Gino – ON3SSB

”LET’S SAVE THE GREEN PLANET EARTH”

….also known as

‘Lindisfarne’

Beyond Bamburgh, the tidal estuary-like mud flats of Budle Bay, is Holy Island, still often known by its more ancient name of Lindisfarne. It is only accessible from the mainland at low tide by means of a causeway, which can be reached from the village of Beal.To the south of the more modern road-surface causeway, a series of stakes mark the old route across to the island called the `Pilgrims Way’ which was used in ancient times by visitors to the great Christian centre of Lindisfarne.

This page contains brief details and photo’s of the trip to Holy Island, Lindisfarne, Northumberland National Park (from both 2008 and 2009) and is from the prospective of the World Flora Fauna programme. For a more detailed account of the trips then return to the sidebar Menu, select ‘My Dxpeditions’ and then ‘Holy Island’. Alternativly check out the ‘Gallery’ and you will also find photos on there in the near future – Thanks.

Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve is where in Britain, both land and water meet. The Island can only be reached by vehicle or on foot via a 2.5 mile causeway, which is closed from 2 hours before high tide until 3 hours after at which times the Tide completely swamps the tarmacadam causeway. Tidal mudflats, sand dunes and marshes can be sean in abundance which combine to create a an area of outstanding beauty with many different plants and a home also to a food supply that attracts bird visitors from many of miles away. The NNR is managed by Natural England staff who work to ensure that the birds and plants of the area survive in harmony with the people who live in and those that visit the area in such large numbers daily. The site hosts up to 50,000 waterfowl and is very famous for the flock of light bellied brent geese as this is their only regular wintering place in Britain.  Other internationally important wildfowl and wintering birds that over-winter here include greylag and pink-footed goose, wigeon, grey plover and bar-tailed godwits who fly into the area every autumn.

In the dune ‘slacks’ (where the holes are mainly damp) rabbits perform a useful function in keeping the creeping willow well grazed and thus the eco-system works well here as also allowing the more rarer plants to establish. The site also has a wide range of marine habitats that are created by the varied geology of the rocky inter-tidal zone including, limestone and sandstone and volcanic rock.  This, combined with the interaction of the sea produces some unique habitats and species specific to the Northumberland.

The dune systems support a varying range of fauna including dark green fritillary, grayling and ringlet butterflies and rare moths. It has been discovered that most of the duneland of the Northumberland coast is relatively young – having only developed during the last 200 – 300 years, however here on Lindisfarne NNR, older dunes based on glacial sands and clays exist, where Holy Island has an extensive range of dunes and dune grassland. Here on the Northumberland coast, species to be found include burnet rose; seaside geranium; marsh helleborine; sea lavender; the county flower of Northumberland – the bloody cranesbill and the unique Lindisfarne helleborine.

The Northumberland Coast was designated as an AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural beauty) in 1958 and covers over 39 miles of coast from the Coquet estuary in the south, to Berwick in the North.  The coastline is best known for it’s dramatic landscapes including long sandy beaches, rolling dunes, rocky cliffs and islands.  This thin stretch of the landscape is never wider than 2.5km and less than 50m in width at it’s narrowest point, however it contains a huge variety of natural, historical and scenic interest.  The primary statutory purpose of the AONB is to enhance and conserve the natural beauty of the landscape.

As well as the AONB the area was rewarded also as a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest). SSSIs are the country’s very best wildlife and geological sites. They include some of our Country’s most spectacular and beautiful habitats. As well as the extensive inter-tidal sand and mudflats it also supports internationally important wintering populations of waders and wildfowl.

I visit the island now at least once each Year and its great to be able to operate from there amongst the Flora Fauna. Even during the daytime despite the hundreds of visitors, the area still remains very quiet and solitude found easily. In the evening time when the public and Ice Cream seller have left, with only the Islanders and the radio team are left, then it beats a holiday on the Continent for sure – England at its best!

(tnx to Richard Constantine G3UGF for some of the images)

Thats it for now, hope you enjoyed your visit to GFF-013 & GFF-172,

Holy Island (Lindisfarne) in the Northumberland National Park, both located in Northern England?

Please join me again soon,

73 de Charles…

Hi to all and thanks for viewing my new and improved website. It’s taken a lot of work to prepare this and having been nagged over the last few years to produce a ‘proper website’ then I hope this meets your requirements! I must say a big thanks to the guys for the help: Oliver MW0JRX, Tim M0URX and Anthony MW0JZE who have worked tirelessly to make this event a reality.

For those of you visiting my site for the first time, please check out the Menu to the left and also the sub-menu’s within the main categories for loads of stuff mainly Amateur Radio orientated but not always! About me personally – well i am approaching the ‘big 50’ pretty soon and i am already retired, somewhat earlier than anticipated. I served 22 years as a South Yorkshire Police Officer before finishing through a serious back injury. I spend my time at home now enjoying this hobby to the max (and more according to my Wife!) and loving every minute. Within the hobby I am very active on the HF Bands and within my intrests are various programmes i enjoy. I am a representative for WFF World Flora Fauna and the founder member of the ‘UK & Ireland Flora Fauna‘ Group. This is very interesting to me and allows me to become portable now and again from Nature Reserves and National Parks within the UK as an ‘activator’. I also enjoy the ‘chase’ too and seem to be doing OK with several of the Awards available claimed, the UK & Ireland Flora Fauna (GFF) Award being the latest.I also enjoy the activities of the DCI (Italian Castles Award), Lighthouse chasing and also IOTA which is my main passion. I enjoy the odd Contest too working under various groups such as the SCC (Strictly Contest Club), SRT (Strange Radio Team), the OCC (OXO Contest Club) and of course as mentioned above MC0SHL (Strumble Head Contest & DX Group). I find that being a Member of several teams allows diversity and when one group doesn’t offer the interests of one particular goal then another more than likely will! A lot more information about these items can be find if you have a browse through the new site which i hope you find of interest.

Also keeping me busy at home these days is being the UK (anywhere really!) representative for Gennady at ‘UX5UO Qsl Card Printing’. Again this is another topic that you will find on the sidebar Menu of the new website. If you are looking for competitive Qsl Card prices feel free to contact me for samples without any obligation whatsoever.

This new site will offer many of the old pages in a newer format plus a lot of new stuff such as a ‘Log Search’ facility (for any of the Call signs I have used) and also a ‘QSL Request Form’ which should simplify matters rather than receiving an odd email usually without all relevant details. Also included will the DXpedition pages showing my Island activities around the UK with Ramsey Island, Wales being the most recent trip undertaken

The ‘Log Search’ facility that I touched on earlier will also be an added bonus on this site. Eventually I will have a full list of the call signs I use (or have used in the past) from various events and activities and all will be uploaded to Log Search. Once a call sign is entered it will search each and every Log within the system and give an immediate readout of all the stations you have worked with all the relevant band and mode data, a very useful tool for you for sure. It will also include logs for all the stations I manage too. This however will only be as up to date as the frequency that the logs have been sent to me by the managed stations.

Anyway there we go, nothing more to be said except again a big thanks to the lads at MC0SHL for their efforts and of course you, for taking the time to call in and view the new site. Many of the features listed may not immediately show much as it will take several months to get up to date so please be patient and allow a bit extra time for me to work on the site.

I hope everything will meet your approval so please don’t be shy and remember, sign the Guestbook, your comments are very much appreciated and welcome!

Thanks and kindest regards,

Charles MØOXO