Ashdown Forest

There is some nice information about the site here.

Lots of large tracts of heather here.

Beautiful mixed woodland.

It is quite a hilly area, which gives some wonderful scenic views.

A section of an old Roman road.

Ashdown Forest is not really a forest at all. It is a huge area of heather-dominated heath interspersed with conifer plantations & large areas of beech & oak forest. Luckily there are numerous public footpaths cutting through this very scenic & large tract of land.

Common Buzzard

Speckled Wood

Meadow Brown

Delana & I visited the area in the morning of 3rd August. We had lovely weather & really enjoyed our time there. We only recorded 31 species, Firecrest being the undoubted highlight. We also saw three Dartford Warblers but I failed to get any photos as the birds were very shy.

Carrion Crow

We loved some of the woodland patches.

There are some lovely walking trails through this area.

Firecrest

Marsh Tit

Coal Tit

Weir Wood Reservoir

On our way back to Balcombe, we briefly called in to Weir Wood Reservoir, which has a bird hide in a protected area. (Most of the reservoir is giving over to water sports). We only stayed a few minutes but saw an impressive total of 54 Great crested Grebes & a couple of Common Terns.