This Journal covers a year in the author's life, after he decided to leave his job and branch out. He describes various findings made during some of his regular coastal bird surveys in Northeast England, from the river Tyne northwards into East Lothian and to The Netherlands on a fulmar workshop. The mouth of the Tyne and local fish quay feature highly; day-to-day conversations with fishermen, lifeboat men and other river folk are described. The author goes about fund-raising activities for Tynemouth lifeboat station and begins as a volunteer driver at St Oswald's Hospice (Gosforth). Summer brings additional bird observations with monitoring of the nesting Tyne kittiwakes and local fulmars. Birds, Beaches and Boats's pages are flavoured by passing ships and the comings and goings of the fishing fleet at North Shields fish quay … and its gulls.
Daniel Turner was born in Tynemouth and has lived both there and in North Shields, spending time away studying. He has always enjoyed the delights of the Tyne river mouth, North Shields fish quay and the Tynemouth headland. Developing an early interest in natural history, especially ornithology, he surveys the birds of the river mouth and fish quay throughout the year. Daniel coordinates the Northeast England Beached Bird Surveys group and regularly walks beaches to record finds, some of which are collected for study. The author is a keen photographer and many of his photographs help to illustrate this book.