Yesterday’s Lindisfarne Safari was a trip of returning clients; Diane, who’d been on a Cheviot Valleys Safari in June and Paul and Pauline who’d enjoyed a successful Otter Safari last November…
A flock of Golden Plover trying to fly against the stiff breeze were almost low enough to be between rooftops and treetops in the village but Paul and Pauline assured us it was far less windy than it had been on Wednesday 🙂 Rock Pipits and a Linnet were drinking from a small pool and, off the eastern edge of the island there were lots of Grey Seals splashing close to shore. Curlews flew low over the fields and the distant calls of geese carried to us on the wind. A Grey Heron stalked along the sheltered edge of a reedbed with an aural backdrop of the insistent cheeping of Mute Swan cygnets. Kestrels were making the most of the breeze to hang motionless over the fields back towards the village and we headed across to the mainland. On the rising tide Curlew, Little Egret, Dunlin, Grey Plover and Common Redshank were feeding along the edge of rapidly swelling channels in the mud. As the tide pushed closer to the shore Wigeon, Pale-bellied Brent Geese, Pintail and Common Redshank flew north, as the eerie moaning of Grey Seals carried across the mud through increasingly damp-looking air, before suddenly heading south in big flocks as the wind swung from south round to north east, started to pick up a bit and a surreal combination of aquamarine water, black cloud, luminous white cloud and patches of ground bathed in beautiful low-angled sunlight heralded the arrival of the rain…