Baffled herring gulls

Some interesting behaviour from juveniles herring gulls.

These birds soon learn that the easiest way to break into bivalve mollusc shells, like mussels, is to carry them aloft and then drop them on a hard surface until they shatter.

This afternoon I watched these young birds on Union Quay in North Shields trying to do the same thing with large rubber washers. These must have come from fishing nets, that fishermen from the Fish Quay often dry and repair here.

First the birds grabbed the washers in their beaks and tried to whack them on the concrete then, when that didn't work .....

They flew up with them and dropped them on the quay, when they just bounced.

They gave up after about three attempts.

I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and sky ....

I must go down to the sea again,
to the lonely sea and sky,
I left my shoes and socks there,
I wonder if they're dry

Spike Milligan

Well, I did go down to the sea again today but kept my shoes and socks on, because it was hellish cold - but it was a great way to spend a Saturday.

After a browse around Tynemouth Market, we walked out onto Tynemouth piers ....

.... where we encountered this very handsome pigeon, with beautiful orange eyes and iridescent throat plumage, before we headed along the path to North Shields for fish and chips in the excellent Waterfront fish and chip restaurant ...

... passing these busy purple sandpipers that were feeding along the sea wall while they waited for the tide to turn.

After that we had a quick stroll alone Union Quay where this black-headed gull and ...

..... herring gull posed for portraits

As we walked back to the car park someone threw chips to the herring gulls, so predictably all hell broke loose as they scrambled for them. A  cacophony of herring gulls.

Then it was off along the coat to St.Mary's island, where the sun came out.

Lots of these beautifully patterned grey top shells Gibbula cineraria under the rocks around the rock pools...

 .... and even more of these hermit crabs to tease, by turning them upside down ...

..... and watching their contortions as they were forced to come out of  their shells to right themselves.

One very disgruntled hermit crab.

A Rarity.........

Not the birds ............. the sky .................  blue

Still adjusting to the novelty of it, after weeks of grey skies  .......

Bent Beak...

This unfortunate juvenile herring gull with a strangely deformed beak was on the foreshore at North Shields, near the mouth of the River Tyne this afternoon.

I've seen starlings with a similar deformity on several occasions but this is the first time I've seen it in a gull. The bird probably has difficulty feeding and doesn't look in particular good condition, but if it hangs around the car park behind the beach and feeds on the chips that people chuck to the gulls it might be OK...........

Portpatrick and the Southern Uplands Way

The little harbour of Portpatrick on the Galloway coast is the starting point for the Southern Upland Way, but before climbing the steps to the cliff top at start of the route it's worth taking a look around the harbour because....

.... there are usually black guillemots fishing there, and if you're lucky .....

.... they'll be posing for a photograph on the harbour wall.

...... where there is often a vigorous exchange with others ...

..... that nest in cavities between the building blocks of the harbour wall. These are birds with a startlingly simple colour scheme - sooty black and pure white plumage and wonderful crimson feet with matching interior colour scheme in their bills.

Very approachable birds - although there didn't seem to be as many as when we first visited, in 2006.

There's also a well established herring gull breeding colony on the cliffs as you leave the town, with some vulnerable chicks on narrow ledges ........

.........protected by fierce-looking adults

The first mile or so further on the path skirts a series of sandy bays and in one - Lairds bay , marked as Port Mora/Port Kale on the Ordnance Survey map - lies this fascinating telegraph station, built at the landfall of the first submerged telegraph cable to Donaghadee in Northern Ireland, across what is now known as the North Channel but was then the Irish Channel, in 1853. More recently the building has been a visitor centre but now seems disused. You can still see the frayed cable partially buried in the shingle on the beach: an interesting fragment of telecommunications archaeology.

There's a fine cliff-top flora along this stretch of coast that includes the almost hemispherical umbels of wild carrot. Once these begin to set seed the stalks of the outer clusters of florets elongate and curl inwards, so the ripe seed head resembles a clenched fist.

The cliffs here are festooned with honeysuckle and as you climb the path up from the beach the scent is glorious on a fine summer evening.

Slender St. John's wort, with red undersides to its petals, is also a feature of the cliffs here, as is ...

... the sea spleenwort fern with its leathery fronds, that grows in rock crevices close to the beach, well within reach of salt spray. Fresh water trickling down the cliffs is probably the antidote to this saline assault.