Castle Vale Gardens with flowers and view of the Royal Border bridge, plus birds by the river and cliffs in Berwick-upon-Tweed - 9th May 2026

I had been to Holy Island in the morning and the bus back to Berwick-upon-Tweed was at 16.00.  It was now good weather after the rain so, on my return, I went for a short stroll in Castle Vale Gardens

There was an amazing display of Rhododendrons in the gardens

plus these lovely mauve flowers, the name of which I don't know

The Royal Border railway bridge from the viewpoint in the gardens

A multitude of Wild Garlic by the steps from Castle Vale Gardens down to the river Tweed

View of the Royal Border bridge from below by the edge of the river

I wandered further along the river and took a photo of the three bridges - two road and one railway

Very tall  brick tower in Spittal - on the opposite side of the river Tweed

and Berwick-upon-Tweed lighthouse

An Oystercatcher was feeding at low tide on the river bed

Male Linnet perching at the top of a shrub on land at the edge of Little Beach

and a male Stonechat perching in front of the wall

Female Linnet perching on a piece of wood

Two dogs running along the edge of the beach with the lighthouse in the distance

Para-glider or kite surfer had landed on the edge of the cliff

Meadow Pipit perching on a post on the cliff

Flowers and wooden sculptures in Coronation Park and birds along the cliffs in Berwick-upon-Tweed - 14th June 2025

It was a very wet morning so I had to cancel my planned second visit to Holy Island

Instead, after the rain had stopped in the early afternoon, I went to Coronation Park, which had a lovely view down to the river Tweed

There were some lovely flowers in the park

Wet Iris

Red Hot Poker

and a group of wooden bird and animal sculptures

Robin

Bat

Cricket

Owl

Otter

I walked down through the park to the path along the river Tweed where I had a good view of the Royal Borders Bridge

I walked along the edge of the river and then to the area near the lighthouse, where it was very misty

Up on the cliffs, I saw a Linnet on a wire fence

and Reed Buntings - female and or juveniles

and a Male Reed Bunting

Swallow flying along at almost ground level

Fantastic cloud-filled sky with the lighthouse in the far distance

 It was getting late by now, so I headed back to my mobile home accommodation

Flowers in Berwick-upon-Tweed and Eider ducks, Puffins and Arctic Terns in Seahouses/Farne Islands - 10th June 2025

I spent a week in Berwick-upon-Tweed in June and, in the early afternoon while waiting for my accommodation to be ready, I went for a short walk near the holiday park

Lovely Foxgloves were growing in front of a stone wall

Bright red Snapdragons amongst greenery

The next morning I visited Castle Vale Park as I had time to spare before catching the bus to Seahouses

Beautiful Candelabra Primroses were growing near the top of the steps down to the river

A rather splendid tall Foxglove amongst the shrubs

View of the Royal Border railway bridge from Castle Vale Park

On arrival in Seahouses, I went to the harbour.  A male Eider duck was standing on rocks below the harbour wall.

There was also a young male Eider duck wandering around on the rocks

I went on a boat trip round the Farne Islands.  A seal was swimming around near one of the Farnes.

Longstone lighthouse in the distance

Atlantic Puffin peering down from the edge of a cliff on one of the islands

There were many groups of Atlantic Puffins on Inner Farne, where we landed for just one hour

This Puffin had a beak full of sand eels

The Arctic Terns were in attack mode due to nesting at the edge of the boardwalk

Our boat moored just off Inner Farne for the hour we were on the island

Close view of an Arctic Tern while waiting for our boat to return to the island

Puffins in flight and standing/sitting on the edge of Inner Farne - viewed as the boat was leaving

Back at Seahouses I had some spare time to fill before getting the bus back to Berwick-upon-Tweed so I wandered round the edge of the harbour where a male Eider duck was resting

There were several female Eiders in the same area.  This one was preening her feathers.

Another nearby female was wandering around with three fluffy little Eider ducklings

The ducklings knew no fear and wandered right up to me and my shadow!