Redshank

The last day of my last break of the summer saw me head out to the coast on the metro.  

Alighting firstly at Tynemouth I sat with a coffee watching the boats come in before walking along the Tyne to North Shields. There wasn’t anything as big as when I last walked this stretch ten years ago, but still plenty of interest including a major new piece of public art, the fishing memorial Fiddler’s Green (extra).

A walk through town brought me to the day’s football destination: North Shields FC (extra).Former FA Amateur Cup and FA Vase winners, Shields have recently stepped up to the Northern Premier League (D1 East) as had today’s visitors, their neighbours from across the river, Hebburn. A robust bank holiday derby saw Hebburn nick it with the last kick, or header, of the game for a 1-2 win.

Back on the metro I headed up to Cullercoats where I secured my RNLI pin badge before walking up the coast to Whitley Bay. It was this first rocky stretch at Brown Point which provided the best wildlife highlights of the day, including a small flock of Redshank (main image) and Turnstone foraging in the surf just below the prom and a Rock Pipit on the rocky beach. Rounding the headland into Whitley Bay brought my first view of St Mary’s Island  and confirmed that the causeway was submerged.  This helped me decide to stick to a more sedate amble rather than rushing to try to get out there and back in time for my train home. 

A good end to what’s been quite a full three days.