20th Mar: Litter pick a success

On Saturday morning, despite a rainy start, 15 volunteers came along to our litter pick on the North Shore of Holy Island. Numbers were greatly boosted by the attendance of the Young Rangers from Seahouses. They identified litter from four different sources: litter washed down rivers into the sea, from sewage outfall, dropped at sea (including fishing-related litter) and dropped directly on the beach.

Comments included: “it was great to have the satisfaction of seeing the beach looking cleaner and knowing that we had made a difference”.

Keeping litter on the Reserve minimal is an ongoing task. A couple of volunteers said they will pick litter during their future visits to the Reserve, which will be a welcome help to the existing staff and volunteers who pick litter on a regular basis.

A big thank you to everyone who helped on Saturday.

The below photographs were taken by Marty Togher:

One of the more unusual finds, a watering can

Plenty of shoes were found, but no pairs

One of the trailer loads of rubbish

19th Mar: Little Terns at Holy Island and Lowick First Schools

Over the last two weeks, Ajay and Jo have been working on a little tern decoy project with nearby Holy Island and Lowick First Schools. This started with a talk about the challenges that little terns face (predation, disturbance, the elements), followed by practical decoy-making sessions.

Because the beaches where little terns chose to nest are vulnerable to tidal flooding, this year decoys will be used to attract the birds to safe places to nest on Lindisfarne NNR. This has been done successfully in the past on the Reserve by Andrew. Local potter Ian Kille has kindly been experimenting with clay to create some brilliant decoys and has fired the decoys made by the children of Holy Island and Lowick First Schools.

The schoolchildren, aged 4 to 8, have been making and painting clay decoys whilst learning about the terns and the importance of Lindisfarne NNR (one of just two breeding sites in Northumberland). Their decoys will be put on the beach in the coming weeks and the children will have a follow-up guided walk in the summer when they undertake their beach clean at Sandham Bay.

Years 3 and 4 painting their little terns

Reception busy painting

After the decoy-making sessions, the children did some drawings and writing about little terns:

 

8th Mar: Budle Bay geese

Over the last week or so Budle Bay at the southern most tip of the Reserve has seen good numbers of geese:

1100 Light-bellied brent
210 Barnacle
200 Greylag
1000 Pink-footed

Great views can be had from the white-railings pull-in - using your car as the perfect hide.

Reserve staff are currently revising the NNR leaflet with delivery expected by Easter, a free copy will be available to download from our website (naturalengland.org.uk) and available at locations around the Reserve.