Hulne Park
Another trip to Hulne Park, Alnwick today – I almost let the temptation of a lie-in win: but no, it was beautifully sunny, and I decided not to waste the opportunity.
The woods were – as usual – full of little stuff: I was surprised by the number of chiffchaff and willow warblers still around, along with the usual gangs of goldcrests and tits.
I heard a garden warbler singing, and there were robins everywhere, getting territorial and singing their lungs out, as they do.
They still couldn’t drown out the jays though – what a racket!
It was very much a case of “After the Lord Mayor’s show” as far as raptors were concerned, with only one buzzard to show for the visit (a disappointment, given how good the light was – I really fancied my chances of a decent flight photograph or two).
No matter. I was walking by the river and heard the (to my ears) warbler-like song of a dipper. A few yards further on and there he was, standing on a rock in mid-river.
I spent a while taking photographs of the bird, but this section of river is very heavily shaded by large trees, so I struggled.
To be fair, I must be getting better at keeping the camera steady - the attached picture isn't bad for a hand-held 1/50 of a second shutter speed.
Things could have been so much better though...
The dipper flew off upstream after a while, and purely by fluke I came across him again.
This time he was perched on a low small branch on the far bank of the river on a small bend. Bathed in sunshine and only about twenty feet from where I settled, it was the perfect photo opportunity.
The bird seemed totally at ease with me being there too. Obviously this meant that I couldn’t fail this time – I was going to get my Wow Factor shot of a dipper!
I had just got the camera lined up and focussed, picking the “perfect” ISO and EV settings (despite suddenly becoming ham-fisted in the excitement!) when I hear a “peep-peep” to my right: and out of the corner of my eye, I see a tiny iridescent blue dot hooning down the river directly towards the same branch the dipper was on.
Hell's flames! I was going to get a dipper and a kingfisher in the same shot!
Well I must have moved, or – quite possibly – said something out loud: the ‘fisher saw me, freaked out just a yard from the dipper, turned in its own length and rocketed back upstream the way he’d come, leaving a flurry of alarm calls in his wake.
This sudden commotion rattled the dipper in turn, who’d been sitting patiently up to now. He leapt off his branch and scarpered off downstream as fast as his wings could carry him!
Nooooo!!!
To add insult to injury, I’d had a bit of a dodgy belly all day, and had to give up on Hulne Park soon afterwards in order to get back into town and find a loo!
) and follow the road past Morrisons/bowling club and down the bank which is Northumberland Street ( FREE parking all day for anybody not wanting to pay the extortionate amounts AND avoid the red-hot traffic wardens - and it's just two minutes walk from the cetre of the town!). When you get to the bottom of the bank you'll have the Rainbow Nursery on your left and you turn left and go UP the bank - not the road leading to Eglingham & Wooler - which is Ratten Row (the other site which is FREE parking all day!) and the entrance to Hulne Park is at the top! 
