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View and one of a few dazzling Eiders it was stunning to see at Keyhaven and Pennington on a beautiful sunny day today 14th March 2026.
Other highlights today were White-fronted Geese, Brent Geese, Egyptian Geese, Spoonbill, Great Tit in a puddle, Yellow Dung fly, Rabbits common dog violet and Alexanders.
Curlew
Keyhaven/Lymington Marshes Hampshire.
By Pam Parsons
20211105 - The Road Not Taken [Flood Edition]
04/01/2025-Icy views also including gorse and teasel seed heads, one of a fair few Spoonbills which were amazing to see, a Kingfisher we got stunning views of hovering over the sea not something I've seen often perhaps having to hunt there due to the amount of frozen water on the lagoons, Little Egret and a stunning male Goldeneye at Lymington-Keyhaven Nature Reserve today.
An amazing day spent there gripped by the essence of wild winter seeing so many birds on a cold day was headlined by watching the fantastic Lesser Yellowlegs a massive bird to see. It was so nice to speak to so many others looking at/for that bird and others including great people we've met before and new people. Other highlights were Red-necked Grebe, Slavonian Grebe, Golden Plovers, Grey Plover, Ringed Plovers, Avocets, Redshank, Spotted Redshank, Curlew, Kestrels, beautiful views of a Fox my first of the year, Roe Deer, winter heliotrope, cleavers and wild carrot seed heads.
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.
10th March 2024: Pennington and Keyhaven
Photos taken in this set are of; Golden Plover, Brent Goose and Lapwing stars of a fantastic trip here today, beautiful views and delightful ducks Pochard and Wigeons. Amazing views of my first Short-eared Owl of the year at the place we first ever saw the species, our first Linnets of the year, Marsh Harriers seen really well, Eiders, Pintail, Shelduck, Greylag Geese like Pochard not one I often see here, Ringed Plover, Skylark seen and heard well, Mediterranean Gulls, Redshank, Avocet, Snipe, Reed Bunting, my first Alexanders of the year, lesser celandine and daffodils were other highlights. It was good to see Carrion Crows, spider and Grey Silverfish at home today.
20th December 2020-Marsh Harrier, Lapwings, Barnacle and Brent Geese and more on Pennington to Keyhaven walk and pictures before: 10 more new pictures to the ones tweeted tonight
I had a nice photo session in the sunshine at home before we left to go out today this morning/early afternoon quite rare for a weekend day lately, enjoying some garden birds especially Starling and House Sparrow which I tweeted pictures of on Dans_Pictures and some of the many lovely looking still flowers on the balcony out the front which I photographed I took the first picture in this photoset of some and I enjoyed some in the back garden too and I also took the second picture in this photoset of a view out the front in the sun.
At Pennington and back at Keyhaven after last Saturday when we went which we walked to and back today from the Lower Pennington Lane car park it started very sunny with just the one shower fairly heavy whilst we were out. This created nice rainbow opportunities again this weekend and lately so there were plenty of landscape photo opportunities and really nice sky scenes today. I took the third-ninth pictures in this photoset of views here today the seventh showing a rainbow.
Bird wise we were looking for the Tundra Bean Geese which had been about, a bird we had only seen once before at Keyhaven along a footpath at the back of Keyhaven and fishtail lagoons where there are some lakes and fields. We looked here today as this is where they had been seen. It was just nice to do this route along the back of the place not along the sea front for a change it is a beautiful and varied area too which some great bits of habitat for birds and other wildlife. In one of the fields, one a rainbow adorned which I tweeted a picture of whilst checking the Canada Geese we were delighted to spot a decent sized flock of Barnacle Geese. A very special bird species which we had certainly never seen here before. So this was nice a real standout moment and I liked seeing large groups of birds in fields today, in a field at the campsite at the start of the walk I was delighted to see many Brent Geese, Curlews and Oystercatchers a nice variety of birds all using the field which was great to see.
