Holy Island Part One
18th Oct. The coach left Newcastle for Holy Island full today, with even the courier seat filled, so we had 36 in the party. Two people had arrived without booking! We managed to fit one extra on the coach, but I’m afraid the other was left behind with bag, bins, scope and lunch. I guess if you turn up unexpectedly that is the risk you are willing to take. We actually had several other names on a waiting list. When demand out numbers supply maybe we will need to do what the oil producers do, and put the price up! A few Roe Deer were seen on the journey and I’m told a flock of Golden Plover flew over the coach although I didn’t see them.
We were soon crossing the causeway to the island and passing a lone juvenile Grey Seal stretched out on the still wet sand. We could see a few Curlews and Redshank feeding. Once in the coach park we teamed up with Ian, an authority on the island and its birds. Ian had kindly agreed to escort us during the morning and a good number of members took this opportunity to walk with an expert. We visited the lonnen area first hoping to find the Short Eared Owls again. Initially there was some rain, not heavy though, and it soon cleared up to leave us with a bright if somewhat breezy day with the occasional dark storm clouds passing us by, but clearly bursting over other nearby areas at times. We knew that the winds were not coming from a direction that would bring us large falls of migrant birds, but despite this there was still good birding to be had. On the lonnen we had small numbers of Fieldfare, my first of the autumn, Redwing, although it wasn’t until later that I had good views of a couple of them in a tree, Blackcap, Goldcrest, only heard by me, Blackbird, Robin, Wren, Wood Pigeon and House Sparrow. There was also the very fleeting sighting of a Merlin. A very fleeting sighting indeed, but a tick none the less. There was no luck with the Short Eared Owls so we decided that we would return later in the day.
We retraced our steps to the pool in the ‘Rocket Field’ area. We managed to pick up Curlew, Redshank, Black and Bar Tailed Godwit, Snipe, Mallard, Teal, Lapwing and gulls here. The Snipe proving quite elusive and I have to admit I still only managed to find a ‘head and bill’ of one of them. The group next moved round the island in the direction of St Cuthbert’s Island and I confess I held back at this point as I wanted to take a good look at the harbour area and take some photos looking south towards Bamburgh castle. The cloud formations made for good viewing across the bay and sea. We found Ringed Plover, Grey Plover and Dunlin in the harbour and Cormorant, Gannet, Eider Duck and the first Red Throated Diver of the day out at sea. We noted the lack of small passerines around today, but both Rock and Meadow Pipit were in this area.
The rest of the party had disappeared by now as they had taken a path down to the beach area where amongst other species they had found a number of migrating Wheatears. We kept to the top path and despite the rather rough wind in this area. In the distance we found the large flock of pale bellied Brent Geese and the Grey Seals although the latter were in much smaller numbers than on a previous vist, two weeks before. Oystercatcher and Redshank were around but surprisingly few other waders in the vicinity of St Cuthbert’s Island. I was unable to find the Slavonian Grebe that some others had seen as it had swam into the area of sea which was now lit by the sun and it was virtually impossible to focus on anything. If I hadn’t had such good views of this grebe on my previous visit I would have no doubt tried a little harder.
It was time for lunch now and Ian had departed. Four of us more hardy types sat on the grass opposite the priory church, a stone wall giving shelter from the wind. We were soon off again however as we wanted to have every chance of finding these Short Eared Owls. I kept telling members of the wonderful views I had had two weeks before! On the way back to the lonnen we had views of a Greenfinch in flight. A bird I have seen little off recently and they have certainly stopped frequenting my garden. At this point it looked as though it might rain heavily, but it never did and it became brighter as the afternoon progressed. We never did see the owls although two or three members did say they had a fleeting sighting of one as it flew into the dunes. Several other members watched the area for it, but with no luck. We took the circular path around to the Lough. The Lough was made centuries ago by the monks on the island as an area to keep fish. To eat of course! We noticed the pathway to the far end of the island was completely flooded so the decision on which direction to take was in fact made for us. Probably just as well as time was limited now as we had to be off the island by no later than 3.30pm or risk being stuck there overnight. There were a few corvids about, Wood Pigeon, Grey Heron, Meadow Pipit and Stonechat. The actual Lough was quiet and the only new birds of the day I found there were Little Grebe and Coot. A Peregrine Falcon was seen by a couple of members at some point during the afternoon and a couple of members who spent a little time sea watching found two Sooty Shearwaters and a Puffin. I did see three more Red Throated Divers in a rather nice group and found some Turnstones on the rocky area. There were more Gannets too.
I quickened the pace now as we walked back to the coach with views of the Lindisfarne Castle to the left of us. I was sweating buckets by the time I got back! A very nice vivid rainbow came out as I stood in the car park. A double rainbow in fact, although the second was very faint. I managed to get a couple of photos before the colours began to fade. We had searched for the Short Eared Owls at the end of the rainbow, but hadn’t found them. Nor did we find a pot of gold. Oh well you can’t expect magic every time, can you?
