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.