24th December

 As the sun sets on another year at the  Reserve  we wish a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all our visitors and followers

The NNR Team

19th December: Goodbye to the Snook sheep

The flock of 22 sheep that have been grazing the Snook since September have now left the Reserve for the winter. It was an early start to make sure the sheep were safely rounded up into the trailer and off the Reserve before the tide  came in.

The sheep being rounded up by Jess

This flock have really grazed the dunes well, ensuring the sward will be in top condition for rare plants such as the Lindisfarne helleborine and other orchids to flourish in the summer of 2015.

A final look at the amazing impact the sheep have made to the vegetation this year:

Look at the difference between the grazed area on the right and the rank vegetation, just after moving the fence slightly to the left.

Before grazing

After grazing

18th December: The Window on Wild Lindisfarne through the year

One of the Reserve's volunteers, Richard, regularly visits the Window on Wild Lindisfarne - WoWL for short - to inform visitors to the building about the work of Natural England on the NNR and what we do to conserve the special habitats here. He has very kindly written a look back on his time spent at the building during 2014:

"My first full year of volunteering in the WoWL is coming to an end and here is a look back.

As an international attraction Lindisfarne attracts visitors from round the world. I have spoken to people from every continent but the prize for the longest travelled visitors goes to a family from Howick, New Zealand!

The type of visitor is very  varied  -  the professional birder, the day tripper who is pleased to be shown the common birds,  friars on retreat and large numbers of school children. They take delight in the colourful close ups of birds such as the teal that the telescope affords.

As for the wildlife, the scrapes haven't had any rare visitors but good numbers of teal, lapwing, redshank, dunlin, bar-tailed godwits, mallard, curlew, black-headed and herring gulls, oystercatchers and  starling. There was as a small group of black-tailed godwit for many weeks and usually at least one grey heron. The elusive snipe was found on a few occasions after careful searching with the scope.  On the high tide the harbour dark-bellied Brent geese come to the scrapes along with hundreds of golden plover.  A kestrel - the same? -  often quarters the fields but no sign of any short-eared or other owls. In summer the swallows and martins swoop down to drink in the pond by the window -much to the visitors' delight and frustration as they  try to take pictures. Starlings nested in the gaps between the stones of the building. My highlight was not a birding one but the stoats. In winter a stoat in ermine ran around rocks in the field and in summer one circled the window pond for many minutes."

Thanks Richard for the insight into a year at the Window on Wild Lindisfarne. Richard is also a keen photographer and has kindly sent us these shots of a flock of Golden Plover taken at the WoWL.

Golden plover (Richard Poyer)

The Reserve team say a huge thanks to Richard and to the rest of the "WoWL guides" for all the hours put in so far, providing an invaluable information source to visitors.

7th December: Seagrass beds - special underwater footage

Natural England, with the help of Northumberland IFCA staff, have been surveying the extensive seagrass beds of Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve. This included the chance to capture some fantastic footage of seagrass under the waves while the tide was in and covering the mudflats around Holy Island.

The seagrass beds here are the most extensive in the North East, and an integral part of the Reserve. Watch the mesmerising video below to see for yourself just how extensive the beds are.