Bird Watching - Garrigill to Alston

A cool day of sunshine and showers saw eleven members driving 75 miles to the wilds of the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to walk the South Tyne Valley from Garrigill to Alston. Two of our members, Jenny and John Edmonds recommended the walk which they knew from their time of living in the area, and they didn't disappoint us.

 

The day started well with buzzards over the M6 and then,at Hartside Cafe, a peregrine. Duly fortified with morning coffee, we drove to Garrigill.

 

The scenery was quite stunning - a mixture of hard moorland and soft pastures, the former being a dark crown over the green and gold hillsides beneath.

             

 

 

We followed the river out of Garrigill village and immediately had to stop to watch spotted flycatchers, swifts and swallows round the last house. On a footbridge over the river a common sandpiper was walking about, a good 15 feet higher than where he should have been on the river bank. Grey wagtail flitted over the stoney edges of the river. We hurried on to find dippers but then had to stop and look over the farmland instead to where a black grouse had been spotted. After lunch the rain set in with several heavy showers - typical Birdwatching Day weather! After a brief stop to shelter in a barn, we moved on through some lovely hay meadows, yellow with buttercups and red with grasses. We found a spotted orchid and then some little black moths which were identified as Chimney Sweepers. Nearing Alston we picked up more woodland birds.

              

We ended the walk at the Station Cafe at Alston, renewing our energy before setting off home. Going back across Hartside we saw three snipe flying, bring our total for the day to 41 (plus 2 other possibles for some people)