OLM 22: New Forest SZ3292
SITE
Nestling in the SW corner of Hampshire and facing
the western end of the Isle of Wight, it is between New Milton and
Lymington with the Solent Way footpath following its seaward boundary.
Part owned and leased by Hampshire County Council, aided by the
Wildlife Trust, the reserve forms an important wildlife area of the
county.
HISTORY
The area was worked for salt extraction from the
middle ages until at least the 1850s. A flight over the area reveals
evidence of the many pools used for concentrating and evaporating the
sea-water, in fact at one stage 10% of the national total was produced
here equating to 6,000 tons!
In Tudor times Henry the Eighth had a castle
constructed on Hurst Spit, this was modernised and added to in both
the Napoleonic and Victorian eras. In more recent times it was
occupied during both the first and second world wars, in fact during
the latter the whole area was used as a firing range. A scheme was
concocted in 1901 to link the mainland to the Isle of Wight via a
tunnel on the spit, thankfully it failed.
The name Keyhaven is reputed to come from the Saxon
word 'cy-haefenn' which roughly translated means "the harbour
where cows were shipped" . In the past it was a popular place for
winkles and oysters to be collected.
The most famous 'son' of the area was Colonel Peter
Hawker an inveterate wildfowler who had a cottage here until his death
in 1853. In his diaries it is interesting to read of the slaughter
that went on here in the past.
HABITAT
Between Hurst and the Lymington River lies the
Solent and its large range of intertidal habitats. There are vast mud
flats with seaweeds and eel grass whilst inland the salt marsh is
dominated by glasswort and cord-grass. The shingle areas too hold an
interesting array of plants including sea campion, thrift and the rare
golden samphire. The pools are of varying salinity and are dotted
throughout the rough grazing marsh. Eight Acre Lake, a boating pond,
lies at the eastern end of the reserve. Gravel extraction and landfill
also take place here, providing more interesting habitats for the
birds, which together with the surrounding farmland attracts high tide
waders and the nationally important brent goose in winter.
BIRDS
This is what the whole area is famous for and at any
time of year there is always something of interest to the birder. If
we begin with the brent geese whose numbers have increased more than
tenfold in the last thirty years and now provide a common sight
between October and March. The same can be said of Little Egret, a
'BB' five star rarity 15 years ago and now a common sight throughout
the year, with birds breeding nearby. It will be interesting to see
how they fare during a harsher winter. Wildfowl obviously hold the
interest in winter with good numbers of Canada geese, mallard, wigeon,
teal, pintail, shoveler, shelduck and red-breasted merganser, ably
supported by lesser numbers of gadwall and in colder weather smew and
goosander plus the occasional grey geese to add interest. Divers and
grebes are regular visitors with slavonian grebe still regular and the
occasional black and red-necked grebe for good measure, even the rare
white-billed diver has been recorded here on one occasion.
Leaving the ducks, etc and moving on to raptors,
merlin and peregrine are thankfully regular once more with the odd
kite and regular hen and marsh harriers most years. The dashing hobby
often puts an appearance in here, especially in. late summer as they
wreak havoc on the migrating hirundines.
It is perhaps for waders that the marshes are
justifiably famous, both for good numbers of commoner species and also
those wonderful rarities. Redshank, ringed plover, oystercatcher,
dunlin and curlew can be seen year round, with the more typical
migrants of ruff, little stint, curlew sandpiper, greenshank and wood
and green sandpipers adding to the variety in late summer. In winter
grey and golden plover are here in good numbers with the odd couple of
avocets thrown in for good measure. The list of vagrant waders reads
like a Who's Who with regular yankees turning up like pectoral and
white-rumped sandpiper. Two county firsts were provided by long-billed
dowitcher and buff-breasted sandpiper, although the rarest and most
famous one to turn up must be the killdeer of 1980. Most recently an
American golden plover turned up in the spring of 1998.
Seawatching is best done from Hurst as one would
expect, spring and autumn passage being the optimum time to go,
although the former period is probably the most productive in terms of
numbers. Common scoter, little gull, black tern and pomarine skua are
all regulars and bar-tailed godwit can often pass in spectacular
numbers with more than 10,000 logged in 1974. Rarities spotted on sea
watches have included whiskered tern and surf scoter. The shag too, a
scarce species in Hampshire is often recorded flying by here. Common
and little terns and. the ubiquitous black-headed gull all breed in
the area and before moving on to the passerines, mention should be
made of the rock pipits that breed at the Hurst Castle site.
Passerines are not this spot's raison d'etre,
however whitethroats breed in good numbers whilst county goodies, such
as Richard's pipit, barred warbler and ortolan bunting are all
occasionally recorded. Passage birds include many wagtails and pipits,
whilst in winter dispersed young Dartford warblers are to be commonly
encountered in the scrub. 1 hope this account has whetted your
appetite, the great thing about this site is the unexpected, as Hawker
used to say "good hunting"!
ACCESS
Is from the A337 that runs from Lymington to
Bournemouth, either take the 1st left off the first roundabout you
encounter (Lower Pennington Lane) following this road to its end where
limited parking is available. The alternative is to continue on the
main road through Everton village, then take the next left B3058
towards Milford-on-Sea. At the High Street turn left into Keyhaven
Road following this down until you see the municipal car park on the
left opposite the Gunn Inn. Remember to pay your parking fee, then
follow the footpath on the other side of the bridge which leads back
towards Lymington. Alternatively follow the road around Saltgrass Lane
and take the long walk out to Hurst via the spit. In the summer
however you could take the small ferry that operates on a regular
basis from the harbour.
Alan Snook
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