MarClim Surveys

The Lindisfarne intertidal rocky reefs are one of the many MarClim sites surveyed on an annual basis to investigate the effects of climatic warming on marine biodiversity. An important habitat on the reserve, the rocky reef is the place where land meets sea which provides a diverse but hostile environment.

The MarClim project builds on data already collected to investigate the effects of climate change on the marine environment. An extension of the Marine and Climate Change Program which ran from 2002-2005 the project surveys rocky reefs around the country on a yearly basis.

An interesting project highlighting the importance of long term data sets. You can find information on the data collated and collected by the MarClim project via the National Biodiversity Network Gateway (www.searchnbn.net) or by contacting the
Marine Environmental Change Network (MECN) Co-ordinator (www.mba.ac.uk/MECN).

Nova Mieszkowska (MBA) and Heather Sugden (Univeristy of Newcastle) surveying Lindisfarne inter-tidal rocky reefs

18th January: White horses on the shore

High winds and gales have continued to batter the Northeast coast this week, with Lindisfarne being no exception.

In addition to our blog post about the Lough hide roof damage and Brent geese hunkered down on Holy Island, we bring you views of 'white horses' rolling in to the shores of the Island during the strong winds last week.

The high winds seem to have abated this week but have been replaced by snow and ice! This is still balmy however when compared to the Arctic breeding grounds of many of our wintering bird species.

3rd February: Fenham-le-Moor birdwatch

Sunday 2nd February saw another successful birdwatching event from the Fenham-Le-Moor hide. Reserve warden Laura helped show visitors how special Lindisfarne NNR really is by pointing out why the mudflats are so important as a food source to wintering birds.

Great views of the grey plover, one of the Reserve's winter VIPs, were seen

Highlights include grey plover feeding close to the edge of the saltmarsh, 60 pintail and over 150 shelduck.

It was interesting to meet some local people at this drop-in event - all visitors who attended the live within 15 miles of the NNR and had visited the hide before, but had come out specifically for this birdwatch. Please do come along to our next drop-in birdwatch: Sunday 16th March at Budle Bay, 11.30am to 1.00pm. Full details are on our Events page.

Thanks to our volunteer David who came to help out and was happy for all to look through his telescope at the birds of the Flats.

21st September: Beached Birds update

The analysis of beached birds from the shores of Holy Island and the nearby coast is continuing, with further birds being brought to the Lindisfarne NNR office where they are stored until collection by Daniel M Turner, coordinator of the Northeast England Beached Bird Survey (NEBBS) Group. Daniel then takes these beached birds to the Dove Marine Laboratory at Newcastle University for examination.

Daniel has kindly summarized the latest findings. Daniel writes:

Analysis of a Fulmar found on 10th March 2013 by Lindisfarne resident George Moody has revealed the stomach contents. The plastics within the stomach comprised a total of four pieces including an elongated translucent item approximately 3.5 cm in length and 1.0 cm wide. The total weight of the plastic within this adult male was 0.0255 grams. Another 2013 Fulmar, also analysed in the Dove Marine Laboratory in early June (for details of this analysis, please click here) was a corpse found by beach surveyor Peter Collins between Whitburn and Roker, Tyne and Wear, on 24th March. This bird proved to be an adult female that died from starvation - in its stomach were 346 plastic items, including 16 industrial pellets. The total weight of plastics inside this individual was 0.9839 grams while the length of the majority was between 2 and 4 mm. This latter Fulmar provided tissue samples for future chemical analysis to investigate the level and locations of pollutants. This bird also had unusual swellings on its feet. 

Plastic ingested by the two fulmars (Photos by Dr J A Van Franeker)

A television programme (BBC 1, Inside Out) about the effect of plastics on Fulmars and the environment, was shown earlier in September, with an associated BBC Radio York item.

As well as collecting beached fulmars for analysis the NEBBS Group records all other birds and other natural life found deposited on the shore.

The NEBBS group webpage may be found on their website, and for further information on the international project, including the option to download various reports, visit www.wageningenur.nl/plastics-fulmars

24th July: This weekend's events

This Saturday 27th July, join Reserve warden Laura as she carries out a seawatch from the North Shore of the Island. This is part of ERIC North East and ORCA's Big Watch Weekend, recording whales, dolphins and porpoises across the entire North East coast - more information at ERIC's Big Watch Weekend page. Please feel free to come and join in!

Drop in anytime from 10am to 4pm at Emmanuel Head - when you reach Lindisfarne Castle, follow the path along the coast to the left until you reach the triangular beacon on the shore.

View of Emmanuel Point from Sandham Bay

On Sunday 28th July, our volunteer warden and local historian John will be leading his fantastic Lost Buildings of Lindisfarne walk from 1pm to 3pm. The last Lost Buildings walk was hugely successful and popular, with some attendees returning to hear more from John on his St Cuthbert's walk! You will learn so much about the history of the Island and the local cultures in days gone by, and learn the story of some often overlooked architectural features on the Island.

Places are limited and booking is essential for this event, details of how to book are on our Events page.

John's previous Lost Buildings of Lindisfarne walk

13th May - Rocky shore exploration

This morning was spent looking at the rocky shore on the island where some very interesting and beautiful creatures were found. Catherine, a very knowledgeable Natural England marine ecologist acting as a lead advisor kindly explained more about the sealife found here, as she carried out a survey, and took some great photographs.

Lindisfarne's rocky shore - beautiful day!

Butterfish in one pool

Sea slug

The diversity of life in each tiny rock pool is amazing to see, we counted over 30 species attached to just one tiny rock!

It was great fun to discover the more unusual creatures of the Reserve that are seldom seen, but we were careful not to disturb them or their habitats. Any rocks that were looked at were carefully placed back in their original  position so that the animals and plants underneath were not damaged or killed by exposure to the drying sun, wind and tide.