Welcome To My Blog,This Will Be Mainly Used As A Diary For My Local Birding Patch At East Halton/Goxhill On The Banks Of The Humber Estuary,With Occasional Twitching And Visits Elsewhere Including Photos From Mine & Tracey's Walks And Holidays Around Our Beautiful Countryside.
Another great forecast was on the cards today, so we decided to travel 20 minutes down the road to beautiful Lindisfarne.
As on our previous visit, we walked around the whole island taking in the stunning scenery and amazing quiet beaches this island has to offer.
We also saw some lovely local wildlife which included hundreds of Grey Seals, a family of Roe Deer, Stonechats, a lovely Juvenile Whinchat and several species of Waders, which included Sanderling, Bar-tailed Godwit and good numbers of Ringed Plover.
We also saw a few flocks of south bound Pink-footed Geese and the first returning Pale-bellied Brent Geese, were really nice to see also.
Alnmouth is such a lovely little place and we enjoyed our walk around the village and on the beach and had some lovely lunch in one of the cafes.
Our final destination for the day was Amble and we had a wander around the harbour before i dropped Tracey off at the cottage and i spent the last few hours of the day watching Budle Bay, with the obligatory Med Gull being seen, along with the usual Greenshank and a couple of Goosander.
Juvenile Whinchat, Lindisfarne.
Grass Of Parnassus, Lindisfarne.
Part Of The Extensive Dune System Around The North Of The Island.
Today we were again up bright and early to beautiful wall to wall sunshine, but a tad fresh first thing as we headed 20 minutes up the road to Low Newton By The Sea, to carry out one of our favourite coastal walks we have ever done.
The walk basically is an out and back along the coast to Craster, taking in the very impressive Dunstanburgh Castle, with its iconic ruins on the skyline as you walk along.
A few nice birds along the first part of the walk, saw us enjoying some great views of a Spotted Redshank on Newton Scrape and a juvenile Peregrine which was harassing a local Buzzard.
Further on a single adult Mediterranean Gull and a handful of Arctic and Sandwich Terns near Dunstanburgh Castle gave some nice views.
The weather was lovely today and it gave us some great chances to take lots of photos.
As we arrived at Craster we decided to have an early lunch at the local pub with some great sea views, just lovely.
After stuffing our faces, we began the return leg of the walk and as i was approaching Dunstanburgh again, i spotted a triangular dorsal fin and the hoped for Bottle-nosed Dolphins were watched as they passed slowly south towards Craster.
There were only 3 animals in this small pod, but were just great to see all the same.
More nice birds and the fantastic scenery kept us entertained, what a lovely walk this is!.
We managed a pretty impressive 71 species of birds on the walk and as we walked past the scrapes, the Spotted Redshank was still there.
After enjoying this amazing walk, we decided to have a walk along the beach at Bamburgh and up to Stag Rocks, before going into Bamburgh for tea.
On the way back to the cottage, i stopped off at Budle Bay were the best sightings went to 4 adult Med. Gulls and a Greenshank, with a few Pink-footed Geese seen distantly.
What a brilliant day.
Low Newton/Embleton Bay.
Mrs R, With Dunstanburgh Castle In The Distance.
Dunstanburgh Castle.
Embleton Bay.
Sanderlings, Embleton Bay.
Bamburgh Castle, One Of The Most Imposing And Impressive In The Country.
An early start this morning to journey north for a week away staying at Belford in Northumberland.
After a good drive along the A1 without any major issues, our first port of call was the amazing Cragside Estate near to Rothbury.
This estate was the home to William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong of the famous Armstrong Whitworth armaments firm.
He was also famous for his inventions and designed a hydraulic crane and the Armstrong gun.
He also made his house the first in the world to be lit by utilising hydroelectric power.
The gardens are vast and it is a really enjoyable place to walk around, with many imported species of trees from around the world.
After visiting this stunning estate we headed for the coast and had some tea in Bamburgh, before dropping in at the fantastic Budle Bay. This would be the first of many visits here during our stay, as it was only ten minutes from our cottage.
