Birding Group Visit to Macclesfield Forest 6th May 2014 The first birding group morning of the month was to Macclesfield Forest and we had hopes for Flycatchers and Redstarts. We were rather disappointed in this and generally speaking it was a bit of a flop – except that it was a nice day for a…
Keyhaven : 1st May 2014 Our last day in the New Forest was given over to a visit to the coast to get some birds we had not seen yet. Our first port of call was Keyhaven where we checked out the times of the ferry to Hurst Castle which is at the end of…
Bolderwood, Fritham and Beaulieu Road Station: 30th April 2014 We started early (for us) again this morning and were on our way by 8am. We drove up to Bolderwood and parked in the car park there before taking the path down to the cottage, crossing over the road and taking one of the paths that…
Beaulieu Road Station / Shatterford : 29th April 2014 For our first full day in the New Forest we decided on two main sites. The first was the walk from Beaulieu Road Station down past Bishop’s Dyke and then into the woods At Woodfidley, turning right an walking through the woods as far as Denny…
Blashford Lakes : 28th April 2014 We left Montacute on the morning of the 28th and did the drive through Sherborne, Sixpenny Handley and Cranborne, stopping for breakfast at Fordinbridge. From there we drove south to the Blashford Lakes complex. Finding where to go was complicated by the fact that the reserve has been asked…
RSPB Ham Wall and NE Shapwick Heath : 27th April 2014 Another unpromising day weather-wise but we did not let this put us off. We decided to go back to RSPB Ham Wall and NE Shapwick Heath but this time we started at the far end of the Shapwick Heath reserve, first dropping into the…
RSPB Radipole Lake : 26th April 2014 The weather forecast was none too promising but by the time I got to Radipole the rain had stopped and apart from the wind the weather was quite good and eventually sunny. I started off down the path where my first sighting was a Cetti’s Warbler that jumped…
Shapwick Heath and Ham Wall 25th April 2014 Although we drove through a number of heavy showers, by the time we got to Shapwick it was fairly bright and it got brighter and warmer as the day progressed. We stopped at the Avalon Centre but it was a very basic collection of portacabins rather than…
WWT Slimbridge 25th April 2014 In the morning we checked out early from the hotel and headed off to Slimbridge for early doors. The official opening time is 9.30am but if you are a member you are allowed to access the hides along the right hand side of the reserve (all the way down to…
WWT Slimbridge 24th April 2014 On the first day of our holiday to Somerset and Hampshire we stayed over at the village of Slimbridge. We didn’t have too much time by the time we got there so we drove straight up to WWT Slimbridge before checking in at the Tudor Arms hotel. Went straight to…
