Hearing that some friends had sneaked over to the UK from America for a break, and were relatively nearby, we braved the weather for the journey towards Farnham, where we were to meet for a late lunch. Our route passed by the Basingstoke Canal - could this be tolerable in the monsoon-like conditions?
The canal is actually a SSSI - quite unusual for a man-made feature - for its aquatic plants and insects. The section we explored started near the ruins of Odiham castle, just outside of Basingstoke itself. The castle was built between 1207 and 1214 for King John, and after years of being used for royal functions and a hunting lodge, was finally left as a ruin in the 17th century, where part of the site was destroyed during the construction of the canal. Now, what's left is free to explore.
Returning to the towpath, thankfully overhung with vegetation providing some shelter, I remarked on the clarity of the water and quantities of the aquatic plants for which it is so ecologically important. We spied several little grebes paddling among the copious amount of pondweed, and it was indeed nice weather for ducks. This stretch is mostly closed for navigation by narrow boats, allowing nature to take over. Our short route ended at the Greywell Tunnel - home to the largest hibernation roost of Natterer's bats in Europe, and itself a separate SSSI for this reason. Gated off due to collapse further inside, it would have required the boatmen to use their legs to move the boat along the long towpath-less tunnel. We just retraced our route back to the car, returning rather sodden.
Sunday, as I say, was a bit of a contrast! We opted to explore Lymington via a walk from the Keyhaven Marshes on the New Forest coast. This is one of our favourite places - easy walking along the sea wall, great views across the marshes towards the Isle of Wight, and usually good bird life whatever time of year.
Visiting now isn't the best for birds - the summer breeders have finished and the winter migrants have yet to arrive - but we did spy lots of resident waders including lapwing, oystercatcher, dunlin, redshank and curlew, and had some great close up views of little egret fishing. Although our walk into Lymington was the same as the return, due to the turning tide, the views were completely different. As the tide went out on our way back, the waders started to get fidgety, gathering in small flocks, flying from inland feeding marshes to the newly-exposed mudflats full of tasty titbits. As autumn draws nearer, we'll start to see more waders arrive, including the chatty brent goose - something to look forward to despite the proximity of winter.
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