Northumberland Coast
Gazing out to sea, my back to the wide, windswept arc of Beadnell Bay, I watch as the peaks of the incoming waves are whipped up into a fine white mist before dissolving into a froth on the flat, sandy shore before me. I’m in Northumberland, England’s most northerly county – located between the counties of Durham and Scottish Borders on the eastern side of Britain – and I’m standing in a geographically unique harbour.
Unsurprisingly, most of the bays along this stretch of coastline face east, providing views into the North Sea, but the harbour at the northern end of Beadnell Bay is something of an anomaly – a finger of rock curls out to sea and around to the south, creating the only west-facing harbour on the east coast of England. Looking across the wind-agitated water before me, the Northumberland coastline of sandy beaches interspersed with fingers of hard igneous rock stretches into the distance to a horizon punctuated by castle ruins and lighthouses. Located slap-bang in the middle of the 138-square-kilometre Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), Beadnell Bay was established as a fishing harbour in 1798 to transport lime, grain and shellfish and, later, herring, to other parts of the UK. Its unusual orientation is a result of the underlying geology, which consists of a resistant dolomite known as the Great Whin Sill. This rock has had a significant impact on the way in which the area has been exploited by humans and colonised by a wealth of plants and animals.Outcrops of the rock are visible at regular intervals along the AONB’s coast, Lindisfarne Island and the Farne islands being the most obvious examples, followed by the rocky ridges upon which the iconic Dunstanburgh and Bamburgh castles stand, as well as numerous headlands.
The soil that has formed in the crevasses and depressions within the tough Whinstone supports a rich and colourful grassland habitat, known as Whin grassland, which is found only in Northumberland and a tiny part of Scotland. Numerous rocky promontories shelter secluded sandy bays where softer (limestone or sandstone) rock has been worn away by the relentless pounding of the North Sea. Sand and mud deposited by wind, waves and rivers have led to the formation of some key coastal habitats, such as dune systems and mud and sand flats, particularly at Lindisfarne, Goswick and in Alnmouth and Warkworth bays. This has all provided the AONB with a fantastically diverse natural geography that is home to many rare and protected species. Many of its characteristics are neatly encapsulated within the boundaries of just one of its best-known features, Lindisfarne island, which is connected to the mainland by a causeway that is only accessible at low tide. Several thousand visitors flock to the island each year to visit its 16th-century Tudor castle, as pilgrims (Lindisfarne – or Holy Island, as it’s also known – was an important centre for early English Christianity) or to study its natural history. Ten species of native orchid can be found growing in the dune systems on the Snook – the western tip of the island’s long sandy peninsula – including the marsh helleborine, which carpets the dunes in white flowers in June and July, and one extremely rare species, the yellowish-green Lindisfarne helleborine, which is unique to the island. The island’s expanse of sand and mud flats support a wealth of invertebrates, making them rich feeding grounds for scores of nationally and internationally important sea birds, waders and wildfowl. Lindisfarne is not only an important staging post for migrating birds and a wintering ground for populations of wigeon, pale-bellied brent geese, knot and purple sandpiper, it’s also an important breeding site for little, Arctic and common terns, as well as several species of auk, including puffins, razorbills and guillemots. The surrounding waters are also home to Atlantic and grey seals and extensive rocky reef systems and kelp forests.
With this range of land- and seascapes and the associated biodiversity, the AONB is, unsurprisingly, heavily protected. To date, there are more than 25 overlapping designated areas – including a European Marine Site, a RAMSAR site and 12 Sites of Special Scientific Interest – each overseeing the wellbeing of their specific piece of Northumberland. But AONBs are aimed at not just protecting, but also enhancing their attributes and, in the case of the Northumberland Coast, staff are working alongside local communities as well as public bodies to achieve this. One particular project, being carried out with the Environment Agency (EA), involves the re-establishment of coastal habitats by removing artificial flood banks and allowing the sea and rivers to follow their natural floodplains and inundate the farmland behind.
The initiative, known as the 4Shores Project, will have several positive spin-offs. “I think the 4Shores project is such a good partnership project because, for the EA, it reduces its need to manage any flood defences that are going to become more and more unsustainable with sea-level rise and climate change, and from the point of view of the AONB, it’s also creating naturally functioning coastal habitats to support important bird species and other species as well,” explains AONB officer Mary Lewis. “It’s also providing a more natural buffer to protect local communities.” In this case, the flood defences take the form of long 1.5-metre-high mud ridges that, according to the EA, date back to the post-war era, when farmers were reclaiming as much land for agriculture as possible. Under the 4Shores Project, farmers are effectively giving up functioning agricultural land – why? “What it means is farmers aren’t able to use those fields for what they might originally have, but they can still use them for grazing,” says Lewis. And the farmers will be rewarded. “The Environmental Stewardship Scheme run by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs provides payments to reward farmers who manage their land in a more natural and environmentally friendly way.”So far, just one area near Alnmouth has had its defences removed, and it’s acting as a pilot project for a further three sites (hence the name 4Shores) within the AONB. At the time of my visit, before the spring, it was all looking very raw and muddy, with lots of standing water dotted about the eight-hectare site.
