15th March New Forest

We went to the new forest today we left the caravan at about 10 o’clock and travelled through fog on arriving in the forest the sun came out, Our first stop was at Hordel he we were looking for the Rose Collared Starling that has been about for a short time, We parked up near the spot it had been seen the past couple of days and we had a wander round we spoke to the local postman who told us which was its favourite tree so we hang around waiting for it to appear, Then a local said it had been in the tree at about 9 30 but no sign by 12 o’clock then a birder sais are you looking for the Starling because it is sitting in a hedge near where we had parked, So we went back on arriving the local who’s garden it was in said here it is, It was singing but deep in the hedge even the non birder with us got good views we had it down to about 8 feet I took some pictures but the fact it was deep in the hedge and the sun was behind it made it difficult to get any good ones but good views where had.

We then stopped at a couple of spots looking for Dartford Warbler which we found at the second one, Then it was off to a spot for Wood lark but as they where control burning this turned out to be a waste of time so we headed off to some shopping before heading back to the caravan.