Guided Walk date - 18/6/09
Black clouds gathered ominously overhead at the start of our "Birds of Coquetdale" guided walk for the Rothbury Walking Festival. As the wind started to blow our group headed off down the River Coquet. As we came to our first stop, to look at a Sand Martin colony in the riverbank the first large spots of rain began to fall. Everybody was able to see however heads of young Sand Martins poking out of their burrows waiting to be fed. The adults swirled overhead as they caught insects to feed to their hungry offspring.
As a sharp shower passed overhead we headed on, although not before donning waterproof jackets. As the rain eased we were able to identify the distinctive songs of Sedge Warbler and Willow Warbler and then Chaffinch and Reed Bunting. Wood Pigeons loafed about as we crossed fields, leaving our riverside path and Rothbury was beneath a spectacular double rainbow. As we walked through the village of Newtown, Swallows zoomed about, hoovering up insects, and constantly pursued by their young, lacking their parent's long tail streamers.
It was time to get the glutes working as we walked up a steep hillside. Song Thrushes were the dominant species among the early-evening songsters, and we saw Blackbird and Meadow Pipit and the eagle-eyed amongst us picked up a distant Kestrel as it hovered over a meadow. After a quick id lesson on how to separate Rooks and Carrion Crows, we continued on, stopping briefly to watch as a brightly coloured male Yellowhammer posed on a fence and even demonstrated its "little bit of bread and no cheeeeeese" song.
As we walked back down from Whitton Hillhead towards Rothbury a family party of no less than nine quite vocal Great Tits were spotted, Goldfinches were sitting on wires and trees and a group of Siskin could be heard up in the treetops.
To find out more about the Rothbury and Coquetdale Midsummer Walking Festival click here.
- To find out more about the guided walks in Northumberland that are coming up please click here.
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