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me that sea-birds were gathering on the sands in exceptionally 

 large numbers between Alnmouth and Warkworth. I told him 

 that there must be a large number of small fish, Sprats or Sand 

 Eels, well in-shore, or in the sand, and I was reminded of the 

 two above occurrences and referred to them. My son-in-law 

 crossed over to the narrow southern ledge of rock, and after he 

 had got on his bathing costume I noticed that he was trying 

 to attract my attention. We thought he had discovered 

 something amongst the rocks, and we walked over. There we 

 found on the beach countless thousands of small Sand Eels. 

 They were floating about in the sea, and lying in large numbers 

 in pools and on the sand, in places several inches thick. 

 In places their heads were sticking out of the sand. Many of 

 them came up and died. Where the sand was disturbed with a 

 stick, a number of them were disclosed dead or dying. This 

 existed from the Carr Rocks down to the Killicrankie Road, and 

 I am unable to say whether it went further in the direction of 

 Amble. Probably it did. I ascertained in the afternoon that 

 the same state of things prevailed right along the coast from 

 the Carr Rocks up to Alnmouth, and that there were large 

 numbers of Sand Eels on the north side of the Aln, but how 

 much further north they went I do not know. When first I saw 

 such large numbers of Sand Eels come up and die, I concluded 

 that they had been killed by the excessive heat of the sun, but 

 on this last occasion I could not reconcile the occurrence with 

 any unusual temperature, in fact it was cooler than it usually is 

 at this time of the year. What quantity of Sand Eels were 

 washed about in the sea and lying about on the beach I cannot 

 say, but in the aggregate they must have weighed many tons. 

 All the Sand Eels were small, and measured about three inches 

 long. My son-in-law informed me that when he went in to 

 bathe he could feel larger fish rubbing against him in the water. 

 These, no doubt, had followed the Sand Eels, and were feeding 

 upon them. Amongst the Sand Eels, between the Carr Rocks 

 and Alnmouth, were some dead flat fish and whiting, but not 

 any great number, though many more than are found on the 

 beach at any time, unless it be after a big storm. 