A nice view of a Rock Pipit on the shore was a great sight at Keyhaven a very iconic sight of Keyhaven nature reserve really which I tweeted a picture of as I did with both barnacle and brent geese today. I’ve very rarely seen brent and barnacle geese well together in one day before the barnacles are ones its an amazing sight to see on the west coast especially in Scotland in massive numbers flying in a truly well renowned wildlife spectacle in this country, around Hampshire and Slimbridge where I have seen them before a lot the barnacles are only in small numbers but I fell in love with Brent Geese for similar reasons the huge numbers at places like this so this making me really proud of Hampshire as its quite unique to this southern country with the Dark-bellied Brent Geese as I said in my 10 wildlife/photography highlights blogs second edition on 2nd December about seeing my favourite birds so this was a nice moment.
I saw Lapwings very well throughout the trip today with lots flying against a bright blue sky always nice to see. On the way back I saw why the latest group was up as a delightful Marsh Harrier was in the air putting the Lapwings and other birds up in the air. I took the tenth and final picture in this photoset of this bird today as well as another that I tweeted. This was beautiful to witness to the backdrop of a quite crescent moon that had come out which I tweeted a photo of which I took when I got home today. The Marsh Harriers are a stunning looking and strong raptor. I always enjoy it when I see them they are very special birds for sure. This was a smashing view of one today, I have had a top year for these birds. This sighting and the two geese today definitely stood out as one of my bird moments of the year and moments of the year for wildlife seen at this nature reserve I love so much I talked through this in my 2020 wildlife/photography highlights posts about my New Forest adventures in 2020 which posted on 10th December. The whole day generally joined in with yesterday would definitely have got a mention in my highlights blogs somewhere as one of my standout weekends this year I really did have so much fun and do so much for this my main hobby and other things in my life had I not finished writing them now. We saw a Pheasant very closely from the car on the way home coming down the lane, ending well a fantastic and wild weekend. I hope you have all had a good weekend and I wish you and your families all the very best going into this Christmas week.
Wildlife Sightings Summary: Nice still and flying views of two of my favourite birds the Little Egret and Brent Geese, Marsh Harrier, Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, Robin, Pheasant, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Canada Goose, Barnacle Goose, lots of nice ducks including Mallard, Tufted Ducks, lots of lovely Shovelers today, Pintail, Wigeon, Teal, Lapwing, Oystercatcher and Curlew. When looking at the rainbow picture I tweeted earlier I noticed some Roe Deers in a field within it which I hadn’t noticed when out there a strong species for this area. I enjoyed seeing some sloes with raindrops on which I tweeted a picture of tonight too a great moment.
31/10/2020-Lymington and photos in the garden before: The 5 landscapes pictures in this set are different to any I tweeted tonight
There were three striking similarities with my day today and that of Saturday 21st March 2020. My Uncle came round for a visit (following current social distancing guidelines for meeting up indoors), I took a picture of a Starling in the garden (the second picture in this photoset) and we went to the Lymington-Keyhaven nature reserve. That day the Pennington marsh part of it, today the nearby Lymington (Normandy marsh) end. And of course two days after 21st March the first UK-wide coronavirus lockdown was announced and we came home to the announcement of the second English lockdown for most of November today. Appropriately on Halloween, whilst the possibility of this upcoming lockdown has really been hanging over us a while, the parallels felt spooky.
I would like to say here that as I have done at every stage in the pandemic I of course back any move which is going to get the case numbers and prevalence of this cruel and horrid virus down, and I feel this lockdown had to happen. I know this is going to be an extremely difficult time for us all and I am fully aware that there are people sadly in employment terms a lot less lucky than me in terms of both job security and having work to focus on in the dark days of November and my heart, thoughts and prayers really do go out to you all and your families, but I do personally reflect on the fondness of the act of lockdown back in the spring (not the reason for it in any way) and especially things like having so much more time and really connecting to nature so I hope this as a consolation of this unfortunately necessary set of restrictions can be regained and the spirit of honouring our NHS heroes and coming together can also return.
