Cadman’s Pool is named after Arthur Cadman
who was Deputy Surveyor of the New Forest from 1959 to 1968 and had the
pool created during his period in office. He was an expert on British
deer and wildfowl, and authored several books and many magazine
articles.
We walked an
anti-clockwise path along the plain between the road and inclosures then
turning north-west between North Bentley and South Bentley Inclosures
as far as the Dockens Water before returning through South Bentley
Inclosure and Anses Wood.
First to catch our attention was an early Woodlark
singing directly above us which we watched for several minutes.
Although the light was poor so the bird was mostly in silhouette we were
able to easily see its diagnostic short tail.
Later, during
our biscuit break, we spotted a raptor which initially we thought might
be the Buzzard we’d seen floating around earlier but as it approached we
could see the sleek outline of a Peregrine Falcon (below) which soared overhead.