Exploring Northumberland

Bothal Castle

 The weather forecast was none too good as we initially set of for the village of Bothal, possibly often on the itinerary of birdwatchers because of the pool nearby.  Our trip was in the main a none birding outing and because of the weather I was hoping maybe for some Turneresque skies to enhance some landscape photography.  It was appropriate then, that our first stop was at Bothal as this was on J M W Turner’s schedule of visits on his tour of Northern England in 1797.  Turner, the greatest of British artists in my view, was only twenty-two at the time.  His sketches of Bothal, the castle and church remain very recognisable today, although the houses of today are a great deal more up-market and no doubt expensive.  Turner depicts a horse and rider in the sketch of the castle, and coincidently a horse with rider came along the road today.

Bothal Church

The castle, a private residence, has a long history and having taken some photographs of it we took a walk in the Church grounds where bird finds included several Nuthatches and Mistle Thrushes, both species calling loudly.  The Mistle Thrush’s vernacular name of Storm Cock proved appropriate today, as you will later find.

Bothal Church

Bothal Church Grounds

Much of the present church is between 600 and 800 years old.  Inside, which because of Corvid we were unable to enter, holds fragments of an Anglo-Saxon cross suggesting a much earlier church on the site.  Of course, as to be expected there are Victorian additions.  The doorway has a carved inscription reading WH 1578.  We must return in the future when access can be gained to see medieval stained glass, but we did take note of the medieval stone coffins outside.  The graveyard was very natural and contained many trees of age.  The war memorial outside the front of the church is flanked by weeping Ash and Japanese Maple.  The Ash representing the tears of the bereaved and the Maple which turns bright red in autumn, symbolising the blood of the fallen.

 As we left we passed Bothal Pond and a quick look as we drove brought only sighting of two Mute Swans.  Our next stop was to be Swarland.

On route to Swarland we passed Davison’s Obelisk built in 1807 in memory of Horatio Nelson at the bequest of Alexander Davison, a friend of Horatio Nelson who he first met at Quebec, Canada.  Davison became Prize Agent responsible for the sale of French ships taken at the Battle of the Nile.  At Swarland we looked over the Parkland of what had been the estate of Alexander Davison who had planted groups of trees to represent ships of the British Navy at The Battle of the Nile.  Only four of these groups are now still extant, one group being close to the road.  The line of the road represents the line of French Ships.

Nelson Memorial

We next made north to Edlingham Church and Castle.  The weather began to close in and on arrival at the small parking area by St John the Baptist Church, the rain became heavier until we were amidst a heavy squall.  The sky became a  mix of leaden grey cloud and mist as the light faded.  We admired the church in these gloomy conditions whilst we chatted and ate lunch in the security of the car.

Edlingham Church

Once the rain eased somewhat I decided to venture out and photograph the church.  The gloominess did not appear to be disappearing until suddenly there was signs the darkness lifting.

Edlingham Church

The earliest church on this site dates to around 740AD, although the first stone church dates to the 11^th Century.  Fragments of this Saxon church can be found in the lintels of the door.  Much of the remainder is 12^th Century and the tower was added probably for defensive reasons around the early 14^th Century.  Narrow slit windows could be used by archers.  It is thought that the church was used in the 17^th Century to imprison moss-troopers.

From the church it is a short walk to the castle and the nearby burn, a tributary of the River Aln, is close by.

Edlingham Castle

I was extremely impressed by both the church and castle, the latter’s Solar Tower being an especially imposing site.  My mind retuned to Turner and I could not help feeling that the painter missed a trick in not visiting this site on his trip north.  The tower dates from the 15^th Century but other structures are from an earlier date.

Edlingham Castle

Our first sighting of the castle at close range was in the dullness of the recently ceased storm, but as time passed beams of light began to lighten up the outer walls and it wasn’t long before light cloud was dissipating and we were under cerulean skies.   As we had approached the castle the roosting Jackdaws had been disturbed and they appeared to make a noisy retreat to trees nearby and did not return until we left.  We’d had the remains of this imposing castle all to ourselves and we had the privilege of viewing both castle and church in varying moods and weather conditions.  I began to imagine the joys, celebrations, sadness and bloody violence this site had witnessed over the centuries.

Edlingham Castle

Deciding that a visit to the nearby Viaduct can be made at a later date, we drove a little way up the road for the views across the verdant fields toward The Cheviots.  As we took photographs a Common Buzzard flew north of us as corvids mobbed it, and its mewing call seemed to reflect a solemn mood.

The mood changes

We took a long detour on our return home and passed the road to Clennell Hall (the family home of Luke Clennell, an apprentice of Thomas Bewick and Bewick’s principal assistant on The History of British Birds).  He later became an artist in his own right, moved to London, suffered mental illness and died in an asylum in Newcastle in 1840) and Alwinton.  Along the way we had sightings of many Redwing and Fieldfare, and Kestrels.  As we drove along the Coquet valley we followed the serpentine movement of the bright silvery river, now lit by bright sunlight.  The day had certainly been one of multiple moods. 

Towards the Cheviots

Addendum.  If willing to pay a not unsubstantial amount, Turner’s drawings and paintings following his tour north can been seen in David Hill’s Turner in the North.  Possibly cheaper to visit the Tate Gallery in London and see Turner’s paintings there.  I’m pleased I purchased my copy years ago at a reasonable price when first published!

The storm has passed.

Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis (I hope someone does), will know I have fondness for the poetry of John Clare.  I have noted that Turner visited Stamford on his return journey south, the town close by Clare’s village of Helpston.  Clare would have been four years of age at the time, so there will have been no meeting of the two.  However, both I am sure would in later years have become very much aware of one another.  John Clare was introduced as a boy to poetry by James Thompson’s poem The Seasons.  His copy of the poem was purchased at Stamford I believe.  It is interesting to note that Turner too was inspired by the same poem.  I must research into whether the two men ever met when Clare made his short visits to London in later years.  The two men could well have had much in common.

Verdant Northumberland

 

 

Five Hawfinches, A Castle and James Audubon

 Unable to find a space to park near the path to the Hawfinches we decided to visit the castle and river area at Mitford before trying again for a space.  The decision was a good one as when we parked up by the church it was clear that there was plenty of birdlife in its grounds.  Birds seen here included Song Thrush Redwing, Mistle Thrush, Blackbird, Robin, Siskin (heard), Nuthatch, Willow/Marsh Tit (?), Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Goldcrest, Great Spotted Woodpecker, corvids and pigeons.

Lots of bird life in the church grounds.

Mitford Castle

We walked the short distance to the river and followed the line of the pathway up to the castle which dates from the 11^th century and which was in the main destroyed in the 14^th century.  From ground level it is impossible to grasp the area that this castle would once have covered.  Being at the top of the hill gives a much clearer perspective of the castle boundaries and surrounding earthworks.  Whilst examining the area I thought of the many historic foot prints I was following and was remined later that the American bird artist James Audubon was amongst them.  I don’t think I can blame Audubon for leaving the empty beer cans in the cellars of the castle!  We also passed metal stepladders looking rather out of place.  Perhaps the drinkers are also going in for a bit of DIY.   On our arrival at the castle walls numbers of Redwing had risen from the surrounding berries.  The vista from the castle gives a good picture of the variety of trees in the area, sadly having now in the main cast off their autumnal colours.  It was trees we now had on our mind, in particular Hornbeams as we made off to search for the Hawfinches.

Mitford Castle

A castle with a view.

Mitford Castle

As we joined the pathway to the Hornbeams we found a bird equally exciting as any Hawfinch, in the form of a calling Marsh Tit, so rare in Northumberland.  We later had exceptionally good sightings of a pair of Marsh Tits when we returned to the car.  For now, though we were reassured of sightings of Hawfinch by a fellow birder who had just recorded five of them in the line of Hornbeams.  We were not put off by the drizzling rain or the gloomy light which in fact cast a rather enjoyable atmosphere about the area.

The Hawfinches remained elusive for quite some time and I began to wonder if we were to be unlucky.  The trees and hedges were silent.  The eventually one Hawfinch flew over from behind us and gave a good sighting.  Eventually I saw other birds fly in and the single bird was joined by four other Hawfinches.  Eventually we had good sightings of the five birds together as they began to feed on the samaras.  Feeling the seeds hardness gives an idea of the strength of the Hawfinch’s large bill.  The five birds were quick to take off as a hunting Sparrowhawk appeared and flew down the line of Hornbeams before eventually disappearing.  The Sparrowhawk later returned, this time flying away in the opposite direction.  I found it hard to believe that it was as long ago as December 2017 when we had visited this same area to watch Hawfinches.

The Samara which attracts the Hawfinches.

Hornbeams are a rare tree in Northumberland and it seems likely that the extremely hard wood of this species will have been used in the gears of the mills, three of which are known to have existed in this area.  The English name Hornbeam derives from the hardness of the wood (likened to horn), and the Old English beam i.e. tree.

As we left and had our sighting of the pair of Marsh Tits, we read the sign which remined us that the pathway walk along the River Wansbeck has probably changed very little from the time of James Audubon’s visit to Mitford Hall in 1827.  Sam later pointed me in the direction of Audubon’s journal (available on the internet) where he records his visit to Mitford Hall, Mitford Castle and his walk along the bank of the Wansbeck with Captain Mitford.  Audubon had met Captain Mitford, brother in law of John Selby the Northumbrian naturalist and artist, at Twizell House the home of Selby.  The two men travelled together by coach to Morpeth.  Whilst the coach changed horses at Alnwick they visited Alnwick Castle before proceeding on their journey passing Alnmouth.  After his stay at Mitford Hall Audubon travelled to Newcastle which he was none too complimentary about, recording its shabby appearance in comparison to Edinburgh.  Nevertheless, he appears to have enjoyed meeting Thomas Bewick and his family and finding subscribers to his artwork.  I intend to order a copy of the journal as a cursory glance of it on the internet suggests that it holds much of interest, but it is tiresome trying to read it at length on the screen.

Jenny Uglow in her biography of Thomas Bewick records that ‘hearing that Audubon’s sons longed for a copy of (Bewick’s) Quadrupeds, Bewick gave him one at once.’  It is also recorded that Audubon remembered that ‘when I parted from Bewick that night, I parted from a friend.’  Of course, in 1827 Bewick was an old man and he died the following year.  

After we left Mitford we drove to Harewood and passed Winter’s Gibbet which appeared well placed in the now gloomy atmosphere of rain, mist and cold.  We thought it a good idea to photograph the bleakness of the area.  I soon returned to the car for warmth and thought it best to admire the bleakness from my seat.

It was bleak on the moors.

It had been a good day and one were birding was enjoyed along with other interests.  Common Buzzard, Fieldfares and more Redwings were seen along the way.  An interest in ornithology has led us along many paths of interest and I hope this blog will continue to reflect that.  Coming soon will be a report of another interesting trip into Northumberland’s historic sites.