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 really, like really enjoying this. Here's a BW edit.
I got a video of it drumming which you can see below, its about 3/5ths through or somethign like that.
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:)
No comments:
Post a Comment