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 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 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.