Dunstanburgh Castle from Embleton Beach - geograph

Embleton Bay is a bay on the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

, located to the east of the village of Embleton,

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It lies just to the south of

Newton-by-the-Sea Newton-by-the-Sea is a civil parish in the county of Northumberland in Northern England. The parish is about 8 miles northwest of Alnwick, and lies on the coast between the larger settlements of Embleton and Seahouses. Newton-by-the-Sea is in t ...

and north of

Craster Craster is a small fishing village on the Northumberland coast of England, from Alnwick. The next village to the north is Embleton. It has a small harbour and offers a view northwards along the rocky shore to the ruins of Dunstanburgh Cast ...

. Popular for

paddling Paddling with regard to watercraft is the act of manually propelling a boat using a paddle. The paddle, which consists of one or two blades joined to a shaft, is also used to steer the vessel. The paddle is not connected to the boat (unlike in r ...

, it is overlooked by the ruins of

Dunstanburgh Castle Dunstanburgh Castle is a 14th-century fortification on the coast of Northumberland in northern England, between the villages of Craster and Embleton. The castle was built by Earl Thomas of Lancaster between 1313 and 1322, taking advantage of t ...

and by Dunstanburgh Castle Golf Club.

Geography

The beach has a

whinstone Whinstone is a term used in the quarrying industry to describe any hard dark-coloured rock. Examples include the igneous rocks, basalt and dolerite, as well as the sedimentary rock, chert. Etymology The Northern English/Scots term ''whin'' is fi ...

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

s and the sand is a ruddy gold color. At its southern end, a castle is situated on a black cliff

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the so ...

. A little trout stream, known as the Embleton Burn, begins in the inland moors, makes its way through an area of the old barony, woody denes, and channels, before reaching the centre of the bay. The coast from Newton Seahouses to Dunstanburgh Point is made up of sandhills. Located on the

, the bay is a good stopping place in offshore winds, and is formed by the points known as Out Car and Emblestone to the north and Dunstanburgh Point to the south. The anchorage is in . There is good holding ground, with Heifer Bank Tower and trees in line with Dunstanstead, at a bearing of 232°; and Beadnell Church Spire, open to the east of Newton Point, at a bearing of 335°. There is a dramatic

boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

field.

History

In the 1830s, a sandstone rock was discovered near the low tide mark on the Embleton sea shore. Carved on the rock in Roman capitals were the words, "ANDRA BARTON". "Andra", or Sir "Andrew" Barton, a Scottish

sea captain A sea captain, ship's captain, captain, master, or shipmaster, is a high-grade licensed mariner who holds ultimate command and responsibility of a merchant vessel.Aragon and Messner, 2001, p.3. The captain is responsible for the safe and efficie ...

and "fearless

freebooter Freebooter may refer to: * Marine freebooters, or piracy, pirates * Filibuster (military), an individual who engages in unauthorized warfare against foreign countries * Rapparee, the Irish usage * Meadowbrook Freebooters, American polo team * Freeb ...

", was a mariner in James IV, King of Scots' navy.

Flora and fauna

Flora in the dunes area include

bloody crane's-bill ''Geranium sanguineum'', common names bloody crane's-bill or bloody geranium, is a species of hardiness (plants), hardy flowering herbaceous plant, herbaceous perennial plant in the cranesbill family (biology), family Geraniaceae. It is also the ...

potentilla ''Potentilla'' is a genus containing over 300Guillén, A., et al. (2005)Reproductive biology of the Iberian species of ''Potentilla'' L. (Rosaceae).''Anales del Jardín Botánico de Madrid'' 1(62) 9–21. species of annual, biennial and perenni ...

, eye bright,

bedstraw ''Galium'' is a large genus of annual and perennial herbaceous plants in the family Rubiaceae, occurring in the temperate zones of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Some species are informally known as bedstraw. There are over 600 spe ...

spring squill ''Scilla verna'', commonly known as spring squill, is a flowering plant native to Western Europe. It belongs to the squill genus ''Scilla''. Its star-like blue flowers are produced during the spring. It is a small plant, usually reaching 5-15 ce ...

wild thyme ''Thymus serpyllum'', known by the common names of Breckland thyme, Breckland wild thyme, wild thyme, creeping thyme, or elfin thyme, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae, native to most of Europe and North Africa. It is ...

, and wild vetch, . Some of the bay's cliffs are a

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...

site frequented by breeding

eider duck Eiders () are large seaducks in the genus ''Somateria''. The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The down feathers of eider ducks, and some other ducks and geese, are used to fill pillows and quilt ...

fulmar The fulmars are tubenosed seabirds of the family Procellariidae. The family consists of two extant species and two extinct fossil species from the Miocene. Fulmars superficially resemble gulls, but are readily distinguished by their flight on ...

kittiwake The kittiwakes (genus ''Rissa'') are two closely related seabird species in the gull family Laridae, the black-legged kittiwake (''Rissa tridactyla'') and the red-legged kittiwake (''Rissa brevirostris''). The epithets "black-legged" and "red-le ...

, and

shag Shag, or Shagged, or Shagger, or Shagging, or Shags may refer to: Animals * Shag or cormorant, a bird family ** European shag, a specific species of the shag or cormorant family ** Great cormorant another species of the family People Pseudonym ...

s. There is an occurrence of '' Atelecyclus rotundatus'' within the bay.

References

* * * * {{coord, 55.5033, -1.6127, display=title, name=Embleton Bay Bays of Northumberland

Bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...