19/06/2015 Acres Down Goshawks but no Honey Buzzards

Friday 19th June 2015
Acres Down, New Forest

After several unsuccessful attempts to find Honey Buzzards in the Ashdown Forest I decided to try my luck at Acres Down in the New Forest.  On a glorious sunny day I set off at 06.30 to beat the early morning traffic.

I stopped at Pagham Harbour, near Chichester, on the way down hoping to find one of the two Green Sandpipers that had been seen there recently.  Unfortunately there were none present so I decided to move on to Hampshire and return here on the way home.

At Acres Down I met a couple of guys, one of whom was a local birder and he told me he had a good sighting of a Honey Buzzard  the day before.  A Goshawk soon showed and during my four hour stay we saw several.  Common Buzzards were present in good numbers and we had excellent views of a Hobby.  The local birder even saw a distant Honey Buzzard but neither I or the other birder, from Salisbury, saw it.  Alas I had to accept defeat again and  mid-afternoon I set off for home.

On the return visit to the Ferry Pool I was in luck with one of the Green Sandpipers showing well.  At least I had a year tick to show for my efforts. 




Green Sandpiper
Library picture

A very enjoyable day at one of my favourite sites!



Addition to BUBO 2015 UK Bird List:
Green Sandpiper   (227)