best bird obviously goes to the first garden tick of the week!

Linnet

MONDAY 09/02

Monday was cloudy and mild in the morning, but was very busy with some really cool things present. Common things included Starlings, Woodpigeons, Sparrows, Blue Tits, Robins, Crows, Jackdaws, 1 Collared Dove, Feral Pigeons, Magpies, Great Tits, Goldfinches, and one singing Wren. Good species included two Chaffinches, a Herring Gull, a Redwing,  a Great Spotted Woodpecker, two Red Kites, and the Greenfinch from Saturday around mid-afternoon. The male and female Bullfinches were about as well, finally allowing some photos. Bird of the day goes to the incredible Bullfinches. Just sooo cool:)

Blue Tit (top) Bullfinches, Robin, Great Spotted Woodpecker, and Collared Dove

TUESDAY 10/02

Tuesday was quite misty, with Ashford Hangers not visible in the distance. Many of the common species were about, including Sparrows, Linnets, Blue Tits, Woodpigeons, Starlings, Magpies, Great Tits, and Blackbirds. The two decent species of the day were again the two Bullfinches and the Greenfinch heard calling again. Botd is, yet again, the Bullfinch...

WEDNESDAY 11/02

Wednesday was mild and overcast, and held some good species, including a new one for the garden list... 40+Jackdaws were around, along with over 20 Linnets, and a Robin, Woodpigeons, Blue Tits, a Herring Gull, Magpies, Sparrows, Starlings, Blackbirds, Great Tits, Crows, Long-tailed Tits, Goldfinches, and one Collared Dove. Good species included both a Red Kite and Buzzard, one male Bullfinch, and a Goldcrest heard calling late in the afternoon. The highlight of the day however, was a garden tick Canada Goose that flew towards the heath pond around 15:00. 

Robin(top) and Great Tit, Bullfinch, Red Kite, and Buzzard

THURSDAY 12/02

Thursday was cloudy and a bit wet, with the main of the birding happening between 7:45-8:30. It held Starlings, Woodpigeons, Long-tailed Tits, Sparrows, Great Tits, Magpies, Jackdaw, Blackbirds, Feral Pigeons, Collard Doves, Crows, and a Herring Gull. Good species included 2 Buzzards, 2 Red Kites, one Wren, and probably the best bird of the day being a Jay.

FRIDAY 13/02

Friday morning was a complete write-off, with such thick mist hardly anything could be seen. Once the mist cleared, someone decided to start trimming the bushes behind the fence for a few hours, so no birds were about then either. With us leaving for London in the afternoon, not much was seen, but most of the usuals were about, with the best bird of the day being the male Bullfinch that was briefly calling early afternoon. 

A very misty view from the garden above, Goldfinch and Blue Tit Below

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So a very good week, with the main feature being the two Bullfinches that were seen very often throughout the week. A brilliant total of 30 species (or thereabouts) were recorded, with two garden ticks. We are travelling back to Hants later today, so the birding will start again soon.