Keyhaven/Pennington 1st July 2011
It's a lovely sunny summer's morning and I'm off to Keyhaven/Pennington on the Hampshire coast, it's one of my favourite spots and its a welcome relief from decorating at home. Its an early morning start for my birding friend Gordon Duffus and myself. We usually take turns in each others cars to cut petrol costs when travelling further afield and have a good chat at the same time.
On arrival at Keyhaven I was surprised to realise how little wind there was, this area is normally very windy and you get blown about a bit. Next to the harbour, on the other side of the bridge, Common Terns were fishing in the river. On walking away from Keyhaven harbour towards Pennington we noticed a flock of 20+ Gannets, adult and juveniles, circling above the sea on the far side of Hurst Beach. Later on we did a spot of sea watching and were rewarded with 3 Eiders, 2x Male and a female coming ashore near to us, we had good views through our scopes of these spectacular sea ducks. There were hardly any waders about, but we expected that for the time of year. Further on Little Terns were fishing in the lagoons. A male Dartford Warbler was seen singing from the gorse which form a hedge alongside the lagoons and coastal walkway. A total of 56 different species were seen on the day which turned out superb, for both birding and weather.
It's a lovely sunny summer's morning and I'm off to Keyhaven/Pennington on the Hampshire coast, it's one of my favourite spots and its a welcome relief from decorating at home. Its an early morning start for my birding friend Gordon Duffus and myself. We usually take turns in each others cars to cut petrol costs when travelling further afield and have a good chat at the same time.
On arrival at Keyhaven I was surprised to realise how little wind there was, this area is normally very windy and you get blown about a bit. Next to the harbour, on the other side of the bridge, Common Terns were fishing in the river. On walking away from Keyhaven harbour towards Pennington we noticed a flock of 20+ Gannets, adult and juveniles, circling above the sea on the far side of Hurst Beach. Later on we did a spot of sea watching and were rewarded with 3 Eiders, 2x Male and a female coming ashore near to us, we had good views through our scopes of these spectacular sea ducks. There were hardly any waders about, but we expected that for the time of year. Further on Little Terns were fishing in the lagoons. A male Dartford Warbler was seen singing from the gorse which form a hedge alongside the lagoons and coastal walkway. A total of 56 different species were seen on the day which turned out superb, for both birding and weather.
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