Month: April 2025

Redstart.

/ Andy Finnegan / 3 Comments

The Redstart is a bird of deciduous woodland. Many are found in the New Forest, arriving in April and leaving in September or October. They migrate to their wintering location in trans-Saharan Africa. The name Redstart comes from the colour of its tail. ‘start’ is an old colloquial name for tail.

We spotted one in the Forest on Monday. So today, we returned to an area of Oak woodland where we had seen good numbers last year. I was pleased to see they had returned.

 Breeding males are stunning, with slate grey upper parts, black faces and wings and an orange rump and chest. Females and young are browner, with some chestnut tail feathers and pale bellies

Nature spots on the South Downs.

/ Andy Finnegan / 4 Comments

Nature spots on the South Downs near Winchester on another dawn start.

The Barn Owl continues to entertain during its dawn hunting. It flies for an hour from dawn before settling down in a disused barn.

Resting next to a Wood Pigeon.

As with any Owl or Bird of prey; they are often mobbed by crows.

The fields have many Hares, mostly far off, and they do not stay around long if they spot humans.

Yellow Hammer.

Pheasant

Red Kite.

Lamprey.

/ Andy Finnegan / Leave a comment

We had another good day of nature spotting in the New Forest today. We watched Brook Lamprey spawning. A primitive eel-like fish, they are rarely seen. They spend most of their lives as larva buried in the silt of stream beds. Upon turning into adults, they swim upstream to spawn. This is their last act before dying. They Spawn in April and May.