I would also like to use this as a chance to say what this means for my hobby. As expected like the lockdown that began in March daily exercise outdoors is a permitted reason to leave the house, but what I did not expect was for the Prime Minister to mention recreational activities outdoors alone, within households or on a one-to-one basis with another person from another household. So this does mean day to day for me right now not a lot will change. Social distancing is so easy to do when nature watching and I am incredibly thankful compared to people with other hobbies to have got to do so much of mine safely still since March. My walks alone in the week are just that, and a valuable and needed as long as I can activity to supplement or go some way to the usual walking and breathing in fresh air I would do in a day working from the office and Lakeside the country park on our doorstep is a refuge for me for that.
But as we interpret the new regulations, I would just warn that I will reserve the right to omit locations of any of my photos and walks that I write about during the lockdown period. This is something I always reserve the right to do and I do it when rare or sensitive species are involved. I just feel that whilst I do not believe with the people I reach on social media hoards of people are suddenly going to turn up and look for a bird or something I have said I saw at or posted a picture of at a site, you just never know what a post could prompt. And the point is that I will have a camera with me and binoculars as long as weather and other factors permit, and during a lockdown I may not feel that it is always appropriate for the posting of something being at a location or where some nice views are to be a so public and the main point of posting is to show the species or views and remark on what I may have seen whilst taking a walk. If I feel it is safe to do so in terms of the species and I trust that the person will follow all restrictions to stay safe in order to try to see the species or place themselves, then I am happy to discuss with local (as there are restrictions on travel) people via private messaging means. Not something I imagine will come up during the coming month, but once again you just never know.
Back onto today and alongside the Starlings I took the first pictures in this photoset of a House Sparrow on the still nicely yellow buddelia in the garden and more autumnal leaves scenes out the back including the third picture in this photoset of some autumnal looking leaves on a bush in the garden.
Interestingly Lymington was the first place we went by the sea following the lifting of the first lockdown on the second May bank holiday Saturday, and I haven’t been back to that end of the reserve whilst I’ve been to Pennington a lot since. I took the fourth-eighth pictures in this photoset of beautiful views here today these all pictures I did not tweet to reduce the amount I did as I took 30 pictures today but I wanted some wildlife pictures in this blog of which I didn’t take a lot today so I didn’t do a full 10 exclusives in this like I often do. The photos all help show I hope what a great late autumn/early winter afternoon it became in the sun after another very rainy start to the day as we spent the time with my Uncle in the morning. Included in this was that quite nice light for this time of year and the novelty at this stage post-clocks going back the sun setting as the walk ended and heading down all afternoon making some nice scenes and enjoying sunsets outdoors and not from home for a change whilst I love them from my room too.
There were some great bird moments too as I enjoyed seeing a lot of wader, duck and geese species, particularly nice Brent Geese flying in I love seeing these birds here at this time of year one of my favourites. There were so many Wigeons about too. We got chatting a social distance to a nice gentleman who was really into birds too which was great he was the one who let us know that there was an announcement from Downing Street this evening actually so after speaking to him we rather made the most of seeing certain water birds around not knowing at that stage when the lockdown would come in so thinkng we may not be back to the coastal habitats for quite a while. Earlier in the walk I took the ninth picture in this photoset of a lovely Oystercatcher and one of the species I made the most of seeing was another of my favourites the Little Egret which I took the tenth picture in this photoset of. I also enjoyed seeing a nice range of flowers here today; sea aster, broad-leaved clover and some common toadflax one of the prominent of many I have enjoyed learning this year.
On the way home we saw a spectacular and gigantic full moon over the beautiful New Forest landscape a great end to a great Saturday I hope you all had a good and safe one.
Wildlife Sightings Summary at Lymington: Three of my favourite birds the Brent Goose, Great Crested Grebe and Little Egret, Spotted Redshank, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Turnstone, Dunlin, Oystercatcher, Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit, Black-headed Gull, Great Black Backed Gull, Herring Gull, Mallard, Wigeons, Little Grebe, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Rock Pipit, Meadow Pipit and Stonechat.
