Redstart.

April 10, 2025 / 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

Tadpoles!

April 8, 2025 / Andy Finnegan / 4 Comments

Further to my March posts showing Toads mating in a New Forest pond, the spawn has now hatched. A quick underwater film of the Tadpoles.

Lamprey.

April 2, 2025 / 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.

Common Linnet.

April 1, 2025April 1, 2025 / Andy Finnegan / 1 Comment

A small finch found on farmland and heathland across the UK.

Fire.

March 17, 2025March 19, 2025 / Andy Finnegan / 2 Comments

In the New Forest, Forestry England conducts controlled burning of heather and gorse. This helps maintain and enhance heartland habitats. It promotes biodiversity and reduces wildfire risk.

Bugs life!

March 17, 2025 / Andy Finnegan / 2 Comments

Stonechats mainly eat insects, but they also eat seeds and fruits, especially in the colder periods when insects are scarce.

As you can see in my pictures, there were plenty of insects about today!

Sika.

March 6, 2025March 6, 2025 / Andy Finnegan / 5 Comments

Making another trip into the New Forest this morning, looking for Sika Deer. Sika deer are not native to the UK but have escaped from parks and collections nationwide. In the 1900s, King Edward VII gifted Lord Montague of Beaulieu a pair of Sika Deer. Some of their progeny escaped and now populate the New Forest in the Beaulieu area,

A successful walk with 2 groups of deer spotted. Sika are generally inquisitive in their behavior towards humans. They react quickly on the first suspicion of danger by fleeing. The animals today were very inquisitive of us. Seeing us as no threat, they were happy watching us. This allowed some close photographs to be taken.

Sika tails are shorter than Fallow Deer tails, and their rumps are normally all white. Male Fallow deer have broad, flattened antlers, while Sika antlers are pointed, like the Red Deer.

Underwater filming.

February 28, 2025February 28, 2025 / Andy Finnegan / Leave a comment

After enjoying watching toads on Tuesday, I returned to the pond with my underwater camera. The results were good. One loan toad chased the camera and attached himself, confusing it with a female toad. The other fact that I did not expect was that they communicated underwater. The soundtrack shows this.

Toad Spawn is formed as a “string” of eggs, while Frog Spawn is in “clumps.” I have shown both in the clips.

Sound up.

Toad is holding onto my camera!

Toad pool.

February 26, 2025February 26, 2025 / Andy Finnegan / 5 Comments

Today was the best nature spot of the year so far. Nature never fails to surprise me. Even today, new sightings of events or species are thrilling. I have been viewing nature and the environment for a long time. Since drawing my pension, I have more time to conduct my observations.

I have only ever seen single Common Toads in the wild in the past. Today, we took a chance walk around a New Forest pond. It was off the beaten track. We came across a mass of mating toads.

Several 1st :- mating toads, toad spawn, toads in a pond, toads calling, frog mating with a toads

Toad spawn is in long strips rather than clumps as seen with frog spawn.

A Common frog mating with a Toad! Records show this happens but they can not hybridize.

On the downside of this event was seeing probably a hundred toads. The same amount piled up dead. It seems a Heron stabbed and then fished them out, not fully consuming them.

Duck Pond.

February 21, 2025 / Andy Finnegan / 4 Comments

Muscovy Ducks are found at scattered locations across England. These ducks are usually found close to habitation, they are semi-domesticated or feral. This duck appeared on a pond in the New Forest last week. He is fairly tame, suggesting he is used to people. I suspect he has been dumped at the pond, due to bird flu. There are increased restrictions on fowl ownership in the UK.