There must have been a shoal of some sort not far off the pier end as hundreds of Terns, mainly Common & Sandwich, were plunge diving into the North Sea. I' will often see Terns in the mouth of the Tyne but this morning they were joined over a period by a decent number of Gannets. I see Gannets passing back & forth along the north east coast regularly with Newbiggin being a particularly good place for close encounters but they don't feed that close in normally. Today however the Gannets joined the Terns some 20 metres or so from where I stood giving amazing views of their diving. Not only the sight but the sound of them hitting the water was brilliant.
Gannets
On the cliffs under Tynemouth Priory at the beginning of the walk the Kittiwakes seem to be having a good breeding season. Here's an adult with a chick
