Where sea greets shore
All along the Northumberland coast, rocky outcrops reach towards the sea, and the rhythm of the tide exposes the fascinating worlds of rock pools along the shore.
Parting the fronds of seaweeds, such as dulses and wracks, reveals green shore crabs, young edible crabs that will mature in deeper waters, and countless shelled animals, from periwinkles to whelks.
Some shells are occupied by hermit crabs, which play dead, using their claws to seal their pilfered homes or to hold attackers at bay before scuttling off to seek shelter.
In deeper pools and in the shadows, the bright red beadlet anemone holds its tentacles open to catch tiny fish. Small shrimps rely on their almost perfect transparency to avoid being eaten. Rock pooling must be done with care, as the seaweed-covered rocks are often slippery, but the rewards can be great.
Birds are never far away. In spring and summer, the Eider ducks raise their broods of resilient sea-going ducklings. Rock pipits flit over the strandline, picking off insects, and the mournful cries of the curlew can be heard. In winter, the coast often shelters birds blown in from colder climes.
A walk at the strandline, where only the very highest tides have deposited flotsam and jetsam, offers hints of the teeming life in these shallow seas. There are pieces of urchin, discarded crab shells, left over from a spring moult, and a million other shells, from cockles to sand gapers and top shells, along with a rare gem: a cowrie.
A walk between the fine sand and the dunes is occasionally scolded by the call of the stonechats, a sound similar to two pebbles being knocked together. A few curiosities remain, such as the concrete cubes, now painted as dice and Rubik’s cubes, that were designed to prevent enemy tanks progressing up the shore in case of invasion during World War II.
The hard north-easterlies have piled sand into great dunes, now held in place by marram grass. Windblown sand is stabilised and held, creating new land and a rich habitat for wild flowers. The hardy sea rocket, with its light mauve flowers, seems to resist the salt spray, but in the ‘slacks’, between the dunes, the wind drops to nothing, and orchids bloom amid the tough grey leaves of the marram. Butterflies, such as Common blues and Skippers, enjoy the summer to feed on knapweeds and ragwort.