Northumberland 2017 (1 Viewer)

Northumberland Holiday 2017

Having visited The Farnes on the way home from Orkney last year we decided to visit again this year and see the rest of Northumberland while we were at it, conveniently my Brother and his wife live there so we were able to cadge lodgings and food for free!!! Although it may not have been such a great idea as we were fed so well my flirtation with the 13 stones is over and I’m well and truly back in the 14s ☹

Day 1 Sunday 21st of May

We set off early doors as we had decided to break our journey at RSPB Blacktoft Sands, lured by the presence of a Montagu’s Harrier and the fact that we hadn’t been before, stopping only at Cambridge Services for fuel, a very nice Almond Croissant and a coffee we arrived in good time, the Montys was still present and gave prolonged but distant views making photos difficult. The Marsh Harriers and Tree Sparrows however were much more cooperative and I got some okish images!! Lots of other birds here with singing Sedge Warblers and Whitethroats, Little Egrets, some Avocets and the usual wildfowl. Having had our fill of the Harriers and the marvellous scenery we continued our journey arriving to an excellent Roast Chicken dinner with Apple Crumble for pud!!

Some pics from Day 1 can be found here

https://onedrive.live.com/?id=6356FB2BA7828F28!9415&cid=6356FB2BA7828F28

Osprey and Squirrel

Day 2 Monday 22nd of May

Today we headed to Kielder Forest, a journey across moorland failing to find any Grouse, Whinchats or Rouzels (this became a recurring theme throughout the holiday no matter how hard I looked) although several Meadow Pipits, Skylarks and a couple of Curlews were nice. We arrived at the main carpark, I was pleasantly surprised that parking was only £5 for the whole day and the ticket could be used in any of the carparks around the forest (take note beachy head) we headed for the Osprey watchpoint having already seen an Osprey flying down the middle of the lake from the car. Loads of Hirundines here, mainly Housemartins and Swallows. We arrived at the watchpoint where the volunteer told us he hadn’t seen an Osprey in the 4 days he been volunteering, I scoped the nest and pointed out that there was an Osprey sat on the camera mount, as I said it an Osprey flew down the lake carrying a humongous fish!!! Now either I’m the luckiest birder in the world or….We left the watchpoint and a now happier volunteer behind and headed for the Red Squirrel hide, I’m not usually a fan of hides named like this as usually I never see the named beast, however today was different as after about ten minutes of watching Siskins, Coal Tits and about a thousand Chaffinches a beautiful Red Squirrel dropped in from behind the hide and posed amazingly before disappearing never to be seen again (this was the only encounter we had the whole trip despite being in suitable habitat a lot).

Buoyed by this success we headed up to Kielder Castle, which Margie was disappointed to find was a hunting lodge, I pointed out this wasn’t my fault and this had to be counted as one of her castle allowance!! It did however have a nice café where a nice piece of chocolate tiffin was welcome! Suitably refreshed we visited the Bakethin Nature area where a nice walk to the hide and back, saw us find a nice group of 4 Bullfinch, a couple of Spotted Flycatchers were also a bit of quality in an area with plenty of birds, the Hide, where we sat out the only rain of our trip was very entertaining as Little Grebe wars was fully underway with a pair trying to drive off an interloper, a very noisy, violent encounter which was still going strong when we left!! The only other bird of interest was a fine Drake Mandarin which was not something I was expecting!! Margie’s castle disappointment was somewhat assuaged by being able to walk over the Kielder Viaduct where the views over the lake were spectacular!!

As we headed back, narrowly avoiding death at the hands of a log lorry driver who seemed to think that driving a foot from the back of the car at 50mph and then overtaking us at 50mph going into a blind bend is acceptable, only my quick reaction and the cars brakes saved us from being forced off the road, Somewhat shaken we stopped at the Elf Kirk viewpoint for calming views over the forest and lake and were rewarded by a Pipit chasing a Cuckoo into the top of a tree. We returned to base, fruitlessly scanning various moors before arriving to another large dinner!!

Some pics from Day 2 can be found here

https://onedrive.live.com/?id=6356FB2BA7828F28!9448&cid=6356FB2BA7828F28

Superb photos Paul. Particularly like the Spotted Fly.

Rich

ClarkWGriswold said:

Superb photos Paul. Particularly like the Spotted Fly.

Rich

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Thanks Rich,

Was a tricky little blighter buried in the undergrowth!

Got a few more days to do but sorting the pics is taking a while!

