A ‘Calming’ day at St Marys

This was one of those days I was looking forward to get out and about.  For the last few days it had been forecast to be wall to wall sunshine, the wind abating to take advantage of the reasonably warm temperatures so with these prospects it was easier to get up at 5:30am on the day.  The plan was to make the most of the sunshine and try and photograph birds in flight, specifically the Swallows and Sandmartins around the cliffs around the St Marys end of Whitley Bay – at least that was the plan. It was overcast when I got up and by the time I had set off there was rain in the air, still, they couldn’t have got a clear blue skies completely wrong so I was still hopeful.  Arrived on location before 7:00am and at least the rain was gone but it was still cloudy but looking better, however without the bright sunshine I had no chance of getting the fast exposures needed for fast moving  small birds not to mention the improved abilities I would get for the camera to ‘lock on’ to the subject, so as the tide was coming in I decided to take the opportunity to photograph any waders about. On the way I stumbled across a pair of Warblers which appeared to be building a nest on the ground, a very precarious place considering its exposed location near to some very public paths.  I watched them for around twenty minutes, taking nesting material to the location but didn’t want to get too close and disturb them and moved off to the shoreline.

Crow with Whitley Bay Lighthouse as a backdrop

I settled for a location where there were some feeding Sanderlings and that people wouldn’t normally walk past particularly as the tide was coming in, it would soon be impassable.  After patiently waiting around twenty minutes for the tide to bring them closer to me and for them to get used to my presence and was just getting some shots off when a dog walker came along, his dog chased off the birds.  He had decided to come this way despite it now being almost impassable with the tide almost now blocking the route.  I was, to say the least, annoyed. I decided to move further north to my usual location for catching waders and surprisingly this section was empty so again, I waited patiently for the mixture of Sanderlings and Turnstones to come to me.  Again, after managing to get some shots off after about thirty minutes of waiting, a couple with their two dogs chased away the birds so I moved up to the end of that section of the beach now cut off by the tide, but not before giving them a dirty look.  They continued to follow me even though there was no point in it, there was nowhere for them to go and again scared the remaining birds off where they then promptly walked back.  Miles upon miles of beach for them and they chose this thirty meter dead end stretch.  I’m sure on both this and the previous occasion, it was done out of sheer malice as it would have had to have been inconvenient for them to do what they did.  I was, to say the least, getting angry.

As it was getting brighter with some breaks in the clouds, I decided to go with my original plan and went to what I thought would be the best location to catch the Swallows and Sandmartins.  As I approached the location I was met with the sight below.  As far along the beach I could see, just dog walkers, everywhere!  Drudging aimlessly along with their dogs looking miserable and grey, not interacting with anyone and seemingly oblivious to their surroundings.  Images of the series ‘The Walking Dead’ came to mind and I could imagine if some zombie apocalypse was to occur here, this scene would still be the same, just mindless individuals, a slave to a daily routine they’re barely aware of.  As I approached I half expected them to try and eat my brains and swear I could even hear some moaning but they were oblivious to me.  Maybe I had been too harsh on the other dog walkers who had ruined my earlier enjoyment.  Maybe I gave them too much credit for being human and they simply don’t know what they’re doing.

Zombies…err, I mean dog walkers along Whitley Bay beach

Anyway, with brain un-eaten, I made my way along the cliff face and with the sun now finally out some swallows started to appear though in small numbers.  However, amongst the high tide line around the rocks and seaweed, the flies were out in force which meant an all you can eat buffet for numerous birds.  Despite my having to still take the regular occurrence of a dog barking at me or sniffing around my crotch (no apologies from the owners) I was still able to get some images as the birds were only temporally put off by these interruptions and soon returned to their feast. Swallows, Sparrows, Turnstones, Pied and Grey Wagtails and a Stonechat were all spotted taking advantage of the abundance of food.  Unfortunately, with 500m lens in for repairs, many opportunities were lost with the 400mm lens though on a couple of occasions Sparrows and Wagtails got so close that I couldn’t focus on them.  I also had exposure problems with the contrast between bright light reflections and dark shadows.

Not the inflight photo I'd hoped to get of a Swallow

Turnstone amongst the flies

Sparrows too making the most of the abundant food source

Pied Wagtail coming almost too close to focus on

Sparrow with its catch

As if the dog walkers hadn’t already raised my blood pressure levels enough, when I checked out one of my favourite locations around this area, St Marys Wetlands, I was met with a scene of destruction.  It was like vandals had come along with diggers and had completely obliterated a large section of the area of wildlife sanctuary. I don’t know the reasons for this destruction and I’m sure those who made the decision to do so had some reasoning behind it, but I wonder if they understand the terminology ‘ecosystem’.  The area removed was a large section of cover for birds and mammals, the only area within the wetlands itself.  In the last few years there seems to have been decisions made like this, that beggars belief such as was digging up the Rabbit warrens and sticking up bird tables in odd, random locations which just serve to obstruct the view and had no purpose as they have never been used. The image below shows the current view of which, previously you would not be able to see the horizon.  The second image shows the view a few years ago with the background bushes and shrubbery now gone.  I believe the Foxes shown had a den within that area which also gave them general cover.  Where once you could sit quietly at this location and see a Fox in daylight, you can see now that there is no way a Fox would walk over that open ground.  The final image shows other destruction with the remaining background trees and bushes showing the type of cover that was removed here.

I don’t know who owns this area, whether its the local council or some nature organisation, with all the complaints of cutbacks and lack of funding, it seems crazy that they have gone to the expense of doing this.  Even if they do have a plan (I can find nothing about it) as to doing this, it has ruined what was a perfectly good Eco system which will take years to recover from.  What you have now at St Marys Wetland is a pool of water for seagulls and some waste ground.