Wednesday 26 February 2014

24th February: Lindisfarne NNR bird photography

It's no surprise that Lindisfarne NNR is perfect for keen photographers, with stunning landscapes and wildlife. One of our volunteers is also a very talented photographer, taking some amazing shots of the Reserve's birds.

Here are some of his shots taken this winter:

Redshank - these wading birds with striking red bill and legs can be seen from the Causeway, searching for food in the mud and sand

Light-bellied brent geese - you may still see groups of these small geese on the Reserve before they leave for their Svalbard breeding grounds

A pair of pintail - a good place to see these elegant ducks is from the Fenham-Le-Moor hide as the tide is rising

Lapwing - these can be seen on the flooded scrape in front of the Window on Wild Lindisfarne building, along with other birds such as teal, oystercatcher and redshank

Monday 24 February 2014

21st February: Lindisfarne NNR's first Family Craft Day

Reserve staff and volunteers ran a very successful craft event for families during half-term, based at the Window on Wild Lindisfarne. 

By the end of the event we had over 100 visitors with 40 very happy children taking home fun craft creatures as a keepsake of their visit to Lindisfarne NNR - the lobster and lapwing proved most popular!

We will be running another similar craft event during the school holidays at Easter, once the date is finalised we will post it on our Events page. It would be great to see you there!

Almost finished setting up

Our decorated welcome board

Our volunteer David making lapwings, showing us how it's done!

Tuesday 18 February 2014

18th February: Special Family Craft Event tomorrow!

Lindisfarne NNR staff and volunteers are running a family event for half-term - come and make your own craft birds and sea creatures with us at the Window on Wild Lindisfarne building.

We hope the children enjoy making these craft creatures - adults are welcome to try too! - and one of our volunteers will also be inside the building with a telescope set up for those who want to birdwatch. 

Choose from a lobster or wolf fish door guard, a harbour seal greetings card, or a flapping lapwing!

You can drop in anytime between 11am and 1pm to make your creatures with us - more details are on the Events page.

Monday 10 February 2014

4th February: January peak bird counts

Some selected peak bird counts from January's co-ordinated Wetland Bird Survey. The weather for this day was poor with a rough sea but still some great numbers of birds were seen:

Pink-footed goose: 2000
Barnacle goose: 250
Light-bellied Brent goose: 1100
Greylag goose: 128
Whooper swan: 15
Wigeon: 900
Shelduck: 1318
Pintail: 230
Long-tailed duck: 20
Bar-tailed godwit: 1053
Oystercatcher: 974

Thanks to all our volunteers who give their time every month to carry out this survey across the NNR.

3rd February: Fenham-le-Moor birdwatch

Sunday 2nd February saw another successful birdwatching event from the Fenham-Le-Moor hide. Reserve warden Laura helped show visitors how special Lindisfarne NNR really is by pointing out why the mudflats are so important as a food source to wintering birds.

Great views of the grey plover, one of the Reserve's winter VIPs, were seen

Highlights include grey plover feeding close to the edge of the saltmarsh, 60 pintail and over 150 shelduck.

It was interesting to meet some local people at this drop-in event - all visitors who attended the live within 15 miles of the NNR and had visited the hide before, but had come out specifically for this birdwatch. Please do come along to our next drop-in birdwatch: Sunday 16th March at Budle Bay, 11.30am to 1.00pm. Full details are on our Events page.

Thanks to our volunteer David who came to help out and was happy for all to look through his telescope at the birds of the Flats.

31st January: Two days in the life of the Window on Wild Lindisfarne

We invite volunteers and others who work with the Reserve team to write pieces for this blog. Today we have a special blog post from one of our volunteer guides, David, giving an insight into what it is like to be a guide on Lindisfarne NNR. David explains how the Reserve, normally busy with visitors, can have quiet days too!

David tells us:

“The afternoon of Tuesday 21st January was sunny and almost still but cold. The Window on Wild Lindisfarne building was very busy both inside and out. Visitors arrived at the rate of 45 adults per hour plus children and dogs. Several couples, some with babies were staying on the Island and all the rest bar one couple were from a distance, all from further south than Newcastle. Lots of birds enjoying the flooded scrape. About 100 each of Brent geese, curlew, teal and lapwing. They were mostly on the scrape but commuted to the next door field to the west. Plus lots of gulls and starlings. Having packed up, I walked round the water's edge to the Lookout on Wild Lindisfarne (old Coastguard Tower) to discover that the Brent geese had flown over the building just as far as the shoreline in the harbour near the upturned boats.

Drake teal: Europe's smallest duck, and one of our most beautiful, can be seen from the Window on Wild Lindisfarne throughout the winter

However, on the following Monday afternoon (27th) it was all together different. Cold, wet and very windy. Like a chump I misread the tide tables and arrived early for the safe crossing but it was very interesting to watch both humans and birds during my wait of about 30 minutes! Having stopped close to the water's edge on the causeway there were lots of birds to see. Many small groups of shelduck flew over southwards at about 20 metres height. About 10 each of oystercatchers and curlew paddled about. A huge flock of small waders flew about like a murmuration of starlings but I couldn't identify them. Amazingly, there was a long straight line of Brent geese parallel to the causeway about 500 metres to the north (I set up the telescope) and every so often about 25 would take off and fly south over me, very close, at about 5 metres height. Some of the humans were impatient. By now there were 2 white vans and 4 cars waiting to drive over to the Island. One car driver set off into the water which soon covered the wheels and he very, very quickly reversed out.

Flock of oystercatcher: these striking birds can be seen from the causeway

On reaching the Window building there were only gulls on the scrape and they promptly took off and then no birds (or people) for an hour. I gave up to go home and it was really windy outside, hence the lack of people and indeed, the main car park had only 2 cars in it as I left!”

David, and our other volunteers who act as guides in the Window on Wild Lindisfarne, do a fantastic job of informing visitors about the amazing wildlife of Lindisfarne NNR. David's story shows how dedicated they are, and that even on bad weather days there is still much to see on the Reserve!