New Forest

Plaitford, Hampshire - Just back from five days at the New Forest Folk Festival where the weather varied from blazing heat on the Friday to heavy rain for much of Saturday with showers in between. Apart from lounging about listening to music, drinking beer and partaking in the usual festival shenanigans, guided walks and early morning forays across Plaitford Common into the National Park delivered decidedly mixed results. We last visited the festival in 2019 and there were some noticeable changes to the birdlife in the intervening four year period, despite the habitat seemingly remaining the same. Plaitford Common is situated in the northern section of the park and managed by the National Trust, mainly for its Bronze Age burial mounds. Typical New Forest broad-leaf wooded pasture is maintained by grazing animals such as ponies, donkeys and deer, although certain areas had been grazed to bare earth due to the high levels of stock. Heather, gorse and bracken with scattered birch scrub dominates the sandy high ground, in contrast to several bogs lower down and a large pond which appeared to be sterile due to overuse by the ponies. Several pairs of Stonechats were noted in areas where four years ago Common Whitethroat, Dartford Warbler and Woodlark were also present, but absent this year, while Tree Pipit and Common Redstart were down to single pairs from three and I failed to locate a Spotted Flycatcher at two former haunts. Birds of prey were much in evidence with Common Buzzard and Red Kite regularly noted, along with singles of Hobby, Peregrine and Kestrel, plus several Ravens. A couple of Golden-ringed Dragonflies were seen on the heath and plenty of Beautiful Demoiselles along the River Blackwater beside the camping field.

                                  Plaitford Common

                                 Beautiful Demoiselles

This morning I called in the Hanson hide where a selection of waders included several each of Redshanks, Little Ringed and Ringed Plovers, 100 Lapwings and a Common Sandpiper. Also present the usual suite of eclipse ducks, gulls and grebes, a couple of Common Terns, a pulse of 20 Sand Martins over and a Grass Snake swimming between the islands.