The first of our post-Christmas walks was on Holy Island this morning. As we gathered in the car-park a Sparrowhawk flew through, causing panic among the Starlings. A Wren was foraging in the bottom of a bare hawthorn, paying us no heed as it searched for the food it would need to survive another cold night on Northumberland’s north-east outpost. Stonechat, Herons and Teal enlivened the next section of the walk, and a Jack Snipe was an excellent find. Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Oystercatcher and Pale-bellied Brent Geese all looked superb through the telescope and we hardly noticed the bracing easterly wind whipping in off the North Sea. Walking off the excesses of Christmas and watching wildlife with good company really can’t be beaten. Then there was the Red Fox that was enjoying a post-lunch nap in a field by the road as we drove back down the coast. Tomorrow we get to do it all again, meeting in the car-park at the mainland end of the causeway at 10:00. It’ll almost certainly be different, because that’s just the way that wildlife is…