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| Avocets at rest |
Only 3
intrepid LymNats joined Brian on a cold, sunny morning with a strong
north-easterly wind for a walk from Maiden Lane to Lymington Marina. Whilst the
main focus was on Normandy Marsh, mudflats and shingle banks were still
partially exposed offshore with LW having been at 06.50 (0.62m) and HW due at
13.15 (3.24m).
Hampshire
County Council began purchasing the coastal grazing marshes between Lymington
and Keyhaven in 1973 with the acquisition of Normandy Farm. This far-sighted
policy was a response to the rapid pace of development which had occurred on
the Hampshire coast over the previous decades. It was felt that the only
way to safeguard this beautiful section of coastline for future generations was
to bring it in to public ownership.
Normandy
Lagoon was the product of the excavation of material used in the construction
of the new seawall in the early 1990s, since when the number of visitors to the
Lymington-Keyhaven Reserves (HCC and HIWWT) has steadily increased with
around a quarter of a million visits recorded each year. Sunday's walk
encountered many of these visitors - fellow birders, buggies, bikes,
dog-walkers, joggers and ramblers. At times there seemed to be almost as many
people (not LymNats, obviously!) on the seawall as there were birds on
Normandy Lagoon.
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| Great Crested Grebe |
SELECTED
SIGHTINGS
Eight Acre
Pond: Coot, Little Grebe, Mallard ♂♀.
Four Acre
Pond: Dunlin, Lapwing, Turnstone, Oystercatcher, Dark-bellied Brent Goose,
Black-headed Gull, Redshank.
Normandy
Marsh/Lagoon: Pintail, Teal, Wigeon, Red-breasted Merganser,
Shoveler (All ♂♀), Great Black-backed Gull,
Little Egret, Ringed Plover, Greenshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Starling,
Avocet (15+ - 2 actively feeding, the remainder resting), Mute Swan, Canada
Goose, Cormorant, Dartford Warbler (♂), Wren. One
Little Egret was seen with yellow leg rings.
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| Slavonian Grebe |
photographs
© Richard Coomber