Capture The Moment

Misty St Mary's

The weather forecast had promised great things for Friday, so I wangled a day off and got down to St Mary’s Island, Whitley Bay. I’d actually intended to go further afield, but slept through my alarm…

Not to worry – I was confident that St Mary’s would be quiet (read: not too many dog-emptiers) and sure enough I had my favourite wader spot, the north end of the beach at the South Bay, to myself.

The Sun was bright too, but it was behind a thick layer of mist for most of the time I was there – it was like being in a giant soft box, but with all of the downsides of strong light – highlights were a pain – and none of the benefits like good contrast and rich colours.

Still, I tried to make the most of the breaks in the low cloud, and actually had an enjoyable day, eventually wandering north from the island up the coast to Hartley village.

Although I’ve been known to complain about how aesthetically unappealing the backgrounds are on the local beaches (especially compared with Salthouse in North Norfolk, for example) I have to say that I really like the colourful seaweed we get here.

It’s also nice to see that some of the Turnstones are starting to get the first of their Summer plumage coming through, as can be seen in the ruddy feathers coming through on the back of the second Turnstone above (and the origin of their full name, Ruddy Turnstone).