New Forest Holiday Day 1 : Beaulieu Road / Shatterford Bottom : 26th June 2011
We arrived at East Boldre from Montacute by early afternoon. We were booked in at the Turfcutters Arms for three nights and this was to be our base for various outings into the New Forest. The room we had was a bit basic but it was close to everything and the pub was friendly enough. Our first outing was a brief recce of the Beaulieu Road / Shatterford Bottom area. We parked at the parking spot at Shatterford Bottom and walked the path to the left as far as Denny Wood which we made a brief venture into before returning. The habitat was typical for large areas of the New Forest being scrubby heathland with a few small shrubs and lots of gorse. It was very hot and this may have inclined the birds to keep their heads down because there was not a great deal on the heath. We did see two Grey Heron and Rooks and Starlings and even an Oystercatcher !