“We’ve created shallow ponds – scrapes – which involved scraping out the top layer of soil, creating a little bit of depth. All that’s trying to do is hold a little bit of water in there when the tide goes out,” says the EA’s Maria Hardy, the Northumberland 4Shores project manager. “It creates a bit of mud around the edges, which is really good for plants and starts to create an ecosystem, which we’re hoping will develop into salt marsh.” According to Hardy, it will probably take three to four years for the salt marsh habitat to become established. “I’ve been looking at some other sites on the Humber and down on the Wash where they’ve taken down the banks about three or four years ago, and they’ve already got salt marsh – in fact one, called Freiston Shore, is now a Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserve.” When the marshes become established, they will provide further habitat for a wealth of birds and other wildlife, not to mention another good reason for people to come and visit the region.
An insider’s guide to the best of the Northumberland coast
“My favourite walk is from Boulmer to Craster because it takes in Howick, the Sugar Sands and Howdiemont Sands and the bathing house – it’s brilliant.” Iain Robson,Northumberland Coast AONB access and recreation officer
“It’s the stretch between Dunstanburgh castle, which is my favourite castle since it’s more ruined than some of the others, and Embleton Bay, because the walk covers a very stunning bit of coastline, and Embleton Bay feels wild, remote and natural.” Mary Lewis, Northumberland Coast AONB officer
“My favourite spot is Beadnell Bay – it’s the only bay facing west on the east coast – with the lime kilns. From Beadnell Bay, you can look down the coast and it’s stunning: you’ve got beaches and coastal paths, it’s just very atmospheric and it’s always changing when you’re up there. No matter what the weather is, it’s always a stunning part of the AONB.” Ron Clarke, Northumberland Tourism
“I seem to find a new favourite almost every week. For peace and tranquillity, definitely come here [to the Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve] around this time of year [March] so it isn’t too busy. Come during a high tide, walk along and find a little slack in the dunes, sit down with a pair of binoculars and watch the birds – you won’t see anyone for hours.” Andrew Craggs, assistant site manager, Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve
“I think it’s at Low-Newton-by-the-Sea – there are parts of the area that are better than others, but I don’t think I’d tell anybody those – you’d have to go and walk it and find them for yourself!”
Charles Cuthbert, National Trust coast and community warden
May 2007
Unsurprisingly, most of the bays along this stretch of coastline face east, providing views into the North Sea, but the harbour at the northern end of Beadnell Bay is something of an anomaly – a finger of rock curls out to sea and around to the south, creating the only west-facing harbour on the east coast of England. Looking across the wind-agitated water before me, the Northumberland coastline of sandy beaches interspersed with fingers of hard igneous rock stretches into the distance to a horizon punctuated by castle ruins and lighthouses. Located slap-bang in the middle of the 138-square-kilometre Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), Beadnell Bay was established as a fishing harbour in 1798 to transport lime, grain and shellfish and, later, herring, to other parts of the UK. Its unusual orientation is a result of the underlying geology, which consists of a resistant dolomite known as the Great Whin Sill. This rock has had a significant impact on the way in which the area has been exploited by humans and colonised by a wealth of plants and animals.Outcrops of the rock are visible at regular intervals along the AONB’s coast, Lindisfarne Island and the Farne islands being the most obvious examples, followed by the rocky ridges upon which the iconic Dunstanburgh and Bamburgh castles stand, as well as numerous headlands.
The soil that has formed in the crevasses and depressions within the tough Whinstone supports a rich and colourful grassland habitat, known as Whin grassland, which is found only in Northumberland and a tiny part of Scotland. Numerous rocky promontories shelter secluded sandy bays where softer (limestone or sandstone) rock has been worn away by the relentless pounding of the North Sea. Sand and mud deposited by wind, waves and rivers have led to the formation of some key coastal habitats, such as dune systems and mud and sand flats, particularly at Lindisfarne, Goswick and in Alnmouth and Warkworth bays. This has all provided the AONB with a fantastically diverse natural geography that is home to many rare and protected species. Many of its characteristics are neatly encapsulated within the boundaries of just one of its best-known features, Lindisfarne island, which is connected to the mainland by a causeway that is only accessible at low tide. Several thousand visitors flock to the island each year to visit its 16th-century Tudor castle, as pilgrims (Lindisfarne – or Holy Island, as it’s also known – was an important centre for early English Christianity) or to study its natural history. Ten species of native orchid can be found growing in the dune systems on the Snook – the western tip of the island’s long sandy peninsula – including the marsh helleborine, which carpets the dunes in white flowers in June and July, and one extremely rare species, the yellowish-green Lindisfarne helleborine, which is unique to the island. The island’s expanse of sand and mud flats support a wealth of invertebrates, making them rich feeding grounds for scores of nationally and internationally important sea birds, waders and wildfowl. Lindisfarne is not only an important staging post for migrating birds and a wintering ground for populations of wigeon, pale-bellied brent geese, knot and purple sandpiper, it’s also an important breeding site for little, Arctic and common terns, as well as several species of auk, including puffins, razorbills and guillemots. The surrounding waters are also home to Atlantic and grey seals and extensive rocky reef systems and kelp forests.
