WARKWORTH POND
Discover your own birds at an overlooked spot
This is an area often missed by birders using their cars as they travel to some of the Northumberland coast’s well-known hotspots, but if you want a good walk and the possibility of finding something new, this is for you.
WHERE TO WATCH 1
This is a walk I did this year, as I have always wondered where this path went to when birding Cresswell. You start by crossing the causeway (occasionally flooded so use the path at NZ 285 941 instead) and enter a double hedge with views into nearby fields. Scan the Lapwing flocks for signs of Golden Plover in winter, or the Starlings for feeding Sky Larks and Meadow Pipits.
2
Like so much of this area, there are several pools often made by subsidence. Ducks including Wigeon, Teal and Mallard can be seen, but also wagtails like Pied and Yellow in summer. The hedges are alive with Whitethroats. Listen out for Linnets using these areas as well.
3
A shelter belt adds to the habitats, where you should find different warblers like Willow and Garden Warbler, Chiffchaff and Blackcap. Look out for |Great Spotted Woodpecker and Treecreeper and scan for Chaffinch and Goldfinch. One pond here is full of Bulrush so listen out for Sedge Warbler and even Water Rail.
4
The path coming in from Blakemoor Farm (alternative path if causeway flooded) comes in here. Scan the fields for Pink-footed Geese, with counts up to 3,000. Rarer geese have been found, such as Greenland and European White-fronted Geese, plus Tundra and Taiga Beans. Whooper Swans also can be found in some years, and Bewick’s Swans have even joined them.
5
Another track takes you in view of the largest water, which is Warkworth Pond, where years ago a friend took his son, only to see a Pied-billed Grebe swim over the track they were standing on! Other goodies seen here include Purple Heron, Glossy Ibis, Bittern, Great White Egret, Black-necked Grebe and Garganey. Black Terns sometimes drop in along with waders like Wood Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank and Ruff. You can return via the farm.