Sun and Rain

We went to Low Newton today to have our first look at the pond which Newton Stringer mentions a lot. What a lovely part of the County, and the scenery was great. Get the awkward ones over with first - Can anyone help we with this bird ?





We did meet a very knowledgable chap in the hide who helped us identifying lots of birds and gave us some good advice, one minute there was nothing there then all of a sudden loads of "wee birds" were in and out like express trains - forgot to ask his name but he did say he was from Shilbottle. Then along came our first Water Rail, quite a fussy little bird and a bit skitterish.

We were there a good 90mins but then had to depart to fill ones stomach. The walk back to the car was the slowest we have ever made. There is just so much to see on that little track (including the piles of dog shit that are liberally sprinkled throughout the place). Caught a courting couple trying a bit of jiggery pokery but scared them off

The next little fella gave me the eye for staring at him, wasn't bothered as I thought I could take him

Forgot to mention that on our way to Low Newton we popped in to try and catch a sighting of one of the Barn Owls, only one came out this morning but stayed quite far away although he did suprise us and came directly over our heads and then circled for a few seconds (yes, I was changing my batteries at the time) but got a couple of distance shots anyway.

Back to the story, remember our bellies were rumbling so we headed to Craster to sit and look at the harbour and enjoy our healthy meal of wholemeal roll, bit of brie and a fresh fruit salad prepared by my good self. This was given a back seat when the smell of grilled kippers permeated the car park. The wholemeal bun was fed to the sparrows, I ate the brie and the Kipper Buttie was great. The harbour contained 3 Female Eiders plus several chicks, 3 Redshank, 5 Black Headed Gulls, zillions of starlings wheeling about and loads of cute (aaaahh) sparrows.

I also espied a 2nd good looking bird that day with their beady eye on me

With my grumpy old man hat on and my even grumpier wifes we wish to point out the state of the toilets at both Low Newton and Craster. They were both disgusting (I wont bother to describe them), I went into the Tourist Info Office at Craster to complain but the lady behind the counter was on the phone for at least 10mins so gave up, there were others trying to complain also. First thing I did when I got home was zing off an email to Northumberland Council. This spoilt a great day out, even the rain on the way home couldn't spoil it although a couple of prats doing ludicrous speeds in those dreadful conditions nearly did.

Well its absolutely Pi****g down atm, haven't even gone out to replenish the various feeding stations in the garden, although only the pigeons have arrived so far and they are just scratting around the ground, plenty of stuff there. I decided to try a Nyger feeder (bloody expensive stuff) and after 4 days still no sign of Goldfinches even though this chap assured me it would work practically straight away (I have see Goldfinches on 2 occassions in my street so I know they are around).

Time to get ready to go out (Thinks, where is there a hide close to a car park so we dont get wet)