 |
| Leaplish waterside park, Kielder, Northumberland - ferry jetty & reception (right). |
DAY 1 - The log cabins are very spacious and warm and you can park right outside too, which is ideal when lugging your birding kit back and forward.
After admiring the House martins that had nested on the outside of the cabin we feed ourselves and headed off to the on site hide.
 |
| Here for long? |
The Red squirrel hide which is situated on Leaplish waterside park is a 5 minute walk hugging along Kielder reservoir with some absolutely stunning views.
This hide is probably the best place to see Red squirrels without having to wait hours for one to show; I clocked up to 5 all at the same time after about a 20 minute wait.
The birds here are your usual feeder species such as Coal tit (lots), Great tit, Blue tit, about a gazillion Chaffinches, a few very smart Nuthatches that kept nicking the squirrels nuts (ahem) and then burying them all over the place and my personal favourite Siskins.
Other species included Great spotted woodpecker, Wren, Robin, Carrion crow, Song thrush, Blackbird and Dunnock.
Here's some pictures, I make no excuses for their rubbishness:
 |
| Red squirrel at a Red squirrel feeder. |
 |
| Nuthatch nicking the Red squirrels nuts! |
 |
| Oh look, Chaffinches & Coal tits |
We decided to put up a feeder outside the cabin and guess what we attracted?!:
DAY 2 - After a good nights sleep and a decent early start the next day, we set off for Northumberland's Wildlife Trust Bakethin nature reserve:
There are plenty of walks you can do here which lead off in different directions but the Bakethin reserve walk takes you through a series of different habitats such as coniferous woodland, wet pasture, some felled patches of heathland and deciduous trees alongside Kielder reservoir. A very early morning start or late evening walk are good for spotting Roe deer and Otter. Bird wise there was plenty including raptors such as Buzzard, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk (Osprey and Goshawk are also seen around this area but I didn't see any on my trip). Wildfowl there were Pochard, Tufted duck, Gadwall and a very healthy population of Mallard as well as Cormorant, Grey Heron, Little grebe and my highlight of the day - a female Goosander (which breed in the woods around Kielder waters). Plenty of woodland birds present to such as Goldcrest, Robin, Coal tit, Jay, Chiffchaff, Black cap and Wren of which some local fella told me are now quite rare due to some of the harsh winters they have had. We started the small (green) walk first to the bird hide passing under the old disused Kielder railway viaduct. From the hide most of all the above species can be observed but unless Red squirrels are any good at breast stroke you won't see them from the hide, in fact I encountered none on the whole walk.
After a few hours in the hide we decided to tackle the longer (orange) walk - The hedgerows along the main road leading up to the start of this walk produced 3 Bullfinch of which I heard their faint whistle like call only to then to fly off and dive for the deepest cover they could find. Leaving the road then took us up towards the coniferous woodland of which I was hoping for Crossbills feeding in some of the Sitka Spruce trees but never saw although we did get some Meadow pipits in the wet pastures along the way. Making our way up through the coniferous woodland it then opens out onto a path with a sloping bank of f heathland of which we came across a Bronze age burial mound
The views of the reservoir at this height are fantastic and great for raptors with mainly Buzzard and Kestrel circling. Coming down from the hillside and then meeting up with the path beside the reservoir produced a pair of Jay's that was hanging back in some Birch trees next to a over hanging crop of protruding rock. If you have a spotting scope then its worth taking it with you around the whole of Bakethin reserve for better views of wildlife on the reservoir and in the tall coniferous trees as binoculars will only work best in the woodland and bird hide. DAY 3 - A trip to Kielder castle (a hunting lodge built by the Duke of Northumberland in 1775) was on the cards and the latter of the day was then a drive up the scenic 12 mile - Forest Drive toll road.
Kielder castle has a free museum on the wildlife and history of the castle and the surrounding area and is where you can purchase for about 2 quid a local wildlife map of the area, well worth the money as it saves a lot of time on what to see and do. Check the back window of the gift shop as there is a squirrel feeder and a bird feeder that did have both Great spotted woodpecker and Red squirrel on them at one point of which you can get very close too.
DAY 4 - NWT High Hauxley reserve & East Chevington reserve, Druridge bay, Northumberland and a 45 mile drive from Kielder is well worth it. Both reserves are excellent for sea watching and East Chevington has the bonus of Reed beds and pools that were once mining pits. On the Drive there I spotted both Pheasant and Red Legged Partridge on the roadside which kept things interesting as I was trying to negotiate the car over the undulating landscape. To start with High Hauxley shoreline has some brilliant views of lots of species of wader including Bar tailed godwit, Curlew, Turnstone, Sanderling, Ringed plover, Knot, Dunlin and Oystercatcher. Some of these species could also be viewed on the pools in the middle of the reserve of which Common sandpiper was also present bobbing around the edges and 2 Snipe. Wildfowl included Mallard, Wigeon, teal and decent numbers of Greylag and Canada Geese and a couple of Mute swans. Some shoreline photos:
After plenty of walking the shoreline and scanning from the hides I decided to do some sea watching with excellent views of Common scoter and Eider duck. Leaving High Hauxley and driving the 3 miles to East Chevington was a worthy journey as the Marsh harriers were showing in the distant reed beds near the entrance road and car park. Marsh harriers have only just started to breed in Northumberland again after 130 years of absence; the first pair raised up to 4 chicks in 2009 and they have been successful this year too with views on the day of a male, female and an immature bird scaring the lives out of the Lapwing and gulls that were in the surrounding farmland.
Rather than visit each hide of which are the very uninviting nuclear metal bunker type, we decided to hit the dunes and then onto the beach of which is very different from High Hauxley with a huge expanse of fine sand stretching for miles. Along the dunes were some very smart Wheatear of which I counted around 5 individuals, along with some Pied wagtail. Heading on to the beach was the highlight for me in watching Gannets diving for their prey of which I presume where adult birds showing the immature birds how its done. Nature events can be really cool to watch at times and these birds do not disappoint diving at speeds of up to 60mph without damaging those delicate bones in their body. Amazing stuff. An immature Gannet free diving: Gulls were on show such as Herring, Black headed, Common and Great black backed as well as some Sandwich terns passing through. Bobbing up and down on the sea I found 2 Red throated diver's and an immature Guillemot. Heading full circle and off the beach back along the pools we also saw some Cormorants flying over and flock of Goldfinch tinkering away at each other complete with a few low flying Swallow gulping up the early evening flying insects of which in turn were taking a liking to my blood. Also found this little guy in the car park and safely relocated him into the grass verge:
And here's one of Hadrian's wall on the last day before we headed home. Well it can't always be about the birds?
PS: Not one flipping sighting of an Adder either. Never mind. |
No comments:
Post a Comment