#lymington-keyhaven nature reserve

[dansnaturepictures]

Avocets at Lymington-Keyhaven Nature Reserve, Hampshire 13th April 2024

It was a true pleasure to see so many of these slender, elegant and emblematic waders on our walk here yesterday. I got some of my finest ever views and saw some of the most I ever have at once of one of the key species that captivated me in my early birdwatching days, so one I hold dear, in a wader fest yesterday. Hearing their shrieking calls was a treat also and I felt optimistic thinking of the exciting days ahead where they'll nest and raise their gorgeous chicks.

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Great Egret, Lymington Keyhaven Nature Reserve, Lymington, United Kingdom

Photo: Brian P. Slade

[goodtravelmaker]

Discovering the New Forest's 43 miles of glorious shoreline

Discovering the New Forest’s 43 miles of glorious shoreline

As I take in the glorious sea views in the Lymington-Keyhaven Nature Reserve, a plaque catches my eye which bitterly complains of ‘a glaring injury to the beauty of the shore’. The words on it were written in 1791, by a vicar aggrieved by Hampshire’s booming salt industry that blighted this coastline at the time with giant vats of brine, wind pumps and boiling houses spouting smoke. Salt was…

[charlotte4b]

at Lymington-Keyhaven Nature Reserve

[applemanblog]

Last night was perfect for a ride along the coast path through the Lymington salt marshes and lagoons... (at Lymington-Keyhaven Nature Reserve) https://www.instagram.com/p/CDQz_pTAgJi/?igshid=1j1r0r6dzgf70

[dacha]

So I may be a twitcher now. On the latest Solent Mind Lymington Walk'n,'Talk I took 30 photos of birds. These two are...err..in water & err...quite pretty. #twitcher #notverygoodyet #twitchernottwitch #idoliketwitchthough #areyoustillreadingthese #volunteering (at Lymington-Keyhaven Nature Reserve) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3FD5OlnbPw/?igshid=eoz5l4kejhbt

[theteacherjamesiphonephotos]

Straight ahead #newforest #path (at Lymington-Keyhaven Nature Reserve)

[dansnaturepictures]

16/09/2023-Pennington

Flora and fauna photos taken in this set are of: 1. A neat and alluring Ruff we enjoyed watching wade in fishtail lagoon, a bird I love and we were lucky to get brilliant views of it. 2 and 10. A lovely Lapwing which we enjoyed closely nearby the Ruff, delightful to see its reflection. 3. Stunning Curlew Sandpipers. I was amazed to see seven of these prepossessing, distinctive and charming waders in the corner of fishtail lagoon, my Mum spotted eight. Some of these elegant birds had a nice rusty brown front. This is a bird we always feel extremely lucky if we can just see one of once in a year, in some previous years like this one we've seen them multiple times at coastal sites but we'd never seen so many at once before. This was sensational, a big moment in my autumn migration and birding year. 4. A nice Roe Deer we and some nice people we got chatting to enjoyed seeing. 5. Some of my first sea aster of the year, a very pretty flower and a key one here at this time of year. 6. Ringed Plover behind a Black-headed Gull on fishtail lagoon, it was good to see decent numbers of these today. 7. One of a few nice young Shelducks we saw. 8. Soapwort, a unique flower I like seeing here. 9. Blackberries.

It was brilliant to be back here seeing a great amount of birds, waders and ducks really shining today. Other highlights included many Dunlins, Little Stint, Knot, Redshank, Curlew, Oystercatcher, a fair few Black-tailed Godwits, beautiful Teal and Shoveler and Eiders offshore. Little Egret, Grey Heron, Great Crested Grebes, Redshank, Great Black-backed Gull, Starling, Whitethroat, Linnet, Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipit were other avian highlights. I also enjoyed seeing butterflies Comma, Peacock and Small Heath well and Migrant Hawker the dragonfly of the moment for me. It was good to see bee on bramble flower, mossy rose gall, creeping thistle, creeping cinquefoil, musk mallow, possibly spurry, wild carrot, dock, gorse covered in a spider's web I'm seeing these well of late, rose hips and hawthorn.

[dansnaturepictures]

13th October 2024: Michaelmas daisies, a gorgeous Stonechat which we got smashing intimate views of, view, mushroom and a Little Grebe at Lymington today

Other highlights on some great time there were exciting views of electric Kingfisher and Jay, a late few Swallows, Greenshank, Redshank, Avocet, Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Turnstone, a fair few Lapwings, Little Egrets and Grey Herons seen well, exquisite Teal, Brent Geese, Roe Deer, common toadflax, bright red clover, chamomile, wild carrot, upright hedge-parsley, white campion on a strong afternoon of flowers and rose hips. Blue Tit was good to see at home today. Another fulfilling weekend.

