Farne Island Shags

I think Shags are my favourite birds from the trip to the Farne Islands. Their plumage is so colourful close to and their shapes so elegant.

Berwick-on-Tweed, Northumberland

I decided to have a walk around Berwick on the Saturday evening despite the rain. The first two images are from the rainy Saturday explore. I had not remembered Lowry's very close association with Berwick - he spent many holidays there and painted many images like the one shown here.
On the Sunday morning it dawned sunny and with crystal clear light after the rain. The house is the Lion House, which Lowry contempleted buying but never quite got there. Other images on a short walk around part of the wonderful twon walls. Definitely worth a longer visit.

Cheviots in the Rain

 Saturday started fine and sunny but by the time I reached the Cheviots, the storm clouds had gathered. A nostalgic visit to the Black Bull in Wooler, where I spent a honeymoon in 1967 (Jim died 5 years later) and then to Wooler Common which then was open hillside but has now been planted with woodland. It was raining fairly hard by then but managed to photograph one of my favourite flowers Mimulus guttatus and some rather wet flies. I walked up onto the open land and was rewarded with views of Curlew and Lapwing displaying.

Farne Islands Guillemots and Razorbill

The Farne Islands has around 49,000 Guillemots of which about 5 per cent are Bridled with the spectacles and stripe. There are only around 600 Razorbills but they are on the increase.

Spectacular Seahouses Sunset

A fine sunny day yesterday culminated in a wonderful sunset, although 15 minutes earlier it did not look promising.. Here are views from the cliffs just north of Seahouses looking towards Bamburgh. I then went north of Bamburgh - images to follow in due course.

Arctic Terns Display

In the afternoon on Tuesday, we transferred to Inner Farne to photograph mainly the Terns. It was still raining a bit and very dull conditions so not ideal light but I still enjoyed capturing the Arctic Tern displays as they fended off visitors too close to their nests.

Farne Island Puffins in the Rain

We had mixed weather on a day trip to the Farnes yesterday. The Puffins certainly looked a bit miserable in the heavy showers. I loved watching them take off - amazing those little wings give so much lift. The obligatory images of Puffins with sand eels - certainly didn't seem to be any shortage. Finally a couple of portraits.