We departed Musselburgh withthe intention of visiting friends near Morpeth. It crossed my mind that I might be able to squeeze in a boat trip out to Coqurt Island which leaves from Amble harbour. The plan worked out that while Anne had lunch with the friends, I would take the hour-long boat trip out there with the chance of getting a year-tick of Roseate Terns, one of the very few sites that offer a fair guarantee of seeing them.
This plan meant that we couldn’t stop off anywhere else because I had to be at Amble for 1pm. We drove the short route to Dunbar and then took the A1 down to Berwick-upon-Tweed which turned out to be a very strange place and not at all as I remembered. We eventually found quite a good cafe and had some breakfast before heading off for Amble.
We turned off the A1 at road that leads to Waren Mill and then on to Bamburgh, Seahouses, Lesbury, Warworth (where we had stayed previously) and then Amble. We had enough time to meet up with our friends and have a cup of tea before I set off on the boat and they went for lunch
We headed out of the harbour and after about fifteen minutes started to see Puffins and Guillemots and Terns. As we approached the island there were dozens of seals, very curious about our boat, and we also saw a pair of Dolphins surface a few times not too far off.
On the cliffs on the north-west part of the island were Kittiwakes and Fulmars but by far the most common birds were Puffins, skidding along the water and flying really close. The boat was pretty rocky and it was quite hard to stand up safely never mind wield a long lens. Still I managed a good few photos.
As we turned round the top of the island in a clockwise direction, we came to the part some of us had been hoping to spend longer with – the Roseate Tern nest “boxes” These are numbered so it should be easy for the skipper to point the Roseate Terns out to the curious but he didn’t seem particularly able to and this made me wonder why, after all these years, he isn’t more of a help. He also advised passengers that they could tell the Roseate Terns by their black legs. As far as I am aware their legs are red (except perhaps for chicks) So this was all a bit confusing.
I remember last time I went ont his trip being frustrated at the short period of time spent in this area but I suppose it reflects the general tourist interest in spending time with Seals and Puffins. Only birders are particularly interested in Roseate Terns. Anyway I got lots of shots away and (although at writing I have not reviewed them all) I am sure I got a few Rosies.
There were also good numbers of Sandwich and Common Terns, the latter favouring the Roseate Tern are of the island confusing identification quite a bit.
This boat trip is far too short and inevitably I would have wanted to stay there longer. Oh well ! It is still a great little boat trip and always gives you a guaranteed year tick.
Bird Sightings : Coquet Island 27th June 2018
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Northern Fulmar | 6 |
| Common Guillemot | 20 |
| Atlantic Puffin | 1000 |
| Black-legged Kittiwake | 30 |
| Black-headed Gull | 100 |
| Herring Gull | 20 |
| Roseate Tern | 4 |
| Common Tern | 300 |
| Arctic Tern | 4 |
| Sandwich Tern | 100 |
Bird Sightings : Misc Northumberland 27th June 2018
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Eurasian Nuthatch | 1 |
| Song Thrush | 1 |