[dansnaturepictures]

Nine of my favourite landscape and fungi photos I took in September 2023 of; Bushy Park, Thursley in Surrey, RSPB Minsmere in Suffolk, Keyhaven in Hampshire, Farlington Marshes in Hampshire, Old Winchester Hill in the South Downs, Lakeside Country Park in Hampshire, devil's fingers at Bolton's Bench in the New Forest and common puffballs on Brownsea Island, Dorset. It was a pleasure to take in many stunning and very varied vistas this month from woodland to coast in some great bits of weather, with the sweet September sunlight providing some lovely conditions. I enjoyed moons and sunsets from home this month too. As we progress into autumn it was nice to see some colourful leaves and it was great to see more fungi about. My last post featured some of my key wildlife photos and moments this month.

[dansnaturepictures]

Photos from the last few weeks in this run of sunshine not yet posted of Avocets at Pennington, burnt-tip orchids at Martin Down, Marsh Fritillary at Magdalen Hill and view at Lakeside. 

[dansnaturepictures]

Species appreciation post: Kingfisher 

Following the stunning experience of seeing the two so well at Winnall Moors on Saturday where I took the first three pictures in this photoset of the pair and seeing another at Lymington on Sunday in a fantastic weekend of Kingfishers which I took the fourth picture in this photoset of I felt like doing a species appreciation post for this bird. This enigmatic and flamboyant little bird is one of my favourites and has been since the very early days of my birdwatching as a boy. They were one of the birds to grab my attention most from books etc in my fledgling birdwatching interest, I loved their colour as a fan of red with their orangey/red colour mixing so nicely with the blue, the idea of them and how they lived fascinated me and I longed to see one. Thankfully not having to wait too long, as on 8th July 2007 when I was ten years old, funnily with a trip to Arundel WWT planned for the school holidays with the purpose of trying to see a Kingfisher on which we did eventually see one also, on a walk close to our home further along the River Itchen from Winnall Moors from Bishopstoke that amazing moment happened when we saw the electric blue and orange flash of a Kingfisher darting along the river for the very first time something I can still picture now. 

The Kingfisher has continued to deliver for me and everything I said about why I like them above stands, from those schoolboy days where I could recall every time I’d ever seen a Kingfisher to being a species in the right habitats I can depend on seeing now and never fails to amaze me. There is something quite universal about them; from my local country park Lakeside where I took the ninth picture in this photoset of one last year to the coast at Lymington in particular a key spot I see them, to places in different parts of the country like Sculthorpe Moor in Norfolk where I took the eighth picture in this photoset of one in 2020 I have enjoyed many sightings of them. I’ve mentioned quite a lot about how it was the seabirds, particularly Guillemot, Razorbill and Puffin branching into others as time went on that excited me most and helped bind my early interest in birds and how Osprey was the other big bird I was getting transfixed on early on. And the other bird that I was really taking to my heart and was bringing me much joy in those early days was Kingfisher. 

Other notable high points in my time seeing Kingfishers are it being a year tick on New Year’s Day on my traditional Lakeside walk to start the year in 2016 one of my greatest moments on those walks, wonderful autumnal runs of seeing them a lot at different places in 2017 and 2022 and memorably seeing this bird I adore on four of my birthdays my 18th, 21st, 24th and 25th. 

But I don’t think I could mention my relationship with this bird without the photography aspect of it, as when getting into photography it soon became a dream of mine to photograph one. Properly photographing a Kingfisher was an ambition it took me years to achieve, with needing to be quick to do it and often in the right place at the right time. I remember feeling I was seconds away from it at ivy south hide at Blashford Lakes once when a Kingfisher landed right in front of the hide on a post before flying before I could get my camera ready. But I slowly got closer to doing it properly, getting that close up shot of it and it seemed by doing more and more of the what I’d call record shot type photos now like the fifth in this photoset at Hayling Island oysterbeds in Hampshire in 2014 and sixth at Gilkicker Point in 2016 at I was getting closer and closer. And it was at a place I love Blashford Lakes a few years after the memory above in 2017 - alongside Blandford Forum in Dorset and other places mentioned in this post a key site for allowing me to see Kingfishers over the years - where I felt I got that moment taking the seventh picture in this photoset. In a lovely afternoon watching it from the Goosander hide there which I was honoured to have it for me outranked all that I had taken before. It’s funny that I’ve definitely got braver with cropping photos since 2017 so it might not look that much of a close up but it was the shot I wanted. It has been interesting to see if I could match or better it over the years since, I think Saturday’s have come the closest to that and it’s early days I guess but I’d say one or two of the many taken probably did. 

