The joys of international travel! This is my first trip overseas in several years, a photo workshop to the UK. Our evening flight out of Phoenix was delayed by two hours. Missed the connection in London to Edinburgh. After navigating massive queues of stranded travelers, we were rebooked on the last flight out to Edinburgh, which also ran late. Instead of arriving mid-afternoon at our beautiful hotel in the heart of charming old town Edinburgh, we arrived past midnight in the pitch black.
Add to that, I put my debit card in an ATM at Heathrow to get some British pounds sterling. The ATM ate my card. While walking through the terminal I spotted a television screen flashing a Breaking News banner – British Air (our airline) is planning to go on strike in July. Our return flight is July 7. I wonder how long we’ll actually be visiting the lands of my forefathers???
I’m writing this from a charming country cottage in a bucolic seaside resort town named Seahouses on England’s coast. The photo workshop was originally scheduled for summer of 2020, but was canceled with the onset of Covid. Postponed again in 2021 due to Covid. Third strike and you’re out, so here we are, vaccinated and boosted to the hilt and wearing our masks, even though about 95% of fellow travelers are not. Covid variants are on the rise in Europe and the UK. Add to that, the photo workshop is meant to focus on seabirds on the England’s Northumberland coast. But avian flu is currently decimating the seabird populations. The boat trip out to Bass Rock which hosts the world‘s largest gannet breeding colony (150,000 birds) was canceled. What else can go wrong? Can only get better, right??
And yes, it did get better! Once we connected with our group of congenial bird-loving photographers and our indefatigable leader, Denise Ippolito of Creative Adventures, all the glitches were dealt with and we are having a lovely time. We’re sharing a charming country cottage with individual bedrooms and a communal great room, situated in bucolic countryside with rolling pastureland and even a castle crowning a distant hill.
We sailed to Inner Farne Island, where Northern Terns and Puffins abound, with a little extra excitement as we rescued a stranded tour boat that was dead in the water. Our crew towed it to safety before landing us on the island for an hour of shooting time. On the return voyage, our boat was joined by a pod of at least 100 exuberant dolphins who were literally somersaulting themselves clear of the water.
To replace the canceled tour of Bass Island, we took a day trip 4 hours south to Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire, home of the world’s largest land-based breeding colony of gannets. A gannet is a handsome, large, white seabird with a wingspan of 6 feet. Many more bird varieties congregate on the chalk sea cliffs, half a million birds in total. Yesterday we took it easy, staying close to home, with an outing to the village of Bamburgh at the foot of Bamburgh Castle, and a stroll down the beach and nearby cliffs in Seahouses, where we were greeted by a clutch of Common Eider ducklings before photographing the Kittiwake gulls nesting on the cliffs.
More to come – after the workshop Mike and I are staying on for another week to take a quick tour through the Scottish Highlands, Isle of Skye and Inverness. You can view my collection of ‘keeper’ images by clicking the link below.
