Ashdown Forest

Monday 15th November to Friday 19th November

Two things of interest on the forest this week - a Little Bunting and a male Hen Harrier.

Little Bunting

Alison found a Little Bunting on the Poundgate area of the forest on Sunday 14th November.   Soon, everyone was on the trail of this rare visitor.

                                                             courtesy of Alison Playle and Ashdown Bird Group

• On Monday afternoon when I and 7/8 other birders tried we had no luck at all.  Tuesday and Wednesday were similarly fruitless.  The site was too busy with birders, runners and dog walkers.
• I then got a message from Alison to try around 09.00 tomorrow to avoid too many disturbances.  This proved the turning point, as I soon located the bird on it's favourite birch tree before it flew into the twiggy area nearby.  From then on the views were intermittent but still decent.
• Next day there was another good sighting, again in the morning.

courtesy of Edward Paxton and Twitter

A cracking bird - and almost on my doorstep.

Male Hen Harrier

Monday afternoon may have been a disappointment with regard to the Little Bunting but Shaun and I broke away from the rest of the birders, around 3.30 pm,  to go to the higher ground to look across the valley for the male Hen Harrier that had been seen here recently.

• It wasn't long before we got the sighting we craved - the lovely male flew low over the valley giving great views as it went on its way.  Eventually it headed up the hill to the radio tower before disappearing behind the trees.
• Today, 19th November, I got another brief sighting from a much higher position near the Crow and Gate pub.  

All we need now is to find the roost site and maybe we can get back to the glory years when this bird roosted here in the valley.