Introduction


When we started walking the coast of England we had no intention that this would become a major lifetime project. Having to make a last-minute arrangement for our summer holiday in 1987, we said "Let's go to the nearest piece of coast and see how far we can walk along it." It turned out well and we started adding further stretches of coast, initially once every two years, but soon annually, or even twice a year.

We had always enjoyed the coast - there is something refreshingly "edgy" about having the sea always at our side, and one of us was into marine molluscs. We also enjoyed long-distance walking and had long been involved in general natural history recording. This project enabled us to combine all three interests.

You soon discover when embarking on a project like this that you need a few rules, which evolve from the first experiences. Our main rule was that we should walk as close to the coast as possible, which meant beach-walking whenever we could (unlike the official coast paths that largely remain above shore, recognising that at high tides the beach may be inaccessible). The route should also be capable of being a continuous walk, so that when we came to an unfordable river we walked inland along its banks to the first place at which we could cross, whether a bridge or a ferry.

We only carried light packs, so that at the end of each day's walk we had the problem of getting back to our car where we started. Initially we walked back, but soon realised we would be walking the coast twice this way! We used public transport whenever this was available - buses or trains, sometimes adjusting our start and finish points to make this easier. Failing this - and it was often not possible - we would phone for a taxi (an increasingly costly option over the years). Having our car with us gave us more freedom as to where we could stay at night - and after a day walking and only light food we were usually ready for being spoiled by a good meal and a comfortable bed! Even so, we stayed on the coast itself whenever there was a decent option.

Each walk was made for enjoyment, it was not a route-march to see how quickly we could get it finished. We therefore took it gently at times when passing through pleasant scenery or where there were many plants or creatures to record.

In terms of biological recording, we systematically noted every bird, butterfly, creature or sea-shell that we came across, sometimes spending time searching for the shells. We could not record every plant in the same way - there are too many common ones - so we were more selective, noting all coastal plants and any others that were not run-of-the-mill.

In our daily posts, edited from our original diaries, we include a star-rating from no star to **** according to our subjective estimate as to how special that day was from the point of view of natural history. This score (and our daily records) will, however, have been affected by the weather - it is difficult to appreciate the environment fully, for instance, in torrential rain, and there are many more butterflies and other insects to be seen in warm sunshine!

A summary of all our natural history records on the walk can be found using this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1LLGD55lKRHYXd1SGU1QndrcUU/edit?usp=sharing





Tuesday, 28 January 2014

Northumberland: Lindisfarne 26/6/2006****


 

Holy Is. helleborine in bud
 
Lesser clubmoss
 
Curved sedge
We drove out to Holy Island or Lindisfarne, the sea well away from the road as we passed over sand and saltmarsh, with only a narrow channel in the centre where the water still separated the island from the mainland.  The road enters the island at the extended western peninsula called The Snook, composed wholly of dunes, with just a couple of buildings on the north side.  We spent the morning exploring the dunes, especially the slacks where there were abundant orchids – marsh helleborine just coming into flower, northern marsh orchid, early marsh orchid mostly over, a few groups of twayblade, heath spotted orchids, and a pale green orchid still in bud growing above the wetter sections, sometimes in bare sand, often protected by wire cages, Holy Island helleborine.  We saw many other flowers such as lesser clubmoss, shoreweed, bog pimpernel, brookweed, and round-leaved wintergreen.  In drier parts was much viper’s bugloss, but the dominant plant was the accidentally introduced New Zealand pirri-pirri bur which has virtually taken over the whole dune system except for the wetter slacks, and whose spiny fruits grip clothing tenaciously.  It took us quarter of an hour when we emerged from the dunes to remove these pernicious seeds.  This is an effective means of transport and it is difficult to know how one could stop it spreading, as it is doing – we later saw one plant by the road in the centre of Lindisfarne village.  We then concentrated on the saltmarsh fringe, looking through pink carpets of sea milkwort to find long-bracted sedge.  We drove into the village to check in at the hotel, the Crown and Anchor, and get a late lunch of large fresh local crab sandwiches and draught beer, sitting outside in the sun facing a fern-laden wall with sea, maidenhair and black spleenworts, plus intermediate polypody, while feeding the odd crumb to the local blackbirds and song thrushes, the latter being very common on the island.  We then took a walk through the ruins of the priory to the Heugh, a headland protecting the harbour.  This was formed from the Whin Sill we had encountered on Hadrian’s Way, which forms prominent solitary crags across Northumbria, including those on which Bamburgh and Lindisfarne Castles rest, giving them their imposing impregnability.  We walked south along a short beach recording the shells and along the southern shore almost back to The Snook.  We found many shells here, and saw impressive displays of descending song by meadow pipits, as well as linnets, stonechats and skylarks.  By this time the tide was coming in, the causeway was closed to traffic, and great peace and quiet descended with all the day-visitors gone.
Lindisfarne Priory
Moerella pygmaea

Early marsh orchid
 
Lindisfarne Castle
 
Basalt rocks
 
Song thrush
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