Many swallows make a Summer

Day two of our Northumberland holiday and we took advantage of tide times and good weather to visit Lindisfarne. You have two windows to cross the causeway each day and today it was safe to cross after 8.40. We'd never been before and it was very interesting to see the road was on a level with the estuary, flooding twice a day at high tide.

The causeway is over a mile long and there is a route across the mud for brave pilgrims as well, but we headed for the settlement on the far side.

The first stop was the ruined priory and active church in the main village.

For the obvious reasons everything was closed off and we couldn't explore in the ruins unfortunately. We then walked the road to the iconic castle, the one you always see on the postcards. I didn't realise it is actually now a holiday let!!! You can still walk all the way round it, looming above you on its solid rock base.

One surprise was the beach beyond the castle - it was covered in those small stone pyramids which people seem to like to make nowadays. I've no idea why but it did look spectacular.

It wasn't just about the physical landscape. Everywhere you looked swallows and house martins were skimming around over the meadows, through the streets and diving along the beach. Occasionally they would perch up, especially in an area where the fishermen had left lots of photogenic lobster pots and ropes.

Another bird present in larger numbers than you normally see were the house sparrows, taking advantage of holes left for them in new buildings for nest spaces. 

With the tide changing we headed back to our rental house in Budle Bay for a nice cup of tea. Sitting outside we saw a small bird flitting through the branches of the nearby tree. It was only one of a pair of spotted flycatchers - IN OUR GARDEN!!! Add that to the flock of tree sparrows and a calling marsh tit it was birding heaven - and a cup of tea as well!!! 

Later on I had a quick walk down to the beach behind our house. The hedgerows were alive with bird song, including one very confiding sedge warbler right by the path.

Out in the bay, a large flock of Sandwich terns were getting driven off their roosting islands by the rising tide and starting to fish in the now filling lagoon. One caught what looks like a nice juicy sand eel for its supper!

We are really starting to wonder why we haven't visited Northumberland before. On the day and a half we've been here so far it's far surpassing our expectations. It's not too touristy and the wildlife, scenery and culture are all outstanding. As long as the weather holds we should have a good break.