July 2023 Viewfinder
There are new horizons and new subjects in this month’s Opposite View Wildlife Photography newsletter.
If you forced me to move away from Scotland tomorrow (please don’t do that), I would relocate to the Northumberland coast.
We headed to Craster for a week at the beginning of this month. Unusually for me, I didn’t do any research on the opportunities for wildlife photography in the area. It wasn’t a photography holiday. We simply wanted to do plenty of walking, but exploring on foot does always seem to lead me to unexpected encounters.
We rented a place with family and attended the funeral of a much-loved relative in that part of the country at the end of the holiday. The funeral celebrant only half-jokingly asked the congregation to keep the attractions of Northumberland a secret, and therefore I should apologise to him for what I’m about to write. It’s impossible to recount our experience without it becoming a love letter to the Northumberland coast. I can’t resist waxing lyrical about how connected I felt to nature while we were there.
We spent most of our break walking along the Northumberland Coast Path, where the wild North Sea meets wind-whipped dunes and fields, imposing cliffs and pristine golf courses. When you live in the city, it can be jarring even to just holiday for a week in a place with only one shop (in the local smokehouse!), but I easily fell into the slower rhythm. The ebb and flow of the tide. The raising and lowering of a pint of Farne Island to my lips. The magical appearance and disappearance of the dorsal fins of bottlenose dolphins out to sea.
More surprising than the speed I adjusted to the Craster pace of life was how much life was waiting to be discovered on the coast path. If you want to know the full story, you’ll need to read my latest blog, but let’s just say that it was a relief to see the huge variety and amount of insect life. If you follow me on Instagram (and if you don’t, you really should!), you’ll know that I have been expressing concern about the lack of butterflies and bees in places where I used to see lots. The Northumberland Coast Path gave me hope for our insect life. Full of native wildflowers and plants, overgrown in many places and providing shelter from the wind, it was a bug haven. The added benefit was having new species to photograph, including beautiful burnet moths.
More unexpected than that was the discovery of a seabird colony not far from our doorstep. We had looked into taking a boat trip to see puffins and seals on the Farne Islands, but the blustery conditions made us a little uneasy about getting queasy. And with so much on land that we wanted to see, we parked the idea. But Craster came up trumps again, and nearby Cullernose Point proved the perfect spot to watch seabirds without the anxiety.
Last month I fell in love with the seabird colony at Fowlsheugh, but Cullernose Point was better. As the warm late afternoon sun made frequent appearances between iron grey clouds, I sat on the headland with my partner. We watched kittiwakes and fulmars float by just metres away while razorbills posed on the rocks below. I should probably say that the serene scene was broken at frequent intervals by my swearing as I missed locking focus on yet another kittiwake rushing by on a gust of wind. Thankfully, my partner was the only human around to hear me and he is accustomed to my antics. I am not sure what the seabirds thought.
The only downside of visiting a seabird colony in the current climate is the ever-present spectre of avian flu. On the return leg of a long walk, we found a dead kittiwake on the path at Cullernose Point; splayed out in an angel pose, its beak pointed up to the sky. When we first spotted it from a distance, I was terrified it was still alive and we would have to witness its pain. But it was already gone; the only life in a lifeless body caused by the wind disturbing its pristine white feathers. It couldn’t have died long before we saw it. I reported the body of the kittiwake but have no idea if it had avian flu. I was concerned about another bird that seemed withdrawn, but I am no expert when it comes to this disease. In recent days, I have seen tweets from people saying that the colony is doing well, which is a relief. That said, always report any dead wild birds - it’s better to be over-cautious when dealing with this devastating disease.
I’ll leave you with a happier image of a kittiwake than the one I just described. This individual was very much alive and seemed to be enjoying the vast horizon of the wild North Sea, just like me.
Best wishes,
Rhiannon
Opposite View Wildlife Photography
Through my lens
Winging it - photographing insects on the Northumberland Coast Path
The Northumberland Coast Path hugs the stunning coastline for 62 miles - from Cresswell in the south to Berwick-upon-Tweed in the north. The landscape along the path is constantly changing - from sandy beaches to golf courses, wildflower meadows to coastal dwellings - and is punctuated by dramatic castles and pillboxes occupied by swallows. I expected to spot wildlife, but the variety of insect life there was a pleasant surprise.
In this blog, I share some of my insect images from the coast path and explain why I used a long lens and back button focus to capture them.
Species Spotlight
Kestrel - the hovering hunter that harnesses the wind
Out of the corner of your vision, you spot a bird suspended in the air above a field, like a kite on a string. When you take a closer look, you see a falcon that seems to float effortlessly. However, this hovering hunter is constantly working to defy gravity - harnessing or creating lift and using complex movements to adjust its position and stabilise itself. It can also do all this while keeping its head perfectly still, to ensure its vision isn’t compromised. The kestrel may be a common bird of prey in the UK, but seeing it at work will always be an exceptional experience.
The kestrel is a stunning and remarkable raptor. In this blog, I explain why it is also the perfect predator to point your lens at.
And finally…
I have just made some additions to the galleries on my website. The new galleries include my favourite images from my summer seabird encounters and more antics from the local roe deer - this time in the frost and ice of winter. There are more galleries on the way, so please keep visiting my website to keep up to date.
Keep in touch
Thanks for reading this! If you have any comments or questions, opportunities for photography or if you would like to use any of my images, please leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you.
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Like you I have fallen in love with Northumberland, we will be back. Just really appreciated being in your company and sharing your experiences and knowledge of wildlife.