8th-11th April. Sam and I arrived in Bamburgh at lunchtime
and having dropped our possessions off at the 17th century manor
house where we stayed for bed and breakfast, we picked up sausage rolls and had
lunch, with Bamburgh
Castle towering
overhead. We shared crisps with a
friendly Rook, began a count of Pied Wagtails, and watched as Fulmers nested under the castle, before
heading around to Stag Rock. The sun was
shining, but it was bitter cold in the biting wind. We had seen Common Buzzard, Kestrel and Lapwing
on the journey from Killingworth.
Our sea-watching was rewarding. Along with our first Shags and Gannets of the
year we found the likes of Eider, a
large raft of Common Scoter (which
we checked for anything more unusual), twenty plus Long-tailed Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, Kittiwake, Guillemot and I’m sure a couple of Puffin. Other notable birds
seen included thirty plus Purple
Sandpiper, Skylark and flock of Twite. As I say, it was bitterly cold and we sought
some shelter beside the lighthouse (the most northerly mainland lighthouse in England I
believe) and another building. Grey Seals in some number were seen
close to shore. Our mammal lists are
ticking along nicely this year.
Bamburgh Castle
When we returned to the village and dropped the gear off it
was about this time that we made our first appearance in the Copper Kettle Tea
Rooms. Incidentally, voted amongst the
top twenty tea rooms in the country by the Tea Guild. Sam and I only go for quality. After a cuppa and some very nice ice-cream we
walked down to the woodland and SSSI area in the dunes below the castle. We thought this would have been a great area
for migrants had the weather of late been more appropriate. Of course there wasn’t any at all, but we did
find Little Grebe, Mute Swan, Mallard,
Tufted Duck, Goldeneye and Moorhen along with tits, finches and
the likes of Blackbird.
We had experienced a good start to our trip and we were
content when we went to the pub for dinner.
We later sat by the log fire at the manor house attempting to warm up
and waiting for complete darkness to set in before going out for some night photography. Blimey, when we did go out it was more than
bitter cold! Unfortunately the castle
wasn’t lit up completely (maybe the electricity bill had not been paid!), but
we still managed some photography. Me
continuing my practice sessions! It was
good to warm up a bit by the log fire afterwards. The manor house where we stayed is a very
large and interesting building. More or
less a farm house, and owned by Charles and Barbara Baker-Cresswell. The family have a military history, and
incidentally, the father of Charles was one of the men who were first on the
scene when the Enigma Machine was taken from the Germans during World War
11. This event has since been made into
a film by the Americans. Of course in
the film all of the credit wrongly goes to Americans and it has little, if any,
basis of fact within it. Not untypical
of American films! Anyway, sleep was
welcome. I did wake to hear a Tawny Owl during the night. The next thing I knew the alarm was heralding
a new day.
Night shots in Bamburgh with Sam making an appearance.
9th April.
We headed to Spindlestone after breakfast and we were very thankful of a
lift from Charles which got us to the area bright and early. We were greeted by a Red Squirrel and Sam lay
out some hazel nuts supplied by Charles.
It was the first of two Red
Squirrels seen here today and a good photo opportunity. Birds seen around the feeding station
included Mallard, Moorhen, Sparrowhawk,
Pheasant, Wood Pigeon, Great Spotted
Woodpecker (pair), Wren, Dunnock,
Robin, Song Thrush (H), Blackbird,
Great Tit, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Treecreeper, Chaffinch and Yellowhammer. Oh yes, and a single Chiffchaff. We were
surprised not to find Nuthatch. As we
walked the area, Roe Deer was seen.
A Red Squirrel greets us.
We took time to explore the area and also visit a family
friend of Sam’s. I enjoyed the cup of
coffee. I’m really surprised that
information and reports concerning sightings in this area seem to be so thin on
the ground. It’s a great area and seems
to be very well managed. It should be explored more often, and will be in May when
we lead our RSPB walk up here. We walked
up to the Lime Kilns and up onto Spindlestone Heugh having recorded both Peregrine Falcon and Sparrowhawk in the wider area. We found Skylark,
Meadow Pipit, Linnet and Pied
Wagtail on the Heugh, and also two very large Highland Cattle which we were
glad we hadn’t walked into! There are
excellent views both inland and along the coast, although by now the area was
clouding over and so the views across Budle Bay
and northwards were not as good as they could have been. It had still been worth the effort to get up
the hill. Now my second exploration of
this area has me understanding why Sam has always admired the place. We managed to avoid the Laidley Worm! We did find Bumble Bees and several Honey
Bee hives seemed very active. Three Grey Wagtails were found on the burn,
but not the hoped for Dipper.
