Another day – and we were off on another expedition at the coast.
We began our adventure at Boulmer car park. It was quite a hazy morning, and the tide was still halfway up the beach. It looked so inviting. We could see two large shapes sitting on a sandbank just off the coast - were they people?
On closer inspection we saw that they were in fact two large birds and one of them was spreading out its enormous wings - these birds were cormorants.
Cormorants are large, black, fish-eating birds that can eat 25-30 fish at one sitting. Obviously, they are not liked by fishermen who have resorted to a whole plethora of ways to scare them off. These include the very careful use of laser beams or, by using properly trained border collies, just like us – or maybe not!
In the past there was a closer relationship between cormorants and humans in the UK. and the birds were used to help fishermen to hunt for their fish. In the Far East, this practice continues to this day. Trained birds are fitted with a lead and a collar that is just tight enough to prevent the cormorant from swallowing any fish that it catches.
This morning the cormorants were, as usual, spreading their wings out wide to dry off their feathers. They have to do this after every fishing expedition because their feathers have no waterproofing whatsoever! The poor cormorants, have no choice at all but to relax in the sun after a hard morning’s fishing! It’s okay for some!!
We were surprised when Julie did not lead us straight on to the beach but, instead, headed for the road – where were we going?
Soon a number 418 bus trundled along, and Julie thrust out her hand to hail it down – now we were completely confused.
It was a bumpy bus ride and Bruno, and I huddled under the seat to feel safe.
About twenty minutes later, we got off the bus and found ourselves down by the harbour in Craster. The tide was well in, and the harbour was full of water.
The plan for today was to walk back to our car at Boulmer along the coastal path, the first part of which took us through the beer garden of the Jolly Fisherman. It was far too early in the morning to stop for a pint although Bruno and I did snatch a slurp of water!
The beach below us consisted of a flat, orange, lichen encrusted, rocky platform. This rocky pavement was punctuated with rock pools of various shapes and sizes, and all of them were fringed with frilly bright green seaweed.
Amongst the rocks, Julie spied a large brown female eider duck who was shepherding about a dozen, plump fluffy ducklings, and these little birds tripped and trailed over the rocks as they followed behind. Surely not all of these chicks could belong to her! It was really hard to see them against the dark rocks. We quickly realised that this group was probably an eider duck creche – although rather a small one! Eider duck creches have been known to contain as many as 50 ducklings - usually there are loads of ‘aunty birds’ around to help out with such a large group. The little ducklings have to be led across vast expanses of water in order to find safe feeding grounds.
It is always the female birds that raise the chicks. In fact, the mother bird plucks downy feathers out of her own breast to line her nests. The amazing insulating properties of these feathers have long been known by humans who historically have collected them and used them to fill their own duvets, quilts and pillows. This action, and the fashion for collecting eggs led to a drop in eider duck numbers but, although they have legal protection today, their numbers are still falling. Having said that, there do seem to be plenty of eider ducks enjoying the Northumberland Coast SSSI especially if you go to the Coquet or the Farne Islands.
In contrast to the female, male eider ducks have bold black and white markings with a pistachio flash at the back of their necks. They use a wolf whistle like call to attract the attention of potential mates - in the hope that more than one female will be interested in them – greedy!!
Eider ducks are true seabirds, and they often feast on mussels – of course, this makes them unpopular with fishermen too!
The conflict between the birds and fishermen is ever present – luckily most of these coastal birds have legal protection now!
We left Craster behind us and found ourselves walking along soft grassy paths on cliffs perched high above the beach. – Out to sea, the water was dotted with hundreds of birds – some gulls, some eiders, all of them bobbing along on the surface. Other birds occasionally dived down into the water before re-emerging several minutes and several metres away. The cliffs themselves were smothered in brilliant white kittiwakes all chattering very noisily to each other. If you listened very carefully, you could almost hear them calling out their own names as they busied themselves on the cliffs.
The cliffs are a good place to nest as there aren’t many predators that can reach them.
There was so much activity – The birds were constantly taking off, wheeling overhead, circling the cliffs before finally landing again. Occasionally something would spook them, and they would take up ‘en mass’ and chase each other across the sky.
Kittiwakes are grey-backed medium-sized gulls with a brilliant white tummy. They are actually the only gull that can dive beneath the surface of the water to catch fish!
As they flew over us, their tail feathers looked just as if they had been dipped in jet black ink. But sadly, their numbers are falling, and this is because there are fewer of their preferred food, sand eels, available for them to eat. The fall in sand eel numbers is caused both by climate change and by overfishing.
Kittiwakes only come here to breed – and at the moment in mid-July, it is the height of their breeding season – no wonder they were so noisy!! By the end of August most of them will have flown back to their feeding grounds in the North Atlantic
We left the cacophony of kittiwakes behind us and carried on towards Boulmer.
As we walked, our path became narrower and corridored with wildflowers –red and white clover, bright yellow birds foot trefoil, red campion, mauve vetch and swathes of wild grasses swaying in the. breeze. The scent of the wildflowers was intoxicating, and it seemed to be further enhanced by the sultry sun.
In several places, the cliffs stepped aside, and we could run down on to soft golden sand. We couldn’t resist the chance to bound along the sand and wallow or even swim in the cool refreshing rock pools. I didn’t want to get out – our walk had been quite long enough already!
Time was marching on, and our paws were feeling tired.
Soon we found ourselves at Low Stead Links where a delightful little brook trickled down into the sea. We knew that we weren’t far away from Sugar Sands Beach which is itself only a hop skip and a jump away from Boulmer.
There were several dogs and their humans relaxing on the sand, the sea was blue, and the sun was trying to break through.
It wasn’t long before Boulmer beach itself was in view – Although we were tired, we couldn’t resist the chance to dip all eight paws in the cool refreshing water.
The car was in sight – and home a short drive away!
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