New Forest expedition

Today was a case for my Tuesday Birders group to cross county lines from Sussex into Hampshire on the search for an ever elusive Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. These have declined by 80% in the last decade and are hard to find. This time of year is best because of less foliage on the trees and it's the start of their displaying period. They can be more vocal this time of year. Having played their different calls over and over again to set it in my mind we visited a likely site in the New Forest. After 45 mins we heard our first call. This was an alarm call as it had likely seen us. After a couple of repeated alarms I saw the briefest of a sighting as a bird flew from a nearby tree. It flew with the distinctive undulating woodpecker flight and was identified by colour and size. If you are ever in doubt as to whether it's a Lesser or Greater Spotted Woodpecker then just remember that the Lesser Spotted is the size of a Robin. Alas after another 2 hours searching we gave up and went for lunch. After lunch we had another target bird in the form of a Goshawk which again can be elusive. We decamped to a place called Acres Down that has a 180 degree view over a wooded valley. It took approx half an hours scanning over the tree tops before I located a pair displaying. It's always a great feeling to be the one to find a target bird. A great day's birding upped my years total to 106

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 105
Northern Goshawk 106

As all the birds were either too far away or fleetingly seen I blipped a New Forest Pony