Moors and Castle

Day 3 Tuesday 23rd May

Today, lured by talk of Wood Warbler, Pied Fly and Redstart we decided to head to Grasslees Burn Wood reserve, however, despite taking the directions off the Northumberland Wildlife Trust website straight into my sat nav, we couldn’t find it☹ We did find a walk to Darden Lough which on the post said a 4 mile round trip which in reality was nearer 7 miles!! No sign of any of the target species although we did find 3 Buzzard, a Snipe, a pair of Wheatears, a pair of Stonechats, a few Curlew, Mipits and 4 Red Grouse one of which nearly gave me a heart attack as it burst out from the path in front of me!! The best thing about this walk was the stunning views all around, although the Lough itself was a bit of a disappointment! Weakened through exhaustion I agreed to go to Chillingham Castle, which as usual was a large building full of stuff I have no interest in although finding a couple of Spot Flys in the woodland walk and a nice fruit scone in the café was some recompense, Margie seemed to enjoy it though, takes all sorts I suppose!!

Completely zonked now we contented ourselves with a drive back along the coast, We stopped at Bamburgh Castle but unfortunately were too late to go in ☹, lots of lovely Yellowhammers in the hedgerows one of which posed beautifully and a very obliging Sedge Warbler, were the main highlights of the drive, though I did manage to scope a nice flock of Scoter off the beach at Druidge!! Back to base for a very tasty Chicken and Asparagus Lasagne !!

Some Pics from Day 3 can be found here

https://onedrive.live.com/?id=6356FB2BA7828F28!9484&cid=6356FB2BA7828F28

Slow Day by the River

Day 4 Wednesday 24th May

Allen Banks and Staward Gorge was the destination today, another lovely walk although apart from a couple of Gooseander, Grey Wagtails, and a Treecreeper was largely birdless, no sign of any Dippers despite scouring every inch of the river and 3 other birders telling us they had just seen one!! Seems I used all my luck on the Ospreys!! We had a hot tip that the Lambley Viaduct was good for Dippers again great views from the top, again no Dippers grrrrrrrr!!!!

Giving up we followed advice to drive the road between Whitfield and Haltwhistle, lovely moorland views, quite a few Red Grouse, a Curlew with 3 chicks and several other Curlews flying around and loads of Mippits but couldn’t find a Whinchat or a Rouzel, woe is me ☹ We headed home along the road next to Hadrian’s Wall bits of which were on view from the car, and took our host out to dinner at the Widdrington Inn, where not only was the food tasty the portions were massive I only just had room for my delicious Chocolate Mocha Torte but bravely struggled through!!!Farnes Tomorrow!!!

Some Pics from Day 4 can be found by clicking on the link below

https://onedrive.live.com/?id=6356FB2BA7828F28!9519&cid=6356FB2BA7828F28

Great report, I laughed out loud at the Osprey bit. Hope you told the guy where the nearest specsavers is.

John

Farnboro John said:

Great report, I laughed out loud at the Osprey bit. Hope you told the guy where the nearest specsavers is.

John

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Didn't like to mention it!!!

Farnes at Last!!

Day 5 Thursday 25th May

Glorious weather for our all-day Birdwatching trip to the Farnes accompanied by my non-birdwatcher brother!! A fantastic trip, the sight, sound and smell of thousands of Seabirds at close quarters is always spectacular, difficult to pick out a highlight but the Puffins are always cool and the Arctic Terns are beautiful as they drive their bills into your head, although I only got pecked once and my hat took the brunt of it. The only downside of the trip is the sheer number of people allowed onto the islands at once, most seem not to be birders and seem unprepared for the Terns onslaught While watching large people running away from tiny birds is amusing, the sight of them flapping at the birds with their coats bags etc isn’t and had one connected it could of inflicted a lot of damage on the birds, I’m not really sure how the National Trust get away with this really as a birder/photographer I am constantly being told not to disturb the birds and about the large fines should I do so, and yet here the birds closest to the boardwalk were constantly being flushed off their eggs to attack people too close to them, I suppose money talks and maybe there were more people than normal because of the nice weather and I guess if those birds produce fledged young every year no harm done!
Despite all that and the fact that our trip, though advertised as a birding/photography trip, had a boat so crammed full of people photography was extremely difficult and when more people joined after the first island we had to join a different boat which was even fuller and went a different way meaning we had less time on Inner Farne that we were supposed to, I still had an awesome time and managed to take 3750 pictures!!!! Although give me Noup Head on Orkney everytime!!! Extremely knackered we headed back to spicy meatballs and spaghetti and a cold beer to reflect on the fabulous views of Puffin, Fulmar, Guillemot, Razorbill, Kittiwake, Gulls, Eider and Seals that we’d had and I got me first Shag of the year!!!!

