The Forest of Dean 8th March 2014

Both buses where on time arrived at my mates for a 7 – 30 leave on route along the M40 we had 7 Red Kites we would have had more but it was misty and we were hoping it would burn off before we got to the forest after breakfast at the normal spot just after we set of we had another Red Kite plus 2 Common Buzzards on arriving in the forest we headed for our first stop

Fancy New Watch Point

We arrived at ¼ to eleven as we got to the watch point where there where some birders already set up they were on a Goshawk off to the left a nice start to the next 40 minutes we then had another Goshawk of to the right we also had Common Crossbill flying over with one that sat on top of a tree but by the time I got the camera ready it had flown, then a male Goshawk appeared in front of us we also had Raven, Brambling, Common Buzzards (4) then just to round it of we had a pair of Goshawks displaying so ending up with 5 Goshawks then off to our next spot.

Cannop Ponds

Here we had Mandarin Duck, Buzzard we had a look at the stream but there was a lot of water we did not see much else here so on to the next spot.

Parkend

Here we spent some time walking along the stream for about a mile should have realised the water level here was high so no sign of the Dipper, we the headed for Parkend church for Hawfinch with no luck but we did have another Goshawk here making 6 for the day we were told we might find Hawfinch behind the cricket ground so we spent some time there but again no luck so onto our final spot.

Brierley

We parked up and headed for Serridge ridge a nice steep climb where early this morning some of the Two Barred Crossbills had been seen plenty of Common Crossbills but no sign of the Two Barred we spoke to someone who had been there over 3 hours and had seen none of them we then continued back down of the ridge to a spot we normally do on the way down we had Siskins and Lesser Redpole we had been told there where some Hawfinch’s in and around the hornbeams on arriving at the spot we could hear them calling and after a short time had a glimpse of one flying of behind the trees there was no sign of any Marsh Tits

So it was now time to call it a day and start heading home we had a nice meal on route after being dropped off at my mates I got my 2 buses home arriving just after 11 so ending an enjoyable days birding