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: Newton Links to Craster 30/6/2006***

 
Yellow rattle
 
Good King Henry
From Newton Links car park we followed a path around  Snook Point, avoiding the official coast path which carefully keeps away from all the interesting coastal features.  We descended into Football Hole, a small but pleasant clean and scenic beach sheltered between two headlands with a number of shells.  At the end of the beach we went round Newton Point by a cliff-top path with pleasant turf and a large expanse of yellow rattle, and descended into the pretty little village of Low Newton past Chinese teaplant and shining cranesbill on a wall.  We only walked a little of the beach here before ascending to a National Trust nature reserve with marshes and a pool, where a hide allowed views over a rather ordinary assemblage of mallard, coot, heron and mute swan.  We walked on through the reserve and then between Dunstanburgh golf course and a line of cliff-top beach chalets before dropping down into Embleton Bay, with a large variety of marine shells on the strandline, including two small bivalves Jupiteria minuta and Thracia villosiuscula and the limpet Tectura testudinalis.  A quarry in Embleton held some interesting wasteland plants like Good King Henry.  Above the rocks at the south end of the bay are the tall cliffs of Castle Point on which stand imposingly the Gothic ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle.  The cliffs held hundreds of nesting pairs of kittiwake, while offshore a shoal of fish must have been passing, as it attracted a mêlée of feeding birds – gulls, guillemots, razorbills, cormorants and a pair of gannets, twice the size of any of the others, continually circling and diving.  We walked round the castle and south along the cliffs by a wide path being well-used by visitors to Craster coming to view the castle.  We arrived just in time to catch the bus from Craster back via Embleton to the High Newton Road.  We walked down the road to the village and the Joiners Arms for a lunchtime snack and beer, with just a short walk left back to our starting-point.
Low Newton
 
Dunstanburgh Castle
 
Jupiteria minuta
Tectura testudinalis


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