Day 14 - Newton-by-the-Sea

Went to Newton Links and walked on beach (Beadnell Bay); looked in rockpools. Saw two big crabs and a little hermit crab, shrimps. Birds: curlew, oystercatcher, heron, redshanks, eiders, cormorants, terns, various gulls.

Then we went to Low Newton-by-the-Sea and had lunch looking over beach with sparrows flitting around us.

Fish n' chips for tea. Packed. Kestrel over fields being mobbed by crows. Journeying home tomorrow.

Day 13 - Bamburgh & Budle Bay

Very lazy day. Starlings, sparrows, blackbirds in garden. Grey wagtail trotting on car roof this morning.

Drove over to Bamburgh, had look over Budle Bay (tide in - saw herons, eider ducks and young). Wandered around village. Looked over patch of water between Bamburgh and Seahouses, a sort of permanently flooded field, really - mute swans and cygnets, shelducks (& juveniles), small flock of lapwings. Terns sitting on posts, blackheaded gulls.

Returned in the evening - tufted ducks & ducklings, mallards & ducklings, swifts.

Went over St Aidan's dunes onto beach. Wished I'd brought a camera to capture the colours of sand and sky. Heron, eider ducks. Andy saw silhouette of a diver out at sea, sitting low in the water. Sandwich terns, various gulls, cormorants flying low over the sea.

Back at Budle Bay - tide out. Curlews, oystercatchers, redshanks, heron, various gulls. Lots of waders silhouetted on the sands, but too far in the steadily dimming light to identify.

Can hear owl and curlew calls from cottage.

Day 12 - Kielder

Drove to Kielder Forest and Water. Buzzards and kestrel spied on journey. Drove around Water stopping at various places. Lots of chaffinches, heard and caught glimpse of tiny goldcrests in the treetops - and another baby rabbit! Alas no red squirrel sightings.

Stopped off at Bakethin Reservoir to go to a bird hide. Tide was up so not as much to see as might have done, but saw a heron, several mallards, some tufted ducks, a little grebe, lots of fish jumping and one startled moorhen....startled because of the otter! Great views as it swam across the deep, still waters from one of the islands, effortlessly diving down and back up again, totally streamlined and delightful to watch.
'Have you ever seen an otter in the wild?' Andy mouthed at me (we weren't alone in the hide at the time). I shook my head gleefully. I'd been reading the leaflet which said otters might be spotted at dawn and dusk. It was 2.30 in the afternoon.
'You don't get to see otters very often,' the man next to us explained to his two young sons, all dressed up in their camouflage gear and carrying fantastic cameras(!!)

Stopped at Kielder Castle and went to tea room where we had warm bakewell tart with custard! Walked around grounds in one last ditch attempt to see red squirrel...nope. Still, we'd seen an otter!

Drove across dam but couldn't see over wall! Oystercatcher on the side of the road. Drove back to cottage and went down the road to eat at the Lodge bar and restaurant.

Day 11: Alnmouth to Amble

Went down to Alnmouth - had lunch looking over the beach. Greenfinches, chaffinches, house martins, sparrows, curlews, terns, lapwing.

Proceeded on to Warkworth Castle, in (you'll never guess) Warkworth. Good value, as we got a two for one ticket from English Heritage from the first cottage. The keep was very intact and good to explore - great sense of atmosphere, with ground and first floor. Pied wagtails, carrion crows.

Drove beside River Coquet to Amble where we walked around the harbourside. Lots of gulls and crows. Sandwich terns shrieking and fishing.



Note: there is a house martins nest in the doorway of cottage. Young must have fledged but keep returning and flying back and forth.

Day 10: the Farne Islands

Walked down to Seahouses and ate lunch in harbour (young eiders, terns). Boat trip around islands - grey seals, gannets, puffins, occasional guillemot or razorbill, shags, cormorants, kittiwakes on rocks, various gulls. One rather impressive Arctic Skua which the pilot and guide didn't notice, although the little boy beside me piped up 'big brown bird!!' - he must have an eye for ornithology. Very distinctive tail with the telltale prong (typed 'pong' accidentally, had to go back and correct it!), with sharp pale front. Various terns.

Landing on Inner Farne: puffins, a few guillemots, cormorants and young, kittiwakes and young, terns and chicks - identified Arctic , Common, Sandwich and Roseate terns. Air thick with birds - hard to describe both proximity and density of birds around us. We came before in 2006, so more prepared this time - and less compelled to take pictures of absolutely everything.

Back to Seahouse for fudge chunk ice cream. Went out for evening meal at the Craster Arms in Beadnell. Back at cottage, looked at moon through Andy's spotterscope - could make out craters on the shadow side - awesome. Bats, too, and owl shrieking somewhere. Curlews calling across fields.

Day 9: Craster to Dunstanburgh

Walked to Dunstanburgh Castle from Craster. House sparrows, linnets, eiders and ducklings, fulmars, kittiwakes and young nesting on cliffs in castle grounds, swallows, kestrel.

Walked around the castle, largely ruined. Mainly sunny. Climbed the spiral stairway in the tower. Am not very good at that these days; I get wobbly and fear I'll lose my footing. It's not simply vertigo; it seems I am afraid of falling down steps. How odd (and annoying - I even feel nervous on escalators these days).

