Bird Trail 2010
3 June 2010
Now in its third year, the popular New Forest Birdtrail event took place recently at Bolderwood, hosted as always by Hampshire Ornithological Society (HOS) and Chris Packham. Over a hundred children, including members of Wildlife Watch groups and RSPB Wildlife Explorer clubs, as well as pupils from local schools, took part in a variety of bird-watching activities and quizzes.
The central event of the day is the circular trail which the children follow in small groups over the course of about three hours, taking in a range of habitats. This offers plenty of opportunities to see and hear some of the special birds and other wildlife of the area, with expert help and guidance from HOS volunteers on hand throughout.
The following report is written by Isabel Boggust, aged 10, a member of the Blashford Lakes Wildlife Watch group.
On Sunday 19th of May, children from local groups met at Bolderwood in the New Forest. When I arrived the weather was grey and drizzly, but the day soon brightened up. We were split into about 12 teams. The team that I was in was Song Thrush.
Chris Packam made a short speech at the beginning about what we were going to be doing throughout the day. Then two huge boxes came over which were full of binoculars. We were all allowed a free pair to take and use on the bird trip and then keep. In our teams we set off for the walk.
On the trail
Each group had a spotter sheet with points for different birds, and two adult guides (to help us identify the birds!). We started in a conifer wood, which means it has evergreen trees. Some of the birds we saw, or heard, were Chiffchaff, Tree Creeper, Willow Warbler, Turtle Dove ... and there were lots, lots more. The most impressive bird we heard was a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, drumming at one of the trees above our heads.
On the walk there were activity bases to stop at and learn more about different birds. Some of these activities were about birds of prey and one was solving riddles to identify woodland birds.
The day also saw us finding some interesting plants - including Sundew which is a special type of plant with gooey stuff which looks like ‘dew', and that is how it gets its name. It just looks like a red blob flat on the ground and you have to look closely to identify it. It catches flies and other insects which makes it one of the only plants which is a carnivore. When the fly comes to drink the ‘dew' it gets stuck and will eventually die and rot down so the plant can eat it.
Back at base
On our return we were given snack bags and there was an opportunity to do more activities such as making model birds from envelopes. When all the groups were back Chris Packham called everyone round and asked what were the most impressive birds we had seen or heard. The agreement was the Firecrest and the Goshawk. He then handed out prizes to the winning team and everyone got signed certificates for completing the day.
Gold for Alex
There was an extra special moment for the Blashford Wildlife Watch group as one of our members, Alex Sampson, received his Watch ‘Gold Award' from Chris Packham. Alex had studied deer for one of the eight award badges, and Chris talked about how he had even studied the differences between poo from different types of deer!
We had a great day, full of fun and saw and heard some amazing birds.
Isabel Boggust, Age 10
Blashford Lakes Wildlife Watch group
