John's Mammals 2025 (1 Viewer)

[Farnboro John]

Last year tailed off a bit - quite busy with photos and didn't do much with British mammals - but I hope to get a bit more into the usual fare this year, not just foxes. Maybe they've got the same idea because they didn't turn up after midnight on New Year's Eve.... mind you they probably didnt like either the high wind or the fireworks.

My first mammal of 2025 was a Fallow doe on the road between Cadnam and Lyndhurst. In theory it's not part of the New Forest and has a 60 mph limit not the 40 of the actual Forest, but I was going slower than that when this deer crossed the road not all that far in front of me!

At Pennington I saw a Roe Doe galloping across the reserve and later, sheltering on the lee side of some gorse from the brutal buffeting SW wind.

My first Red Fox of the year was ambling across the grounds of Sandhurst Sewage Farm in the early evening: Midge and Ben pitched up later for their chicken.

John

 

[Farnboro John]

2nd January and a trip round the local area resulted in multiple Roe Deer sightings near RAF Odiham: five together along the airfield fence enjoying the sunshine and two along a field hedge nearer Greywell.

3rd January and more filling in of gaps produced another Roe Deer at Moor Green at the far end of Colebrook Lake North, a Grey Squirrel marauding around the feeders and back at Fleet Pond, two Brown Rats hoovering up bread remains left by ducks/geese/swans following human feeding, in broad daylight on the concrete jetty. I got photos, on here in due course. Overnight Rusty and Ben attended for chicken.

4th January and a repeat with Clare of the route on 1st January: a very different prospect today with little wind, no rain (though thin cloud all day) and following two days of hard frost. Pennington was generally good though light on shorebirds due to frozen lagoons; Mark Ash Wood was absolutely dead, and we skipped Eyeworth Pond to get more time at the now-open Blashford Lakes. However, between the two woodland sites we had a walk at Bolderwood and obtained a really nice photo session with the Fallow buck herd that frequents the hollies near the Canadian War Memorial. They weren't concerned by us at all and we stayed close to them for about half an hour.

Blashford delivered some gap-filling wildfowl and an assortment of missing finches as well as a portly Grey Squirrel that was quite photographable: we finished off with divers and grebes at Weston Shore.

John

 

[Farnboro John]

Fleet Pond LNR Brown Rats.

John

 

[Farnboro John]

New Forest Fallow Deer and Blashford Grey Squirrel from yesterday.

John

Fallow Deer doe/fawn herd
Fallow Deer fawn (first winter I guess)
Fallow Deer bucks, assorted stature X 4
Grey Squirrel

 

[Farnboro John]

Foxes most evenings and local Roe Deer every time I go out but first mammal addition for a few days with a Brown Hare near RAF Odiham this afternoon.

John

 

[Richard Prior]

Two Red Squirrel in ours and next door's gardens today, interesting how varied the coat colours are!

 

[Farnboro John]

Two Red Squirrel in ours and next door's gardens today, interesting how varied the coat colours are!

Quite envious of the black one! I've seen them like that a long time ago near Wengen but no photos.

John

 

[Richard Prior]

Up here the dark ones are by far the common variety but down in Geneva for example they are 'orange'!

 

[Farnboro John]

After almost a week of complete absence despite trying to call them in, Ben and Midge reappeared two nights ago, to my relief. We lost enough of our regular foxes (including five-year-old Hoppity, with whom we had a very trusting relationship) during the last year so some stability would be nice for a while.

John

 

[WalterRayle]

My first mammal of the year was a Pipistrelle over the garden just on sunset on 15th January down here in south Hants. They seem to get earlier every year. Have since made up with rabbit, grey squirrel, woodlouse, brown rat, fox and roe but still lacking any seals which are usually quite easy at Keyhaven by now.

 

[Farnboro John]

My first mammal of the year was a Pipistrelle over the garden just on sunset on 15th January down here in south Hants. They seem to get earlier every year. Have since made up with rabbit, grey squirrel, woodlouse, brown rat, fox and roe but still lacking any seals which are usually quite easy at Keyhaven by now.

I'm guessing your woodlouse was a mouse?

John

 

[WalterRayle]

I'm guessing your woodlouse was a mouse?

John

yep, woodmouse, raiding the bird feeder by climbing inside it.

 

[Farnboro John]

A short day in the New Forest started really nicely with two Roe bucks in velvet feeding on water plants in the far margin of Eyeworth Pond, followed by a horde of tits of four species plus a showy Nuthatch and a very shy Grey Squirrel coming to photographer-provided seed. I spent about an hour with the birds before heading off to Blashford, intending to spend time in the hides especially the Ivy Lake one: I couldn't even get in the car park on that side so had a look in the Ibsley Water hide (Black-necked Grebe and Great White Egret the principal attractions) and then moved on. Mark Ash Wood was dead (it was afternoon, so not a total surprise) then I again couldn't get parked at Blackwater Arboretum. Lyndhurst was gridlocked so I slipped out Westwards and then up the minor road to Acres Down where another skittish Grey Squirrel avoided my camera but a cock Merlin atop a tree on the open common North from the car park was bird of the day.

John

 

[Farnboro John]

Time for some photos.

Ben waiting to be fed
Grey Squirrel at Moor Green
Red Fox with half an eye on me across the brook (not sure who it is, probably Ben)
Roebucks in the edge of Eyeworth Pond X 3

 

[Farnboro John]

I took advantage of the sunshine yesterday for a quick tour of West Sussex, starting with the returning blinged-up Greenshank at Emsworth and continuing with a visit to the Long-eared Owl that we all know the location of but aren't saying, though apparently the local RSPB are now directing birders to it: I say it because I saw one but there are more. I had a pair of Marsh Harriers and a few Buzzards too: Cetti's Warbler singing was the only other bird of note.

After that I decamped to The Burgh, which came to prominence with a sticky Pallid Harrier years ago but is good for a lot of raptors thanks to a fairly ethical shooting estate owner. I was there most of the afternoon enjoying several sightings of a ringtail Hen Harrier as well as loads of Red Kites and Buzzards and a plentiful supply of Kestrels. I also found a dozen Grey Partridges for a good year tick, and two mammal species: Brown Hares were to be seen far out in most of the fields but towards the end of the afternoon one came loping towards me to let me have a rather closer view and some photos of it running past, then on my way back to the car I saw my first Rabbits of the year grazing close to a hedge and close to Mr McGregor's farmhouse and kitchen garden as well.

Disturbingly the only buntings I saw were half a dozen Reed Buntings: no Corn Buntings and not even one Yellowhammer. Flocks of up to a couple of hundred Linnets were in evidence though.

A decently long walk and warm sunshine: definitely a good day out.

John

 

[Farnboro John]

Some pictures from Thursday:

The colour-ringed returning Greenshank at Emsworth
A particularly showy Wigeon by Pagham North Wall
Long-eared Owl
Hen Harrier at The Burgh
Brown Hare X 4

 

[JWN Andrewes]

Some interesting looking damage to lake-side willows near home this weekend....

 

[Farnboro John]

Very interesting indeed! Were there dropped chomped off scallops of wood around too?

John

 

[JWN Andrewes]

Couldn't see. It's on a private fenced off site so I couldn't get all that close.

 

[Farnboro John]

Apart from some encounters with local Roe Deer it's been a quiet end of winter: the first breaths of spring are now coming through (though the wind is still chilly) and a Common Pipistrelle has been hunting outside our front door at last light on the last few evenings.

One variation was a Muntjac on the verge of the Westbound M3 between Hook and Basingstoke a couple of weeks ago, but just a passing view from the car at 70 mph of course!

John