Despite being very much a local birder, even someone like myself needs to take a break from the local patch and head off on holiday somewhere. After having three holidays cancelled this year due to the corona virus, I was finally able to bag some away time in the second week of September of 2020. I chose Northumbria, a beautiful area of the country with cliffs rising up from the sea, picturesque fishing towns and castles standing imperious over the rugged landscape.
For the trip I decided to stay in Berwick-upon-Tweed, a beautiful, small city situated on the mouth of the mighty river Tweed. Having a base here allowed me to visit a range of birding sites throughout the county. Its a good city, full of pubs and restaurants, plenty of things to do when you've finished a day's bird watching.
As it was thousands of other people had the same intention, as with holidays abroad now no longer an option, swarms of staycationers had descended onto the area, and a lot of the charming fishing villages, and walking areas were overrun with people. However, as with most places as you leave the car parks, the cafes and the ice cream vans, the people start to thin out, and eventually you are left on your own able to appreciate the isolation of wildness. However this wasn't the case with Lindisfarne though, where the hordes had arrived and as I was riding a bike at the time had to dodge in and out and through the throng of people who weren't going to move out of my way.
As you probably guessed I came to the area to watch the wildlife which abounds in this county. Northumbria has many sea bird colonies squeezed onto its many cliffs and islands. However, as I came out of season, those same cliffs were deserted except for the odd FULMAR or PIGEON. I was also constantly frustrated with tide times and it always seemed to be low tide every time I visited the many mudflats, and I never quite got to see the multitude of migrating waders. Being a coastal county, on the side that faces Europe, I was expecting decent numbers of migrants to be passing through, and despite my efforts I wasn't able to see that much. A lot of this landscape was eerily empty of wildlife, something I will have to get used to as we descend into the Anthropocene (the view that is held that we living in a period of mass extinction caused by humans). The landscape may still be there, but none of the wildlife will be, an empty countryside as such.
I don't mean to make this holiday seem like a total disappointment, as away from the bird watching I had a very good time. Ok so I'm not the most dedicated of birders, I didn't go from dawn to dusk looking for our feathered companions and some days I didn't do any birding at all. I spent the holiday with people that don't share my hobby and had to spend most of my time wandering alone or visiting some historic site.
I was able to visit St Abb's, in Scotland and many coastal areas around Northumbria. The area didn't have many nature reserves, instead it was a more landscape version of countryside, unobtrusive National Trust sites. Budle Bay I visited but was unable to get the right tide, it was always way out. I shall describe those places in further posts.
Of the, non-birding places I visited were Hadrian's Wall, and the fort town of Vindolanda. And I was able to bike to Lindisfarne. This was the first time I used an e-bike and it was quite nice when going uphill to put the electricity on, and have what feels like double the power in my legs. Cycling the coast path was lovely and I would recommend doing it if you're ever in the county.
This is only an introduction to my holiday. If you fancy taking a deeper interest, I recommend taking a further look into my next posts on my trip which shall describe the birds in detail.
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