Its That Time of Year

I have been up to the pond several times this week and each day there has been a new family appearing. We have Goslings, ducklings and moorhen chicks.I expect next week the first cygnets might appear.

The Mandarin Ducklings Have Arrived!

We Have had some very wet weather this last week and I haven't been down to the pond at Eyeworth for a while In the distance we could see a mandarin female with I think 6 ducklings.
Aftr a while another family appeared with 3 ducklings and I was able to get a few photos, but these little ducks move so fast.
Hopefully we will be able to watch them grow.

The Young Ones

It is still very warm in the Forest and today after walking the dogs early we took a ride through the forest stopping off at the ponds along the way. We Now have two families of Canada geese on Cadmans pond.Goslings are so cute. The little ducklings were everywhere , lost count of the number of families we had, they are several different ages now.
By the side of the road we came across some sweet looking calves.Calves are so pretty and yet they seem to lose it as theygrow up.
Down on Hatchetts pond the 7 little cycgnets are all doing well. There is a second pair of swans,at the far end of the pond but no sign of cygnets there yet.
There are plenty of foals now on the forest and again we have different ages. The earlier foals are about 6 weeks old now, but they will continue to appear until September.

A small foal at pigbush
Cockchafer beetle (maybug)
Swan family at Hatchets Pond
Little Goslings at Cadmans Pond and some of the ducklings

Lower Test Nature Reserve

This afternoon Karen and I went back to the Nature Reserve. Firstly we went down to the screens where we saw some little egrets, coots and green sandpipers. When we got to the hide it was locked so after staring at the cows that were wandering about we decided to explore a little. There is another board walk further down the road, but although you can see the reeds there are no views of the water.. We did see this family of ducklings and some black headed gulls.

Black headed Gull

Cows ready to charge!

Mummy Duck with 10 Ducklings

Little Egret

Little Egrets

Coot and ?

A Walk at South Bentley Between the Showers

The heavy rain that is affecting much of the Country is mostly avoiding The New Forest. We are getting short sharp showers and then sunny spells. It poured with rain as we drove up to the forest this morning and we decided to walk at South Bentley where we would be sheltered by the trees. However the weather was dry and sometimes sunny whilst we walked, with another sharp shower as we drove home.
We walked down through South Bentley inclosure and then along Dockens Water. We found some beautiful clumps of wild irises and a little further on we spotted several damsel flies
flitting over the surface of the water. I was quite pleased with the photo I got. From there we walked away from the stream and up to Cadmans Pond, where we found this little family of tiny ducklings scurring back into the water. Part of the Pond is shored up and although the photo isn't quite in focus I thought the little duckling looked quite comical as they peered over the edge before dropping down into the water and swimming after mum!

Some more tiny Ducklings on the pond today

I wonder if this leaf is tasty.

A moorhen chick scoots across the pond


The ducklings were staying right out near the island so the photos aren't brilliant.

Testwood Lakes

Testwood lakes were built by Southern water to ensure an adequate supply of water for Southampton and the surrounding area. Work began in 1992 Work was completed in 2002 and the public have access to the lakes. It seems to be a popular place t walk the dog and several were having a swim whilst we were there.

Busy down at the Pond

I wonder what they are all looking at.
A group of ducklings
Big Scarey goose.

Mr Drake
The Ducklings are nearly full grown

Adult Canada geese No sign of goslings


Chaffinches at the Pond

Cup Final Saturday

John is looking forward to watching the Cup Final this afternoon. Finally after 7 years the new Wembley Stadium is being officially opened before the game starts. We took the dogs to Cadman's pond late this morning and had a long walk, starting and ending at the pond. There are so many little foals in the Forest now and we passed several, sleeping, grazing and frolicking by Dockens Water. Recent rain has set the stream flowing again and the grass on the banks is green and lush looking.Even the dogs enjoy eating it.
At the pond we saw several groups of ducklings, but they are growing fast and beginning to look like little adults. We couldn't see any sign of goslings yet , but the geese were honking noisily. We will keep checking and hopefully we will see them soon.

The little ducklings are growing fast and are begining to look more like adult ducks.

Lots of cows were at the pond today, having a drink and admiring themselves in the reflections. As yet there are no signs of goslings.......I hope there will be some this year!

Cadman's Pond

Yellow iris

Ducklings

Ducklings

Ducklings