Another visit to Holy Island - 13th May 2026

It was a very wet morning but, as it was one of the few days that a bus service was running from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Holy, I decided to risk it and go anyway.  It was raining when I arrived, but then the sun came out and it was a lovely day.

Rabbits in a garden not far from the car park

Lovely yellow flowers growing on the side of the wall

Swallows perching on top of gravestones in the churchyard

Statue of St Cuthbert in the churchyard

Black Guillemot in the water in front of St Cuthbert's island - really too far away for my camera

Black Guillemot and a male Eider duck

St Cuthbert's island

Pansies in a small public garden in the village

White Wisteria just starting to bloom

Another wet Pansy

Poppies in front of a hotel

Singing Dunnock

Hens at the farm

Male Reed Bunting near a path leading to the coast

gathering food for his nestlings

Sheep resting on grass just outside the bird hide with the Emanuel monument in the distance

Skylark kindly landed in a nearby field long enough for me to take a photograph

Little Grebe on the water in front of the bird hide

Linnet perching on tall grass

Bunch of pretty Cowslips

Ruined building near the path leading to the beach

Lindisfarne castle in the distance

View from a hilly walk

Meadow Pipit perching on a twig

Buck Roe deer with an itch

He spotted me!

Skylark in a field on my way back to the village

Collared Dove in the hotel yard

The Poppy bud that I photographed when I first arrived on the island had begun to open up by the time I was going back to the car park in order to get the bus at around 17.00

Pretty Poppies

 

Visit to Alnmouth, followed by a damp and windy walk along the river Coquet to Warkworth - 11th May 2026

I was staying in Northumberland for a week and, on Monday, I travelled by train from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Alnmouth.  I walked from the railway station to the town.  

I had to cross the river Aln, where I came across a pair of Greylag geese with four young goslings

Bus that I could have caught in order to travel further on to Amble - I decided to go later in the day

A few coloured houses in Alnmouth

Barn Swallows flying around a water-logged piece of land near the river

Large house and garden behind the water-logged land with the Swallows

A cross to St. Cuthbert on top of a little island in the river Aln behind a group of moored boats

Presumably fishing with a large net in the river Aln

Lovely orange Poppies growing on a grass bank at the edge of the pavement

View from Alnmouth to Coquet Island in the distance

Pair of Eider ducks on the river Aln

with their friends

Time to impress the female!

I then went by bus to Amble and began walking along the river Coquet towards Warkworth

Looking back towards Amble from the path along the edge of the river

Winged sculpture on path along the river

The lighthouse on Coquet Island can be seen in the distance to the left of the houses in Amble

Three Mute Swans came sailing along the river

A pair of Oystercatchers were wandering around in shallow water at the edge of the river

It was very windy with occasional showers, so I was glad to find this shelter at the edge of the river just when I wanted to stop and eat my lunch!

Warkworth Castle in the distance

Strange to find a Gorilla in one of the gardens opposite the castle

Looking up at Warkworth Castle as I walked into the village

I found a tranquil spot to sit and relax by the river Coquet in Warkworth before getting the bus back