New Forest Biodiversity News - April 2025

This report aims to summarise some of the notable wildlife sightings and conservation news in the New Forest National Park in April 2025. To contribute to future editions, please contact the New Forest Biodiversity Forum Chair (russ@wildnewforest.org.uk).

Notable wildlife sightings

Most of April was again dominated by high pressure, and as a result it was the sunniest April on record and the third warmest, with warm, sunny days but clear and rather cool nights. It was also very dry, with only about half the expected rainfall in our region. Wind speeds were mostly low, although 81mph was recorded over at The Needles (Isle of Wight) on 16 April.

An interesting selection of rare and scarce migrant birds was reported during April. A drake Green-winged Teal was at Keyhaven Marshes from 02-05 Apr and a female Bluethroat was reported there on 20 Apr, with two Great White Egrets over Lower Pennington Lane on the same date. A Black Stork was reported from a New Forest site on 19 Apr. A Kentish Plover seen in flight at Hurst Castle on 30 Apr was retrospectively identified from photos, while an influx of Common Sandpipers on the same date saw ten at Hatchet Pond and eight at Fawley Refinery.

Drake Green-winged Teal at Keyhaven Marshes on 05 Apr 2025

(photo: Steve Laycock)

Kentish Plover (with Dunlin) at Hurst Castle on 30 Apr 2025

(photo: Jeremy Mcclements)

Spoonbill numbers in the Lymington-Hurst area decreased to three, and there was a scattering of White-tailed Eagle reports including three together over Rowbarrow on 09 Apr (mobbed by two Ravens, a Buzzard, and a Kestrel). Migrant Grasshopper Warblers and Wood Sandpipers were at Lepe and Keyhaven, and a Ring Ouzel was inland at Black Knowl on 15 Apr. A record influx of Hoopoes failed to penetrate the national park boundary, although singles were seen nearby at Dibden Purlieu and Barton-on-Sea. One, possibly two, singing male Black Redstarts were at Calshot on 11-13 Apr. Sea-watching was largely uneventful, although four Pomarine Skuas passed Hurst on 26 Apr. Non-native Egyptian Geese now seem to be well established in the New Forest, with numerous reports of breeding pairs at and near to the coast.

New Forest Raptor Monitoring Group members found a dead Red Kite in the northern New Forest on 06 Apr, close to an area where three were seen displaying in March and where a pair subsequently appeared to be attempting nesting. One of the team also recorded some great images of a Goshawk taking a Woodpigeon on 20 Apr.

Red Kite found dead in the northern New Forest on 06 Apr 2025

(photo: Alex Yates / New Forest Raptor Monitoring Group)

Goshawk taking a Woodpigeon on 20 Apr 2025

(photo: Alex Yates / New Forest Raptor Monitoring Group)

Invertebrates included the first New Forest record of the pincer wasp Dryinus collaris, while a Lichen Running Spider was an unusual find in a garden polytunnel at Woodlands on 27 Apr.

Female pincer wasp Dryinus collaris on 19 Apr 2025

(photo: Paul Brock)

Lichen Running Spider at Woodlands on 27 Apr 2025

(photo: Russell Wynn)

Several intrepid Hampshire Fungus Recording Group (HFRG) surveyors targeted Dwarf Gorse pods at Picket Plain on 19 Apr in search of the rare smut fungus Thecaphora ulicis and were rewarded with two infected pods, the first UK records since they were found there in 1982. The only other notable fungus report was a cluster of over 80 Spring Funnels Bonomyces sinopicus at a burn site where they were first recorded last year. Notable plants included Jersey Cudweed at Sowley on 25 Apr, which appears to be one of the first New Forest records of this formerly very rare but now rapidly increasing species.

Spring Funnels on 22 Apr 2025

(photo: Holly Fitzgerald)

Jersey Cudweed at Sowley on 25 Apr 2025

(photo: Russell Wynn)

Wildlife and conservation news

The prolonged period of dry and sunny spring weather saw numerous wildfires reported across the country, including several on the Dorset heathlands, but the only significant event in the New Forest concerned one at Calshot on 05 Apr (see here).

More positive news came from the lower Lymington River, where Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust recently purchased an 11-hectare Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) that connects to the existing Lymington Reedbeds Nature Reserve (see here).

A new paper on the significance of pine for beetles in the New Forest has recently been published by Paul Brock and Howard Mendel and is available here.

Many thanks as always to all those who contributed their observations and images to the various online portals that provide source material for these reports, particularly Going Birding, Hampshire Fungus Recording Group, and the Wild New Forest and Hantsmoths Facebook sites.