イングランド南東部の湖・トップ20

As others have said, the area around this pond is crucially important for endangered birds from April to August and should be avoided during these months to give the wildlife the time and space it needs to safely raise their babies.

Lovely quiet roads, watch out for the cattle grids

Walked to this pond early April. Ground comparatively dry due to very low rainfall in March. No signage seen for nesting birds.

Lovely pond by the mill in Abinger.

There is a local car park at the Activity Centre leading straight onto the walk around the reservoir. Currently the foot path is very wet and muddy in places but would be a nice walk spring/summer/ autumn. There are a few benches around the reservoir for stopping and taking in the view.

The perimeter path around the reservoir is very muddy in places currently due to the amount of rain. Welly boots needed in some places.

This is the location of the only (single) public toilet on this route, and there’s also a kiosk for hot and cold drinks and ice creams. Long queues for both.

The marshes were once used as salterns for the thriving salt industry. The salterns are first mentioned in 1132, and continued in use until 1865. They were replaced by oyster beds, but are now disused marshland with some enclosing banks. A circular mound 1.2 metres high and 12 metres across is all that remains of a mill, and there is another mound with an overgrown brick structure and rectangular pond of unknown date. Just north of the marshes, in Lower Pennington, are several 18th-century salt boiling houses. The marshes are a site of special scientific interest and an area of outstanding natural beauty. They are part of the New Forest National Park, and in summer are grazed by cattle and ponies owned by New Forest commoners. Part of the marshes behind the sea wall are a national nature reserve managed by English Nature, and a local nature reserve managed by Hampshire County Council. Part of the intertidal mudland is also a nature reserve. The marshes and tidal muds offer a variety of wildlife habitats, which are important for gulls and terns in spring/summer and waders and wildfowl in autumn/winter.