LOCAL WALK TO ATHERSTONE HOUSE & GARDENS - VISIT TO HOLY ISLAND AND LINDISFARNE CASTLE - AFTERNOON BOAT TRIP AROUND COQUET ISLAND - LATE AFTERNOON WALK AROUND HAUXLEY NATURE RESERVE
WEATHER: a lovely day, broken sunshine, very little wind and no rain.
We hadn't planned any early mnorning walks because quite frankly there are no places to walk to. Having said that, Frances got up early and walked down the B-Road next to the hotel and found himself in the gateway to Atherstone Hall. From there he listed a bunch of new birds and saw a few more along the lane.
After breakfast we all drove to Atherstone Hall gardens to peek through the gate as Frances had done earlier and we all saw a few new species, well done Frances. Spotted Flycatcher was the pick of the bunch but Blackcap, Chiffchaff (heard), Song Thrush (heard), Yellowhammer, Chaffinch and Greenfinch were all new for the list. A few of the group also saw Tree Sparrows and heard Common Whitethroat.
From there we drove onto Holy Island, crossing the causeway that floods during high tide, you have to time your visit to match the rising tide or you may get stuck on the island or drowned trying to get off! We arrived just before 9am and began our circular walk which would take in the harbour, the channel, Lindisfarne Castle and the open fields inland.
One of our most interesting sightings was that of a Common Snipe, it was sat on a fence post and as we watched it, it flew off and performed a display flight, holding its wings up high like a nightjar and spreading its tail whilst flying in a sinusoidal pattern. It wasn't 'drumming' but it was close to it.
a Common Snipe, watching over its breeding territory
In the channel during this low tide period we picked up many birds including a few new ones for the trip. Grey Plover, we saw a few singles of those, Red-breasted Merganser, a single female hanging around with a bunch of Goosanders.
We also picked out Curlew and flock of about 20 Bar-tailed Godwits, Oystercatchers and usual high number of Eider Ducks.
As we walked along the edge of the large meadows we watched Skylarks, Meadow Pipits, Linnets, Goldfinches and a couple of Reed Buntings. Marie thought she heard a Golden Plover but no-one saw any.
Along the southern coastal path we found Rock Pipits and a group of about 10 Golden Plover dropped onto the shingle near a small pool, thus confirming Marie's call earlier. On the return leg of the journey we added our first Dunnock of the trip and saw more Reed Buntings.
We left the island around 12noon with plenty of tidal-time in hand. The next stop was Amble Harbour where we had to catch our 2pm boat to Coquet Island. We arrived with an hour to spare and spent time sitting in the harbour eating lunch and drinking tea/coffee. We watched Common and Sandwich Terns, Eider Ducks and the usual array of gulls.
approaching Coquet Island
The hour-long boat trip around the island went very well, it wasn't too windy and the sea-state was relatively calm. Thousands of birds breed on the island with main attraction being 10,000 Puffins!! There also colonies of Kittiwakes, Fulmars, Black-headed Gulls, Cormorants, Guillemots and Razorbills. The Tern colonies consist of Common, Arctic, Sandwich and a small number of Roseate Terns. The latter being our main target species, the boat crew pointed out where they were and most of the group saw them well, one or two had trouble getting onto them and I was on the opsite side of the boat so I couldn't help them too much, other than shouting out directions. We had two chances of seeing them and the second time around a pair was much closer and finally everyone saw them.
the Roseate Tern colony is amongst these stone walls, the terns in the picture are all Roseates
a female Grey Seal
Back at the harbour we jumped onto the bus and drove the short distance to Hauxley Nature Reserve, which has coastal lagoons surrounded by raised hides and some bird feeders. The feeders in the car park were being visited by Tree Sparrows, Chaffinches, a Pheasant and a Brown Rat!
We got stuck in the wonderfull cafe at the reserve centre, it has plate-glass windows looking over the main lagoon and served wonderful home-made cakes etc. We found many species of cake, but not many new species of birds. Two Little Gulls were about the best of the bunch, but there must have been about 30 species in all.
the view from the cafe at Hauxley
We toured the hides with the little time we had and found more species. One hide had feeders in front it and we very close-up views of Bullfinches, more Tree Sparrows, Blue and Great Tits, Collared Dove and Pheasants.
Bullfinch at the feeder
many Common Spotted Orchids were seen along the path at Hauxley
We watched Redshanks, Bar-tailed Godwits and Curlews, Tufted Ducks, Teal, Wigeon and Shelducks, Little Grebes lots of Geese and Swans and all the usual common species of gulls.
roosting Redshanks with Common Terns
Stock Dove and a Pheasant
Back at the car and just before the closing time of 5:30pm, we saw our only Robin of the trip at the feeders, also Stock Dove, Chaffinches, Blue and Great Tits and Tree Sparrows. We left at 5:30pm and drove back to the hotel arriving just after 6pm thus ending another superb day in this wonderful area.