The day started with a very productive walk around Holm Hill, just west of Brockenhurst.
Good views were had of several wheatears and whinchats as well as dozens of meadow pipits, whilst all the time migrating swallows were streaming overhead.
Both Dartford warbler and wood lark were seen briefly but the undoubted highlights were the deer - two close roe deer followed by the astounding sight of a group of four huge red deer stags.
A patch of bright red and green plants was at first thought to be the rare coral necklace, but turned out to be the far more common water purslane.
In just two or three hours we had seen no less than 32 species of birds:
Buzzard
Peregrine
Kestrel
Black-headed Gull
Wood Pigeon
Green Woodpecker
Wood Lark
Swallow
House Martin
Meadow Pipit
Wren
Dunnock
Robin
Wheatear
Whinchat
Stonechat
Dartford Warbler
Whitethroat
Chiffchaff
Goldcrest
Spotted Flycatcher
Coal Tit
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Jay
Magpie
Jackdaw
Rook
Carrion Crow
Chaffinch
Linnet
Reed Bunting
... including a spotted flycatcher very much like this one that I filmed the day before:
We then had lunch at Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary, where I filmed this sequence last year.
Wood ants were much in evidence under the trees here,
as were mistle thrushes in the grassier areas of the forest.
Finally we visited Blashford Lakes, near Ringwood.
A great spotted woodpecker visited the car park briefly.
This one was filmed earlier in the week in the forest.
This superb area of gravel pits added a great many new birds to the day's list:
Little Grebe
Great Crested Grebe
Cormorant
Little Egret
Grey Heron
Mute Swan
Egyptian Goose
Teal
Mallard
Wigeon
Tufted Duck
Moorhen
Coot
Lapwing
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Pied Wagtail
Blackbird
Long-tailed Tit
Great Tit
Nuthatch
Raven
The plant list for the day included the following highlights: Douglas Fir Giant Redwood Corsican Pine Scots Pine Bog Myrtle Lesser Spearwort Round-leaved Sundew Marsh St John's Wort Greater Birdsfoot Trefoil Tormentil Water Purslane Marsh Pennywort Creeping Willow Bog Pimpernel Common Centaury Cross-leaved Heath Ling Bell Heather Water Mint Devilsbit Scabious Marsh Ragwort Lawn Chamomile Common Cudweed Blue Fleabane Bog Asphodel Common Pondweed Field Horsetail Cotton Grass
A great many fungi were also seen and photographed.
Identifications will be added later as I sort them out.
(click on a photo to load a larger version)