Bought some famous Craster kippers. Lazy evening - watched Lost in Translation.

Day 8: Cragside

Left our cottage in Lowick in the morning. Walked around Wooler. Did a brief detour into the Breamish Valley and visitor centre there. The Cheviot hills are beautiful as is the river valley. Saw thrush, bullfinch, heard tits and chiffchaff.

Then we went onto Cragside. National Trust Property with over 40 miles of woodland walks (!) Drove around (a necessary option) and stopped off for walk half way round. Alas saw no red squirrels (am rather obsessed with seeing one). Saw a baby rabbit. House impressive and very well presented.

From there we went to Barter books in Alnwick. Wandered around before popping into Sainsbury's for supplies. Arrived at our cottage in North Sunderland, a village adjoining Seahouses, about 4.30pm. Fish and chips from Seahouses for tea. Put a film on from the shelf to watch - The Green Mile.

Day 7: Ford and Etal

Visited Etal Castle this morning. Greenfinches, swallows, house martins, bullfinch, crows, blackbirds, rabbit (!)


Walked around Etal and then went on to Ford Village.

Ford Village has very pretty buildings - including Horseshoe Forge! Enormous amounts of birds - house sparrows and swallows absolutely everywhere, plus chaffinches, juvenile robins and juvenile blue tits.



Lunch at the Barn at Beal. House martins there too. Lazy afternoon.

Day 6: Our Anniversary

Today is our 4th wedding anniversary. Poor Andy suffering from migraine so did not got to Kielder as orginally planned. Went for anniversary meal at the Lindisfarne Inn - not quite the romantic atmosphere we'd hoped but yummy Doddington's fudge chunk ice cream. Went out to look over Cocklawburn beach afterwards. Eiders on water.

Day 5: Holy Island

Lazy morning. Afternoon on Holy Island - walked the dunes and shoreline of the north coast. Saw swallow fledglings - sweet! Linnets, pipits, grey and pied wagtails. Eiders on sea, gannets flying across. Stonechats, skylarks, reed bunting.

Gorgeous poppies in fields - took pictures on my SLR (not digital I'm afraid!) High brown frittilary butterflies. Moths - lots of burnets (not sure of type) emerging from pupae on grasses and drying off their wings.

Day 3: St Cuthbert's Cave

Went for a drive and followed signs to St Cuthbert's Cave, which we'd seen on our main road map and pondered over. Seeing the signs made us investigate! Initially, not being sure of the exact location of the cave, we walked up to St Cuthbert's Way, where we looked down from the hills right over to the coast and Holy Island, above and beside St Cuthbert's Wood. We'd come prepared for rain - but the sun decided it was time to come out and blazed down merrily. Skylarks rising frequently into the air as we walked, and at one point we were surrounded by fearless stonechats, 'chat-ting' away cheerfully around us - lovely. Lots of pipits also about. Suddenly saw a hare on the slopes below - and then another and another - at least half a dozen of them skipping around. Brilliant view through binoculars.

We then went down into the (coniferous) wood, where we discovered the cave itself. Since we came from the top of the wood, we actually walked over it before we saw it - I did say 'do you get the feeling it's underneath us?' The cave was inscribed with names and dates - graffiti, I suppose. But along with 'Ed, 1999,' was a set of initials and the date 1752 chiseled into the stone. Lots of 1800s, too.

Saw treecreeper, chaffinch feeding young, willow warblers, robin. Beautiful sunshine despite forecast. Wonderful view of yellowhammer in gorse on the walk back - singing 'a-little-bit-of-bread-and-no-chee-eese!' - head stretched back as it sang, beak wide and throat trembling with the different notes. Swallows and house martins down near car park (Holburn Grange). Another possible willow warbler.

Buzzards in sky as we drove. Stopped in Chatton, sat on bench in Village Green then walked round churchyard (feeling rather weary now). Drove down through Wooler and then back to cottage. Planning to go to Edinburgh tomorrow.

Day 2: St Abb's Head

Lazy morning. Went up to the Scottish Borders and to St Abb's head - walked a little way, not too far as Andy gave his ankle a bit of a twist. Had lunch in car before walking on. Still a fair distance considering Andy's ankle! Every now and then a vole dashed across the path in front. Saw guillemots, razorbills, gannets, cormorants, kestrels, terns, chaffinches, fulmars, other gulls, linnet, & skylarks.

Heaven's opened for walk back - absolutely drenched. Kept muttering about the sogginess of jeans and the need to get myself some waterproof (or at least fast drying) trousers.

Checked location of Berwick train station for future reference, stopped at Morrisons, where we got some 'Mackies of Scotland' honeycomb ice cream - oh my word is it gorgeous. Back to cottage.

Evening - short wander around the area of Holy Island Causeway (under water at the time). Curlews, herons, mysterious bird with very bizarre twisting and tumbling flight - possibly a curlew sandpiper from flight description?!

Day 1: up to Northumberland

From Leicester we drove to Ripon, where we visited the cathedral and then picked up some lunch. Was drizzling when we went into cathedral, pouring when we came out. Jeans are horrible when damp.
Arrived at our cottage in Lowick, Northumberland, just before 4.oopm. Spied wren in the bushes. Still raining. Little walk around village in evening, had drink at The Black Bull, a pub in the village.