Rather a lot of Pics from Day 5 can be found by clicking the link below (don’t worry it’s not 3750)

https://onedrive.live.com/?id=6356FB2BA7828F28!9544&cid=6356FB2BA7828F28

Agree entirely with these observations re the Farne Islands. I used to visit every year, but I think the numbers of visitors have been allowed to get out of hand.

The Farnes are a cash cow for the National Trust. Nothing more. As the years have passed, I have found the experience to be less and less enjoyable.

I believe there was a case a couple of years ago where one visitor killed an arctic tern by hitting it with an umbrella or something in a panic at being "attacked".

The boat companies should warn people of what they will encounter, especially on Inner Farne. But of course, they don't, because that might risk them losing money.

Malcolm

I often wonder too how the National Trust get away with the level of disturbance birds are subjected to on the Farnes. While the Farnes undoubtedly provide great photo opportunities, I much prefer the boat trips around Coquet Island. They have more restrictions on passenger numbers, so you have room to move around, can't land (so avoiding disturbance of breeding birds), and have the added advantage of roseate terns. Photo opportunities of BIF around the boat are still good.

Lindesfarne

Day 6 Friday 6th of May

A more cultural day, we headed to Lindesfarne where Margie enjoyed the Priory, although couldn’t go to the Castle as it was being renovated I managed to hide my disappointment 😊 and contented myself with the stunning views around the island. Best bird was a Little Tern, though largish flocks of Godwit and Grey Plover was also nice as were the large seals and the Rock Pipits, We visited the winery where a bottle of Mead was purchased and fled the island in the nick of time as the sea closed in over the causeway!! ( Ok it was a good 2 hours before high tide).

With the culture out of the way we went looking for Dippers again, trying the Hedgely estate near Powburn, no luck but a nice walk with Common Sandpiper, Yellowhammers and Sandmartins the best we could manage, flagging now we headed down the coast stopping at 2 castles on the way Alnwick and Warkworth, though in both cases never got out of the car, it seems exhaustion puts a damper on even Margies castle addiction!! We ended up at Amble where a nice Crab Sandwich at Jaspers café revived us somewhat, a wander around the harbour was very enjoyable with close views of Eider and distant views of Terns around Coquet Island some of which were almost certainly Roseate!!! (I scoped the island from further up the coast but even this was difficult to be sure and we had missed the last cruise around the island). We returned to delicious Chicken Fajitas with a Chocolate desert involving Cherries, a ripple bar and cream!!!

Some pics from Day 6 can be found here

https://onedrive.live.com/?id=6356FB2BA7828F28!9700&cid=6356FB2BA7828F28

Last Day

Day 7 Saturday 27th May

Our last day, we said our goodbyes and started the journey home we decided to break our journey at RSPB Fairburn Ings, unfortunately with the weather looking ominous and us being extremely tired we decided not to explore too much, contenting ourselves with a walk near the visitor centre, although we managed good views of Tree Sparrow, Bullfinch, Blackcap and Sandmartin, looks a great reserve though, so hope to visit again soon. That was very much that, a single Red Kite and a Chilli Dog with Waffles to follow and unlimited Coffee at Ed’s Diner at Cambridge services were the highlights of the drive home and so our holiday is over ☹

Northumberland is a fantastic place with great scenery, hardly any traffic and everyone we met was friendly, apart from the Log Lorry driver that is!! I was a little disappointed on the bird front though to be honest it was my own fault we never left the house until gone 8 most days and if you don’t put the effort in you’re not going to be rewarded, that being said we did connect with some great birds and had a great time!
Many thanks to Adrian and Julie for putting us up and putting up with us and thanks also to the guys and girls on the Northumberland Birders facebook group for local knowledge and some expert tips

A few pics from Day 7 can be found here

https://onedrive.live.com/?id=6356FB2BA7828F28!9727&cid=6356FB2BA7828F28

An entertaining read and a terrific series of photos and - only sad that there were none of the food !

Cheers
Mike

MKinHK said:

An entertaining read and a terrific series of photos and - only sad that there were none of the food !

Cheers
Mike

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Sorry Mike wasn't on the plate long enough for pictures!!