A typical Garden in the National Park

A great new venue for watching wildlife has been achieved by my Sister moving to Burley Village in the New Forest and in late February, early March visits I was entertained by Redpolls and Siskins greedily setting about her Bird Feeders.

First to arrive were the Siskins who happily shared the feeders with Goldfinches, Sparrows with the usual Blackbirds picking up the scraps and crumbs from underneath only to be disturbed by the occasional visitor to the front garden in the form of Rufus, my Sister’s black Labrador.
Overall, the gardens have a wealth of daily bird visitors; in the back there are Sparrows, Blue and Great Tits with the Long Tailed Tits flitting around from bush to bush and tree to tree. Around and about, Nuthatches were out in numbers, Yellowhammers, Common Buzzards. In the woods and edges of the heathland Green Woodpeckers were heard plus the odd sight of a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

      

Fishlake Meadows

A few days later I went to Fishlake Meadows, a large Reserve just north side of Romsey.
This was quite some day, no sooner had I started my walk I saw Treecreepers, Chiffchaffs, solo Greenfinch and Chaffinches. Upon going along to the viewing area, a Great White Egret was slowly walking alongside the Reed Beds, two Pintails appeared.

      
Great White Egret – Pintails – Nuthatch

Seeing so many bird species in the last two or three weeks has given me some optimism for a good Spring and Summer of bird breeding and hopefully successful fledging.

Not long now !

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