Youlgreave Circular, Saturday 28th September 2024

As it was Tracey's weekend off, we decided to carry out a walk we have only done once before,  at Youlgreave near Bakewell, situated in the heart of the 'White Peak' area of the Derbyshire Peak District.

It begins in Youlgreave and then you walk through Bradford Dale along to lovely Alport and then along Lathkill Dale and up over the fields back to Youlgreave in a loop.

It takes in some lovely sections of the Rivers Bradford and Lathkill and the impressive limestone scenery of Lathkill Dale as well as the lovely villages of Youlgreave and Alport.

On the walk we managed also to see some nice birds which included 4 lovely Dipper, 4 Grey Wagtail, 4 Raven and the electric blue flash of a Kingfisher at Alport, which had just caught a fish.

After our walk, we had a lovely meal at the Bulls Head, which we can both highly recommend.

The following are my favourite photos from the day.

Bradford Dale

Youlgreave

Alport

Lathkill Dale

Youlgreave

 

Northumberland Day 5, Dunbar And Jedburgh, Thursday 19th September 2024.

Today we planned to visit some different places and travelled over the border into Scotland.

Our first port of call was Dunbar to see the reported Steppe-grey Shrike.

On arrival it was unfortunately nowhere to be seen, and all the birders present split up. Twenty minutes later and i re-located it feeding from a gorse bush on the adjacent golf course.

It then proceeded to give some absolutely stunning views at times down to twenty feet away as it caught Crane flies, what a cracking little bird.

This species is renowned for being tame and this one certainly didn't disappoint.

This is my second sighting of the species after another very confiding individual which was found at Grainthorpe Haven in November 2008 staying from 7th - 26th.

After watching the beautiful Shrike we travelled over to Jedburgh to visit the famous Abbey.

The town of Jedburgh is really nice and the Abbey ruins really great to walk around, a first for us.

Well what a fantastic week away in a truly stunning part of the country and i look forward to our next visit up here.

Adult male Steppe-grey Shrike, Dunbar.

Jedburgh Abbey.

Northumberland - Day 4, Seahouses, Farne Islands & Lindisfarne Return, Wednesday 18th September 2024.

 Today we had booked on a trip out from Seahouses, to sail out and around the Farne Islands and then up to Lindisfarne and back to Seahouses, which included a 3 hour stop on Lindisfarne included in the trip.

A bit of a wait around Seahouses before we caught the boat out, saw us seeing the very strange looking Drake Eider x Mallard hybrid that is a resident around Seahouses.

He gave some great views and it passed the time nicely while we waited for the boat.

Then we were off, first we sailed out to Inner Farne and then on past Staple and Brownsman Islands before arriving at Longstone and its iconic red and white Lighthouse, where in 1838 Grace Darling famously helped save the lives of 9 members of the crew of the paddle steamer the Forfarshire when it ran aground.

We visited one of the islands were the local Grey Seals are present and they gave their usual inquisitive superb views.

After visiting the Farnes, it was on to Lindisfarne and after 45 minutes we were landing on the island.

Today we concentrated our time visiting the amazing Lindisfarne Priory and the many gift shops and had some lovely lunch as well. It was just nice to have a more relaxed visit to the island today, compared to the walk the previous day, what a really great place to visit.

The journey back along the coast did not reveal the hoped for Dolphins, but we did manage to see a Harbour Porpoise and several groups of diving Gannets and Arctic and Sandwich Terns.

Another brilliant day enjoyed in this cracking part of the world.

Eider x Mallard Hybrid, Seahouses.

Adult Great black-backed Gull, Seahouses.

Inner Farne.

Inner Farne, Cheviot & Bamburgh Castle.

Longstone Lighthouse.

Lindisfarne Castle.

Lindisfarne Priory.