Dawn Chorus in the New Forest

As it was National Dawn Chorus Morning we arranged ours in the New Forest at Acres Down, ending at a local camp site for breakfast, which as it turned out was very welcomed indeed.  When you make these arrangements six months in advance you are always at the mercy of the weather as any outdoor event is.  Generally Two Owls have always been fairly lucky not often have we had bad weather, but this morning we started with a light drizzle and by the time we went for breakfast it can only be considered heavy rain.  I think it was a day of testing the waterproofs and I think everyone may have found one item that failed in some way.

Even so it didn't mean that we didn't hear any birds, though not many ventured out to be seen singing from deep cover but then the idea of a Dawn Chorus is to listen.  When we started at 05:00 o'clock it was silent just water dripping from the trees but suddenly a Blackbird started to sing then Robin and we could only hear these two species from all around and it was hard to decipher other species.  With concentration several Wrens were joining in as we move along and listened from another location, Goldcrest and then a Firecrest singing, then a Cuckoo then a second and possibly a third though they were all some distance away.  As we moved from the Beech to a mix of fir and deciduous we heard Song Thrush, Nuthatch, Chaffinch, Redstart and Chiffchaff, also the Blue and Great Tits had woken.  Our third stop produced the first of at least four Wood Warblers, which probably was everyones favourite of the morning.

Chiffchaff not from this morning © Nick Hull

On our return route we added Coal Tit, Bullfinch and Willow Warbler then things went quiet for a while as we passed as we passed through the evergreens just the Chaffinch and odd Goldcrest and another Firecrest.  It the last stand of fir there came a chattering of a family party of feeding birds up high in the canopy I knew they were Crossbill but couldn't find them.  Suddenly they flew and six birds flew out and moved to another stand of pines giving the quickest in the group a brief view as they went overhead.  We changed track and started to head toward our breakfast stop and found a very showy Tree Pipit singing nicely in the rain.  A 'yaffle' told us that a Green Woodpecker was somewhere in the wet wood and a few of us had a brief view of a Great Spotted Woodpecker moving through the trees.

Then our circular walk was completed and we headed to the camp cafe for breakfast and a chance to dry out and warm up.  Which I must add was very nice and enjoyable just what was needed after our wet dawn chorus.