Northumberland Sea Watching

My family and I went on holiday to Northumberland for a few days this week. With a forecast of strong northerly winds and regular showers, I was hoping that I might get in a couple of hours of sea watching. 

Seahouses is the best place for close views of Eider

Being a Leicestershire birder, any sort of Skua or Shearwater is usually a year tick if not a lifer for me! So I was hoping for a few new birds for my year list.

Sure enough, I found myself in Seahouses on Tuesday evening and managed to get in an hour of sea watching from Annstead Point before dark. The visibility was terrible, and this forced birds really close in to shore. It was evident straight away that birds were moving. 


Annstead Point (at the tip of the golf course) - to get here walk South along the coastal path from Seahouses harbour. Standing in front of the hide here provides shelter from the wind and rain

A constant stream of gulls and terns flew by. We picked out both Arctic and Sandwich Terns and hundreds of Kittiwakes. Best of all, though, we saw a total of 6 Great Skuas. 2 of these were particularly close in and we enjoyed my best ever views of this species. 

Waders were well-represented, and I logged Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher, Golden & Grey Plover, Sanderling, Dunlin, Whimbrel, Curlew and Redshank in the hour-long watch.

The evening finished with nice views of 2 Manx Shearwater, flying by with the Fulmars. 

While there weren't any of the rarer species that were seen at sites a bit further down the coast, it was a fantastic experience all the same. Probably one of my favourite sea watches. The mist pushed the birds so close and the constant sight and sound of waders, gulls and terns flying by made it really exciting.

The following day I got another hour at Annstead Point at the same time of day. The birds were a bit further out than on the previous night, but still plenty were passing by. We found 2 more Great Skuas and a Guillemot. There was also a pod of Harbour Porpoises.

Aside from these two sea watches, sea birds were still the birding highlight of the rest of the trip. As usual, Eiders (a year tick) gave fantastic views in Seahouses Harbour. This time, however, they were joined by 6 Goosanders; this is the first time I have seen Goosander here.

The surprise bird of the trip came on our walk from Craster to Dustanburgh Castle. Here, I watched as an Arctic Skua chased a flock of Kittiwakes. I don't get to see Skuas very often, and Northumberland (despite featuring just 2 hours of dedicated birding) certainly delivered!

The walk to Dustanburgh Castle


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