Beaulieu Road Station / Shatterford : 29th April 2014
For our first full day in the New Forest we decided on two main sites. The first was the walk from Beaulieu Road Station down past Bishop’s Dyke and then into the woods At Woodfidley, turning right an walking through the woods as far as Denny Lodge then turning right again through the woods and picking up the return path across the heath at Shatterford Bottom ending up back at the car park.
We had a quick look for Crossbills at the car park as this is supposed to be a good site for them. Just like last time we were here, we had no luck. We walked on down through the heath and took a slight detour over to the railway bridge which affords a good view of the surrounding landscape. A Curlew flew in, singing, and came to land in the heath. As we continued we saw a lot of Stonechats, both male and female, but our main target was, of course, the Dartford Warbler – an elusive bird at best.