Just come back from a couple of days on the Northumberland coast, which was windy, cold but indescribably beautiful.
Cullernose point.......
.......with its breeding colony of kittiwakes and fulmars, which also has .....
.... sea spleenwort fern growing is fissures beside the seabirds' nests.
Gorse, between Craster and Dunstanburgh flowering more profusely than I can ever remember and, appropriately, providing a perch for this ....
... stonechat (??)
Primroses by the sea near Craster
Sea pink Armeria maritima blooming in a rock crevice at Cullernose point
The other common name for sea pink is thrift, a virtue that it was used to symbolise on the old pre-decimalisation brass threepenny pieces..
Scurvy grass flowering on the wall of Craster harbour
Knotted wrack Ascophyllum nodosum on the intertidal rocks at Low Newton, along with ....
... channelled wrack Pelvetia canaliculata growing around a rock pool
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Nice photos, it looks a nice place to visit.
ReplyDeleteIt's a wonderful walk along the coast there, from Howick to Beadnell
DeleteNow taht is what I call organisation. Taking the threepenny bit with you. Had you got a farthing in case you saw a wren?
ReplyDeleteThe wren wouldn't keep still!
DeleteHad to chuckle to myself when I saw the picture with the threepenny bit. First thought: Have they not gone decimal in Northumberland? Maybe Phil hasn't gone decimal? No it must be there to show scale? But who carries a threepenny bit? And many readers may never have seen a threepenny bit to visualise the scale. Come to think of it I am old enough to have used them (as a child) but so long ago I'm not sure I can remember the size !
ReplyDeleteThen I read the text and all became clear. Never realised it was Thrift pictured.
However, one question still remains "Who carries a threepenny bit? I think you came prepared.
On a more serious note. Beautiful part of the world. I love the walk between Craster and Dunstanburgh. Gorse looks fantastic at the moment.
Pete
Yep, I took it with me because I knew the thrift would be coming into bloom.
DeleteThose old brass threepenny bits made a satisfying clunk when I dropped them in my moneybox when I was a kid. Eight of those and I could buy an Airfix kit in Woolworths!
It's a fabulous part of the world.
You've got me doing Google searches, Phil. I thought that the whin in Whinchat was a reference to whinstone which, incidentally, is also pertinent to the area that you saw the Whinchat in! This belief was reinforced by the fact that we've another species of chat, commonly known as the Stonechat. I now think that you've probably overturned my belief in this assumption!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes - - - Richard
Hi Richard, Looks like it's a stonechat, so I got you Googling under false pretences
DeletePhil..Isn't that a Stonechat?
ReplyDeleteNow you come to mention it, I think you're right.... tail too long for a whinchat, isn't it. looked like it had pale 'eyebrows' in the head-on view.
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ReplyDeleteI love it.
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