Lindisfarne-Botany

A run up to Holy Island, Lindisfarne  with a start at the Snook the object to look at some of the  Botany  especially those plants new to me  apart from the obvious such as Viper's Bugloss , Ragwort etc: the first plant of note was Autumn Gentian thought to be very early but it seemed fairly common once you got your eye in and could spot the flowering plants with ease, plenty of Centaury which is also a Common  plant noted at many sites this was the Seaside Centaury  , a few Orchids with the Common Spotted going over and Pyramidal Orchid coming through , and Marsh Helleborine  in the thousands with literal carpets of them  probably the only place in Northumberland you will see them in such profusion. The one most people travel to this area to see is the Lindisfarne Helleborine  several where located its an attractive  flower in it't own way but not the spectacle of the sheer number of Marsh . A couple of glimpses of Dark Green Flittilary  with none  settled was the only sighting instead of it being a nice sunny day as forecast there was a strong cool breeze , so I had wasted my time with the sun screen and luckily had a heavy fleece in the car , rain seemed to threaten for most of the day but did not fall till much later.  I decide while I was up North I would call in again at The Long Nanny to see how the Little Terns where progressing , unfortunately it's not as if you can pull up in the car and have a quick look and by the time I got to High Newton it was about 5 so I went straight along the beach to the site by now as I was right on the coast it was decidedly chilly  arrived at the HUT and set my scope up still a few visitors there , Little Terns chicks in various stages of growth a few had apparently fledged  but I could also see a huge age difference in the chicks I observed , the wardens had trouble with a raiding Badger taking many of the Arctic Tern & Ringed Plover Chicks it could be the same individual that took so many eggs and chicks last year and will no doubt return year after year to this easy source of food , the tide coming in and by now quiet high so nothing settled on the beach not sure where they all go at high tide .This was a fairly brief visit as by now the rain was on the way  and I was dressed for the earlier forecast of sun, sun sun, I had the forethought of picking up the brolly from out of the boot more to keep my camera and scope dry than me , I was also glad I had not driven up just to come here for such a short visit and on the walk back I was the only person along the entire beach !!!

 Autumn Gentian

 Seaside Centaury

 Brookweed

 Fairy Flax

 Pyramidal  Orchid

 Marsh Helleborine

 Bog Pimpernel, in carpets and actually seemed to thrive on the numerous paths trodden through the area

 Lindisfarne Helleborine

 A few plants located in the tall thick grass

 Round-leaved Wintergreen

 Lesser Water Plantain

 The Smallest flower I have ever seen the Marsh Pennywort  luckily it forms in clusters with one out and numerous others to follow the whole group is only a few millimetres across

 and the same shot with the flowers in the centre

 A walk along the dune /shore Edge turned up Sea Rocket

 And Grass Leaved Orache

There was distinct zones along the dune is it came to meet the sea , this common on the edge

Holy Island

Saturday 29th June a run up to Holy Island not the best time to go and even the weather against us with a cool wind a overcast sky , first stop the Snook a quick walk along the shore and back over the dunes ,plenty of Vipers Bugloss out in flower some covered in 6 Spot Burnet Moths, no sign of any Dark Green Fritillary probably to early and to cold , first Common Blue and Small heath of the year .

Next stop the car park and very busy it was ,we had a walk down to the newly opened visitor/interpretation building , it looks like it's just been lifted from the Lake District and dropped on site I thought it looked a bit out of place but I suppose new buildings often look like that . Walking up to the Watch Tower along the newly created track up the Heugh was much easier than previous path this will no doubt encourage more visitors up, I was very impressed with what they had achieved in the Tower the views are just amazing and 360 degrees , with the tide out there was a huge number of Grey Seals several large and very large groups spread over a wide area I estimated about 1500+ even the channels between had a couple of hundred heads above the surface from this height you can see much more than  you would see from the ground , they where just audible if you got sheltered from the wind , the only birds of note except for some very distant Terns was a Red Breasted merganser. The Tower proved very popular with a constant stream of people coming up the narrow stairs but well worth a visit see Holy Island as you have never seen it before  !!!

Vipers Bugloss and Lady's Bedstraw

 6 Spot Burnett

 This was very common along the shore

 The Castle from the car park and the visitor centre on the right

 Holy Island harbour area has to be one of the most picturesque views in Northumberland pity I didn't make a better job of it

 The newly refurbished Tower

 The Priory

 Extensive views all around from the top St Cuthbert's Island in the foreground and a very large group of Seals off to the left

 That's Bamburgh way off in the distance

 And Looking towards the Castle

Over to the Priory

 Camera to bins reveals the artwork to celebrate the (temporary)return of the Lindisfarne  Gospels (to Durham)

 Views going back along the track

Cattle Egret-( for many a) County First

The News of a Cattle Egret having been found on Holy Island came out mid morning on Sat 26th but by now the causeway would be flooded , but the foot note was that the bird had been present for 3-4 days, I could have dashed up on the Sunday but had little time to spend there so I thought I would take a chance and go for the full day later in the week . So Wed 30th saw me crossing the causeway about 8-15 it was a bright day for a change but the wind was going to be a severe problem, on the way down the crooked lonnen I was told the bird was showing out on the grass  but within the two minutes to get there it had disappeared  but a large Sparrowhawk lifted from the garden ,it took about 1/2 hour to finally relocate it on the west side ,you could get an occasional glimpse  as it passed along on the other side of the fence, apparently this was the sort of view most had seen on Sunday . So That looked like that was it , was that going to be my best view for the day, heading off down to look over the sea as much to get out of the wind as anything a Brent Goose fed in the corner of a field not far off , but the sea as expected held little of interest , another look back at the garden  there was a narrow strip you could see down I picked out a bird dead on the grass  it was definitely white  with white underwing which you could see as it blew in the wind , gull was the first thought but no , was it the cattle Egret it looked to small but size can be deceiving at a distance , I pointed it out to a couple of other birders but we could not decide what it was , so I went down to retrieve it  ,because if it was the CE  we would know its fate had the Sparrowhawk returned and tried to have a go at it ,seemed unlikely , it turned out to be a Barn Owl without any visible injury the corpse loose ,I cant' remember is it rigor mortis then looseness or the reverse , anyway as we were disscussing it's fate the CE was back out on the grass and finally good views achieved, rattled off loads of shots holding the tripod with one hand as it kept tipping over in the wind and the camera the other ,very surprised and pleased with what I got given the circumstances . A Redwing dropped in beside it seeming to be confused with this large white bird ,it followed it around to be joined by a Fieldfare which picked up an earthworm , suddenly it spooked and flew off back into the garden .

I headed down to the Heugh to look over the harbour and channel conditions terrible managed to pick out 1 Slavonian and 2 Long tailed but just gave up heading back to the car and drove down to Fenham Low Moor to catch the high tide.  

Crossing the causeway the day looked promising

Eventually some decent views 

 started to relax with some active feeding

 Here with Fieldfare and Redwing, there was some definite interaction here the Fieldfare pulling out an Earthworm ,the Redwing especially seemed to follow the CE around

 At last some good views it will now probably stay for some time or perhaps head further South into the County nice "patch" tick for somebody  !!!!!!!

" I wonder if I can get that down my neck "