The road beneath our wheels was a clear sheet of ice as we proceeded cautiously, past several drivers who hadn’t. The day promised clear skies and sunshine, but the strong northerlies overnight had whipped the sea up to the point where taking a boat trip would have been foolhardy at best. Of course, we always have a Plan B…so as the tide receded we were by the Holy Island causeway with a Landrover full of clients. Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Dunlin, Curlew and Bar-tailed Godwit were all probing the soft mud as Pale-bellied Brent Geese and Shelduck walked along the water’s edge. Then, mayhem…waders in the air as far as the eye could see. Tight flocks of Dunlin and Golden Plover weaving this way and that. It could really only mean one thing…and there was that one thing – a Peregrine Falcon tearing through the maelstrom. Eventually it settled, sentinel-like, on the mud and the waders settled back down. At the other side of the causeway a flock of Twite were shuffling amongst the seaweed and we set out on a walk in the biting cold of this winter’s day. A Common Seal (not common at all in Northumberland) was feeding in the surf just offshore from the end of the Crooked Lonnen and a flock of Curlew, Oystercatcher and Lapwing lifted from a field as a Carrion Crow harassed each bird that gained the prize of a juicy worm. A few Grey Seals were seen as well and we left the island, stopping to eat our lunch at a site overlooking the mudflats.
Heading south down the coastal route we eventually arrived in Druridge Bay. As a stunning sunset developed Whooper Swans flew over our heads, softly calling to each other, and a Starling roost began to form. Small flocks flew by on their way to this evening rendezvous, eventually becoming bigger flocks, and then there they were; above the skyline, twisting and turning like one amorphous being. More and more birds joined the throng until there were probably 10000, circling and circling over the roost site until the climax of the dance and the final headlong dive into the reedbed.
Like Rooks going to roost, Minke Whales feeding on Herring shoals, a Peregrine Falcon stooping at prey…a Starling roost really is a must-see.