Into another year – doesn’t time fly? It seems only the other day it was a new century. It seemed everyone was out for a New Year’s walk this morning.
The “pink” ferry across the Hamble River was doing a good trade. Running on demand from Hamble village to Warsash the fare is £2.50 each way. Today’s walk was a regular route from Swanwick Marina to Warsash and back a 4-mile round trip. All on the flat.
All the usual bird sightings along the river.
Brent Geese.
Curlew. Being our largest wader it is only a bit smaller than a Brent Goose.
An enjoyable morning at the coast watching one of my favourite shoreline birds the Sanderlings. My last outing of 2024 and although stormy I could settle down behind one of the groins and watch these little birds dancing with the waves.
The name derives from Old English sand-yrðling, “sand-ploughman”. These little birds are in the Sandpiper family they are a passage migrant spending the winter on our coast before going north to their breeding grounds their Arctic breeding grounds.
Another storm touched landfall this morning Storm “Gerrit” hit Meon Shore off Titchfield Haven at about 10.30 this morning. Sanderlings struggle with a very high tide simultaneously as the storm force wind.
So common is and we have all grown up with Mallard ducks around us so we often overlook this handsome dabbling duck. The Mallard is a large and heavy-looking duck. The male has a dark green head, and a yellow bill. They are mainly purple-brown on the breast and grey on the body. The female is mainly brown with an orange bill. Mallards breed in all parts of the UK
Open water {this one a fishing lake} = a chance to spot waterfowl. Two male Tufted duck and a female Goosander watch those fishing from a safe distance.
Today’s walk was along the coastal path from the seaside town of Lymington to Normandy Lagoon. On the Lymington-Keyhaven marshes, the lagoons lie just inside the seawall. Records show that the sea salt industry has operated in the Solent for at least 2000 years. The industry flourished and by medieval times was well established at Lymington. Salt was obtained by keeping seawater in shallow lagoons known as salterns. This allowed evaporation during the summer months to remove the water. The process was undertaken on land that had been reclaimed from the sea through the construction of a series of sea walls.
The first reference to a medieval salt industry in Lymington comes from the Domesday Book of 1086. Salt production remained an asset of the area throughout the Middle Ages. By the 17th century records show a flourishing economy in the area.
The industry reached its peak early in the 18th century when 163 saltpans were in use at Lymington. Boiling Houses were used as the process became more industrialised. Sea salt from Lymington was exported as far as Norway, Newfoundland and the USA.
The 19th century saw the decline of the industry. The final Lymington saltern closed in 1865.
The best observation on today’s walk was a flock of 12 Spoonbills. A first for this year. Spoonbills are distinctive tall white waterbirds with long broad black bills and black legs. They are smaller than a Grey Heron in size. Adult birds have yellow on their bill tips. They fly with necks and legs extended. They feed with elegant sideward sweeps of their bill. The species is of European conservation concern. In recent years they have been visiting wetlands on the South Coast of the UK, small numbers now breed here. Listed on Schedule 1 of The Wildlife and Countryside Act, making it illegal to disturb these birds. Most birds migrate south in the winter, but many individuals remain and spend winter in Western Europe.
Little Egret
Cormorant – unlike many diving birds Cormorants do not have waterproof feathers. They are great at diving for fish so when they have finished fishing to dry out they sit with their wings open, The warmth of the sun or the wind dries out the bird.
Curlew. They are the largest European wading bird I watched one pass a Brent Goose last week and you can see their size is only a tiny bit smaller than the Brent!
Pintail, – only a few of these duck breed in the UK (under 30 pairs), however in the winter over 20,000 birds winter here. Like all dabbling ducks, Pintails feed at the surface rather than diving for their food. They eat plant food when dabbling, but will supplement their diet with insects and molluscs.
Western Shore on Southampton Water at the site of Netley Military Hospital.
Netley Hospital, officially called The Royal Victoria Hospital. Construction started in 1856 at the suggestion of Queen Victoria, she often visited from one of her favourite homes with Prince Albert which was close by at Osbourne House on the Isle of Wight.
The hospital was extensively used during the First World War. Wounded troops from war could disembark directly to the hospital onto its own pier which reached out into Southampton Water. There was a branch Railway line direct to the hospital. The main building was the world’s longest building when it was completed. Sadly the main hospital building was demolished in 1966. In WW2 the hospital was used by the Americans after D-Day. The Chapel at the hospital’s centre remains and today is a museum.
There is a CWCC cemetery within the grounds of the hospital for those who could not be saved.
A walk this afternoon from Warsash Harbour car park up the River Hamble to Bursledon and back.
A Great Crested Grebe fishing on the river. These birds seem to spend more time in the sea and rivers than in lakes and ponds in our area this time of year. I guess there is no risk of the water freezing and preventing them from feeding.
Britans largest wader the Curlew.
I normally take photographs of Sanderlings on the muddy banks of the Hamble Dunlin favour this environment whereas the Sanderlings prefer the sandy shore at Meon beach.
The King of the fishermen? I spent a few hours this morning watching this female Kingfisher. The female bird is identified by her orange lower mandible. She was feeding on many small Sticklebacks.
Continued Reflections from my World. 