It was good to have achieved the dream in 2017, but I always reflect that with the journey I had it led to trying to photograph Kingfishers being an exciting adrenaline filled thing for me which gives me a photographic relationship with this bird like few others, and I like the journey I went on for it. In the years that followed taking standout Kingfisher photos for me at Lymington on multiple occasions, Sculthorpe Moor, another key Kingfisher place Stour Valley Nature Reserve in Dorset where I got the tenth and final picture in this photoset of a female last September, the Winnall Moors experience at the weekend and some that maybe didn’t work out quite as well, has still had that special buzz about it for me. And in those more recent years I’ve enjoyed simply seeing these beautiful birds when I have. 

This is a bird species like no other which I love so much and has given me so much, I can’t wait to see what this journey throws up next. 

[dansnaturepictures]

21/05/2023-Pennington and home 

Photos taken in this set are of: 1, 3, 5, 9 and 10. Beautiful views on this fine day at Pennington with lovely clear views over to the Isle of Wight. 2. Beautiful flowers in a hanging basket out the back. 4. Greenfinch it was nice to see at Pennington, I’ve had a good run for them recently. 6. Another one I’m on a good run for, a Whitethroat which it was a delight to see and hear melodiously warbling well here today too. 7. Great Crested Grebes, two of a fairly large group of them just offshore that were doing the courtship dance which was great to see. 8. The bird we came here in the hope of seeing, a distinctive and extremely aesthetically pleasing drake Garganey. I was so amazed to spot this bird, one that I do really admire and one I was so hoping to see this year. I hadn’t seen a full plumage drake for a few years either. This as well as the Hobby at Fishlake Meadows earlier was another fantastic bird I relished seeing today and adding to my year, my year list now up to 202. 

Stars of a very strong supporting cast of species today for the Pennington walk were excellent views of Little Tern again lately in the air and on an island on fishtail lagoon, Gadwall including a wonderful moment when a male dwarfed the Garganey when swimming towards it a great moment for comparison, Shoveler, Shelduck, Eider, Avocets including hearing them make some interesting protective shrieking noises with them nesting which was good to observe Tufted Duck made an interesting noise too, Lapwing, Raven, Swift, a lovely Reed Warbler view, Stonechat, Small Tortoiseshell, Small Heath with another Cuckoo today, beautifully singing Skylark and Cetti’s Warbler heard. A drift of thrift on the sea wall, daisies carpeting the grass, water dropwort painting the landscape in places well, vetch and bird’s-foot trefoil including mixing nicely, mouse-ear chickweed, bits of in flower gorse and either white or sea campion I couldn’t quite tell as we walked quite quickly past were good flowers to see at Pennington. It was good to see my first chamomile of the year on the way here near home and a Blue-tailed Damselfly near our garage when home. Goldfinch, House Sparrow and Woodpigeon were good to see at home. A phenomenal weekend of wildlife watching.

[dansnaturepictures]

31st August 2024: Sea aster, Peregrine which it was exciting to see, views, Black-tailed Godwits, Dunlin and star bird today Little Stint I got some of my best ever views of this striking arctic looking wader one of my birds of the year, marsh mallow and young Shelduck on an amazing afternoon at Pennington.

Curlew Sandpiper, Spoonbills, Snipe, Avocet, Redshank, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Pied Wagtail, Marsh Harrier, the first golden samphire I ever recall seeing a gorgeous plant, rock samphire, soapwort, bramble flower and blackberries, bindweed, teasel seed heads and rose hips were other highlights today with Woodpigeon and colourful scenes of Goldfinches on in flower buddleia at home.

[dansnaturepictures]

16/09/2023-Beautiful views on our walk at Pennington this afternoon with great marsh and sea views, some lovely light when the sun came through and great visibility over to the Needles and the rest of the Isle of Wight.

[dansnaturepictures]

11th August 2024: Raven, Meadow Pipit, beautiful views in the sun a great day to be at the coast and Comma on a walk from Keyhaven around Lymington-Keyhaven Nature Reserve today with the Hampshire Ornithological Society.

Grey Plovers including some in stunning summer plumage, Ringed Plover, Knot, lots of Common Sandpipers which was memorable, Avocet, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, gorgeous Black-tailed Godwits, Curlew, Kingfisher, Little Egrets, Black-headed, Herring, Great Black-backed and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Eider Ducks, Shelducks, Stock Dove, Linnets, Swallow, Sand Martin, Water Rail heard, Red Admiral, Peacock, Common Blue, Green-veined White, Common Darter, Southern Hawker, bee, cenatury, common mallow, ragwort, wild carrot, honeysuckle, red clover, my first sea aster of the year, rock samphire and horseweed were other highlights on a great day. Another brilliant summer weekend.