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seawatching from the car (1 Viewer)

S

scodger

Well-known member
Hi

I now spend a lot of time visiting customers all over the north of England but always try to have half an hour for lunch and thought it would be a good idea to build up a list of places where I could have a quick seawatch from the car if I was in the area at the right time. I have to look pretty smart so I cant trudge off over fields etc so it has to be somewhere I can set the scope up next to the car or even watch from the car, dont mind having to buy a parking ticket. This info might also be useful for disabled and older birders so come on lets make a list

eg the headland at Hartlepool, great view, good elevation, park very close, toilet facilities, bracing wind 365 days of the year...grand!

If you can suggest any places anywhere around the coast of the UK I will set up a list with a credit to you which I'll make available to anyone interested, there must be hundreds...and hundreds

Cheers

Scodger
 
I dare say you could add Marsden Grotto car park to the list - cliff top location with low wall along top of cliff and not too distant from Whitburn Obs!
 
Lizard point is better Ian as there is no wall, just North of Souter lighthouse before you reach Marsden Grotto comming from Sunderland to South Shields along the coastal road, this carpark also has the Cormorants nesting on a stack in viewing distance.
Its a regular hang out for people with scopes sticking out of the car window;):-O as its nice just to pop into here and view when you have the time.
Also just south of Cresswell in N/land, again on a coastal route between Lynemouth and Druridge a nice car park here for over looking the sea, locally known as Snab point i think?
Good idea Scodger about this thread:t:
 
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Stag Rock at Bamburgh's a good place too. The carpark just south of the rock for the view out to the Farnes and also close-in for slavs, long-tailed ducks, divers and stuff, and the area just next to the golf-club turning circle a few hundred yards north of that for the view out over the bay towards Holy Island (more slavs and a better chance of RN grebe).
 
Alan Seaton said:
Stag Rock at Bamburgh's a good place too. The carpark just south of the rock for the view out to the Farnes and also close-in for slavs, long-tailed ducks, divers and stuff, and the area just next to the golf-club turning circle a few hundred yards north of that for the view out over the bay towards Holy Island (more slavs and a better chance of RN grebe).
Click to expand...


Could you tell me where stag rock exactly is located? I read about this earlier and was not able to find it. My fault I know. I will be there end of Setpember again and wondered about good places too!
 
maxfoto2003 said:
Could you tell me where stag rock exactly is located? I read about this earlier and was not able to find it. My fault I know. I will be there end of Setpember again and wondered about good places too!
Click to expand...

It's just north of the village of Bamburgh.

Almost all of those spectacular views of the castle you see on paintings and postcards are taken from the vicinity of these rocks. As you go northwards through the village on the B1340, just after the road swings left away from the castle, there is a road turning off on the right called The Wynding. Follow this road for about half a mile or so and there is a long car-parking area alongside the road overlooking the north-west end of the beach and the rock outcrop at its north end, identified by the white stag that has been painted onto the rocks. The outcrop is actually shown on OS maps as Harkess Rocks.

The second spot is just a little further on, past the lighthouse, where the road comes to an end at the turning-circle outside the golf club.

http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=bamburgh&countryCode=GB&zoom=14&moveMap=0,-100&mapData=904
 
Selsey Bill is a good one on the South Coast, if the weather is truly terrible you can watch from the car at a pinch and if its not then its only about ten yards walk to the beach.

Mind you "seawatching" can be a fully accurate description there.

John
 
North Wirral Country Park, Wallasey (SJ 274926). Excellent views of Leach's Petrels when conditions are right (I've even seen them zig-zagging through a flock of roosting Gulls on the beach, and had one handed exhausted to me through the open car window by a passing dog-walker), as well as Skuas, occasional Sabine's Gull etc. The only drawback of this kind of seawatching is the total lack of communication possible between participants!

James
 
Weston-Super Mare beach, Uphill end for a good view of the Axe Estuary.
Charge during summer season.
Don`t park beyond the signs warning of soft sand.
Sandbay, the other side of Weston.
Park in car park near the Commodore Hotel.
 
Narrow Neck at Spurn.
Marine Drive at Scarborough.
Huttoft car terrace, Lincs (could see a decent gull on the beach)

Steve
 
John o' Groats and (with a bit of effort) Dunnet Head.

Also Point of Ardnamurchan within ten or so yards of car, mind you, quite where you'd have been to be taking your lunch hour there I'm not so sure.....

John
 
Done it from Selsey Bill as has already been mentioned. Just a quick word of warning though, when I did it, because I never got out the car, I forgot my headlights were still on and ran the battery flat. Something to bear in mind.
 
Scratby/California in east Norfolk is a good spot to view from the car. If you turn east from the main road between Hemsby and Caister (either at Scratby Garden Centre or at The Wheelstop restaurant - it's a sort of loop) there is a clifftop car park (free) with limited parking but great views out to sea... I believe an albatross was seen from there one new year's day!
 
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