IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Lizard Lane, SOUTH SHIELDS, NE34 7AE

I was a novice at bird recognition so won't try to remember the identity of the spots.

Marsden Old Quarry is managed as a Local Nature Reserve as a unique site for wildlife. It is a site of geological importance being on a long thin band of Magnesian Limestone that stretches from South Shields to Nottingham. Only a few miles wide, this strip was laid down 260 million years ago, in the Permian Period. The lizard is one of three large limestone sculptures - an abstract owl, a lizard and an armchair. They are the work of Marsden artist, ‘Ant’ Bryant. The public art project was backed by donation of the rock by neighbouring Marsden Quarry operator, Owen Pugh Aggregates, for the Limestone Landscapes Partnership. The nearby Souter Lighthouse occupies a location on Marsden's Lizard Point although named after the more southerly Souter Point to avoid confusion with the lighthouse on Lizard Point in Cornwall. The latter is said to take its name from the Cornish words, Lis for 'place' and Ard for 'high'. There are several Lizard place names in this part of South-Tyneside including the Cleadon Lizards, which along with North Field, was part of the medieval common field system on the Cleadon Hills. It possibly also had a similar origin in the appearance of the hills from sea when such things were important for navigation. However, the Common or Viviparous Lizard (Zootoca vivipara) is found in this region of magnesian limestone, including on nearby Lizard's Farm so perhaps it's derivation is not so complicated https://web.archive.org/web/20200205125902/http://www.nhsn.ncl.ac.uk/interests/reptiles-amphibians/common-lizard/

Following the footpath alongside the aptly named Coast Road (or A183) which follows the coast between South Shields and Roker.

Marsden Grotto is a pub and cafe at the foot of the cliffs, accessed by bridge and lift as shown in the photograph

Couple of gulls on the cliff top grassland. Cowslip flowers in the foreground.

View SE, towards Whitburn Colliery: National Coal Board (ex-Harton Coal Co.), South Shields, Marsden & Whitburn Colliery Railway from Westoe Lane (South Shields), closed completely five months later (23/11/53). The train of ancient ex-NER carriages, used by ordinary passengers as well as miners, stands at the platform without locomotive. (See also Image]). (This image was used by BBC TV in one of Michael Portillo's 'Bradshaw' series in 2012).

On a cliff to the south of the main stack in Marsden Bay. Cormorants, Herring Gulls and Kittiwakes can be seen here.

There is a small stack just offshore with breeding Cormorants. Couple of Herring Gulls on the cliff edge.

The entrance to Marsden Grotto (lift shaft) is on the right Image Across the Tyne estuary in the distance are, picked out in sun, the Knott Flats in North Shields (left), and Tynemouth (right).