Northumberland: Ross Links & Farne Islands 28/6/2006**

 

Scarce fiddleneck   Puffins   Guillemots with shags, kittiwakes, puffin	We drove from Lindisfarne to Ross Links, an area of coastal dune we omitted on 25 June for lack of time, for there is only one long road to the coast here.  We walked south to Links End through the dunes and returned along the clean broad beach facing Lindisfarne.  The sea beyond the white line of surf was dark blue, the sky pale blue and cloudless, with Lindisfarne Castle dominating the otherwise flat horizon.  The dunes have unfortunately been degraded by agriculture and, more recently, shooting, so there was absolutely no interesting flora whatsoever.  Mostly marram-covered, the more open areas were occupied by lady’s bedstraw and thyme, the barest areas colonised by hound’s tongue.  There was just a little purple milk vetch, but no sign of any of the other special plants recorded here in the Northumberland Flora.  Even the record of early orache at Links End, where a broad saltmarsh breaks into the dunes, could not be confirmed.  The marsh, which appeared to be very dry, was as poor in diversity as the dunes, mostly sea milkwort, saltmarsh rush, yellow sedge and saltmarsh grass.  The beach-head had areas of saltwort and sea rocket, with a little sea sandwort.  On the way down from the cottages that make up Ross, now mostly holiday lets, we saw a spotted flycatcher.  We then drove on to Seahouses to park at the Olde Ship Hotel, where we were staying the night, and walked down to the harbour to catch a boat to the Farnes.  The sheer quantity of bird life flying all around the boat, on the rocky islets we passed and on the sea was overwhelming.  Countless puffins and guillemots continually travelled by with painfully rapid beats of their stubby wings.  Grey seals were hauled out on outlying rock platforms, but were having to leave their beds reluctantly as the tide was coming in.  These large creatures demonstrated a great variety of spots and other markings.  Eventually we landed for an hour on Inner Farne, giving close encounters with nesting sea-birds, which almost covered the island.  Common tern chicks ran into the path between our feet while their parents dive-bombed us from above with shrill cries and fiercely sharp bright red beaks.  A colony of sandwich terms was more exclusive, keeping some 20 metres from the path.  At the cliff edge we could approach very close to shags, kittiwakes and razorbills on their nests, these and guillemots and the odd fulmar occupying every tiny ledge down the rock-face.  The cliff-top turf was perforated with burrows occupied by puffins, many of which were standing around while others flew in with lines of sand-eels in the multi-coloured beaks.  With all the guano the over-fertilised soil was dominated by stinging and small nettles, and docks, but also had quantities of bugloss and scarce fiddleneck, this being an alien species which is only naturalised in Britain at this spot.  Despite getting a little cold and damp with spray on the return boat, this was an exhilarating experience.  We returned to our spacious suite at the hotel, the sitting room with large windows giving views in three directions, including out to sea towards the Farnes, with eider duck families cruising the waves, and over the harbour black-headed gulls and starlings.  We took a short trip a few doors away to a café for coffee and cake and explored the little centre of Seahouses, which we were surprised to find was as dominated by amusement arcades as the larger seaside resorts.  There were many other visitors enjoying the harbour.  An oddity at dinner was the provision of cold curried carrots and mayonnaise with the bread rolls – an acquired taste.
Arctic tern chick   Arctic tern on nest		Razorbills       Shag on nest	Kittiwakes     Shag, guillemots and kittiwake