This picture of South Beach shows the blue sky and white topped waves driving onto the sands invigorating dog walkers, sailors and surfers. The dunes are well covered in Marram and Lyme grass.
The wind turbines on the horizon are two of the five that comprise Blyth Offshore Demonstrator Wind Farm. Newly installed, they have gravity based foundations that ‘float and submerge’ in the 40 meter depth of water. They provide electricity for 34,000 homes and were built locally in Wallsend.
The driving seas had whipped up foam and rainbow bubbles on the shore. According to the wiki: Sea foam, ocean foam, beach foam, or spume is a type of foam created by the agitation of seawater, particularly when it contains higher concentrations of dissolved organic matter (including proteins, lignin, and lipids) derived from sources such as the offshore breakdown of algal blooms.
A raft of Eider Duck had no trouble negotiating the swells. They are true sea ducks feeding on molluscs especially mussels. A few of the males were still in their colourful breeding plumage. Eider are a feature of the Northumberland coast and are Amber listed.
Oyster catchers were quick to feed on the rocks at Seaton Sluice as the tide receded. Like the Eider, they also eat cockles and mussels when at the coast.
While walking along I took notice of the plants in flower such as the Prickly Sow thistle (Sonchus asper) shown below. The plants still in bloom were mostly ruderals like Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris), Daisy (Bellis perennis), Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris), Dandelion (Taraxacum agg.), Chickweed (Stellaria media), Shepherd’s purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Annual meadow grass (Poa annua), White Dead Nettle (Lamium album). Among the many sea-side plants, Thrift (Armeria maritima), though not in flower, had dried flower heads on show.
As the tide ebbed many birds flew in to feed, like this Curlew. Redshank were fairly numerous but there were some Dunlin, Lapwing, Turnstone and two pairs of Ringed plover. Gulls of various kinds and crows had also taken to the rocks.
The lake on the bird reserve held a pair of Canada Geese, Mallard, Heron, Moorhen and a flock of Teal. On the scrub by the wetland I had caught a glimpse of a small bird with a white belly. Although I wondered what it could be, a bird watcher later told me to watch out for a pair of Snow Bunting. It seems likely the birds I had seen were Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis). Regularly wintering along the coast they are Arctic specialists, though a few nest in the Cairngorms. On Whitley Beach, avoiding the walkers and dogs, a flock of Sanderling, another Arctic breeder also here for the winter, was in constant movement along the water’s edge by the tide wrack.
At Seaton Sluice, on a stone wall, this Acarospora fuscata lichen looked like dried mud. Crab’s Eye Lichen (Ochrolechia parella) was covering the wall tops in large white patches.
This Lichen looked like Lecanora campestris with its dark red apothecia.
On the same wall, always worth a visit, a brightly coloured Caloplaca glowed, perhaps C verruculifera?
Lichen often grow on top of one another. The whitish base lichen is (Apsicilia caesiocinerea) but there is a Lecanora possibly L dispersa growing on top.
References:
naturelogblog 