With this range of land- and seascapes and the associated biodiversity, the AONB is, unsurprisingly, heavily protected. To date, there are more than 25 overlapping designated areas – including a European Marine Site, a RAMSAR site and 12 Sites of Special Scientific Interest – each overseeing the wellbeing of their specific piece of Northumberland. But AONBs are aimed at not just protecting, but also enhancing their attributes and, in the case of the Northumberland Coast, staff are working alongside local communities as well as public bodies to achieve this. One particular project, being carried out with the Environment Agency (EA), involves the re-establishment of coastal habitats by removing artificial flood banks and allowing the sea and rivers to follow their natural floodplains and inundate the farmland behind.
The initiative, known as the 4Shores Project, will have several positive spin-offs. “I think the 4Shores project is such a good partnership project because, for the EA, it reduces its need to manage any flood defences that are going to become more and more unsustainable with sea-level rise and climate change, and from the point of view of the AONB, it’s also creating naturally functioning coastal habitats to support important bird species and other species as well,” explains AONB officer Mary Lewis. “It’s also providing a more natural buffer to protect local communities.” In this case, the flood defences take the form of long 1.5-metre-high mud ridges that, according to the EA, date back to the post-war era, when farmers were reclaiming as much land for agriculture as possible. Under the 4Shores Project, farmers are effectively giving up functioning agricultural land – why? “What it means is farmers aren’t able to use those fields for what they might originally have, but they can still use them for grazing,” says Lewis. And the farmers will be rewarded. “The Environmental Stewardship Scheme run by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs provides payments to reward farmers who manage their land in a more natural and environmentally friendly way.”So far, just one area near Alnmouth has had its defences removed, and it’s acting as a pilot project for a further three sites (hence the name 4Shores) within the AONB. At the time of my visit, before the spring, it was all looking very raw and muddy, with lots of standing water dotted about the eight-hectare site.
“We’ve created shallow ponds – scrapes – which involved scraping out the top layer of soil, creating a little bit of depth. All that’s trying to do is hold a little bit of water in there when the tide goes out,” says the EA’s Maria Hardy, the Northumberland 4Shores project manager. “It creates a bit of mud around the edges, which is really good for plants and starts to create an ecosystem, which we’re hoping will develop into salt marsh.” According to Hardy, it will probably take three to four years for the salt marsh habitat to become established. “I’ve been looking at some other sites on the Humber and down on the Wash where they’ve taken down the banks about three or four years ago, and they’ve already got salt marsh – in fact one, called Freiston Shore, is now a Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserve.” When the marshes become established, they will provide further habitat for a wealth of birds and other wildlife, not to mention another good reason for people to come and visit the region.
An insider’s guide to the best of the Northumberland coast
“My favourite walk is from Boulmer to Craster because it takes in Howick, the Sugar Sands and Howdiemont Sands and the bathing house – it’s brilliant.” Iain Robson,Northumberland Coast AONB access and recreation officer
“It’s the stretch between Dunstanburgh castle, which is my favourite castle since it’s more ruined than some of the others, and Embleton Bay, because the walk covers a very stunning bit of coastline, and Embleton Bay feels wild, remote and natural.” Mary Lewis, Northumberland Coast AONB officer
“My favourite spot is Beadnell Bay – it’s the only bay facing west on the east coast – with the lime kilns. From Beadnell Bay, you can look down the coast and it’s stunning: you’ve got beaches and coastal paths, it’s just very atmospheric and it’s always changing when you’re up there. No matter what the weather is, it’s always a stunning part of the AONB.” Ron Clarke, Northumberland Tourism
“I seem to find a new favourite almost every week. For peace and tranquillity, definitely come here [to the Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve] around this time of year [March] so it isn’t too busy. Come during a high tide, walk along and find a little slack in the dunes, sit down with a pair of binoculars and watch the birds – you won’t see anyone for hours.” Andrew Craggs, assistant site manager, Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve
“I think it’s at Low-Newton-by-the-Sea – there are parts of the area that are better than others, but I don’t think I’d tell anybody those – you’d have to go and walk it and find them for yourself!”
Charles Cuthbert, National Trust coast and community warden
May 2007
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