On the Heugh with kilns below.
We eventually got down to Budle Bay to find that the tide
was at its highest point, although we still found Shelduck, Wigeon, Eider and a flotilla of nineteen Red-breasted Merganser close to shore
at times. After a bite to eat we
followed the coastal path way back to Bamburgh via the golf course and Stag
Rock. We found a nesting/roosting site
had been occupied, as could be told from the fresh bird droppings. I’d found a Little Owl in this very spot many
years ago and it may still be used by this species. The walk included an amusing stop in one of
the sea defences that remains from the World War 11. So
amusing, that it will later become a separate blog post.:-) We did find Stonechat nearby (which seems to be a rarity still these days) and
saw Slavonian Grebe on the sea,
which was a lifer for Sam and a year tick for me, as was the Stonechat. More, or possibly the same Red-breasted Mergansers were seen again
and Common Scoter was also
found. Mistle Thrush was seen today.
The only waders seen were Oystercatcher,
Redshank and Curlew.
By evening we were very tired and decided to give the night
photography a miss and concentrated on our bird lists. We had seen fifty five species today and more
Grey Seals had joined the mammal
list. My year list became a bit of a
mystery and we decided to try and sort that out the following day, such was our
tiredness tonight.
10th April.
Barbara kindly gave us a lift to Seahouses this morning. It was cold and initially damp. I still enjoyed the time spent at the harbour
and in the mud. Eiders gave excellent photo opportunities although the Long-tailed Duck was less
obliging. The remains of a dead Puffin
and Guillemots were found on the harbour mud.
More Purple Sandpipers were
found and Ringed Plover, Grey Plover,
Turnstone, Bar-tailed Godwit and Rock
Pipit were added to our trip list.
After looking around the RNLI Boat house we decided to have a cuppa and
then look around ‘the tat’, I mean gift shops.
Do people really buy this stuff?
We hadn’t planned a visit to the Farnes and although the boats were
sailing around the islands we thought it not worth going out, such were the
conditions. We have a future planned
trip to look forward too. We returned to
Bamburgh and paid another visit to the Copper Kettle Tea Rooms. We were by now regular patrons here and
beginning to feel as though we may have caught an RSPB bug.
In the mud with an Eider.
We walked up to Bamburgh
Castle and decided that
we might as well pay a visit here. After
all it was a cultural trip we were on. I
enjoyed the time here. We filled some of
the evening in with photography in St Aidan’s Church and decided that we must
visit again in the morning. The church
bells were rung as we returned to the manor house after dinner. I don’t think they were rung with us in
mind. The Rookery was noisy and busy.
I managed to sort out my year list to some extent and found I had missed
some birds off. I still haven’t got
round to working out which ones. Good
though that my year list is a little longer than I had thought!
St Aidan's. I really enjoyed the photography on this trip and there will be more to come on the blog next week.
It seemed a little warmer this evening!
11th April.
Sadly this was our last morning in Bamburgh, but we made the most of it
by re visiting the church with photography in mind. Church life was quite frantic this morning
with a window being removed and much work on the flower arranging. Nothing got in the way of the photography
however and this is to be the subject of another blog post in the future. Afterwards we had a walk down to the castle
for a last look at the Fulmers
there. We found numbers of Linnet.
A walk was also taken in the dune area before we returned for cuppa in
the Copper Kettle. I bet they are
missing our custom today!
Sam and I had a great trip and a lot of laughs. Our trip bird list came to a nice round
seventy species with Red Squirrel, Roe
Deer and Grey Seal too. Not at all bad for a trip that was not simply
focused on bird watching. Thankfully the
rain on the whole had kept away. My
thanks to Sam for the great company, help with the photography and lots of
laughs, and my thanks too, to his mam for the lifts.:-) It had been a five star trip with a stay in
very interesting accommodation and with a very warm welcome.
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