There really is an Osprey. May 29 (Northumberland)
It was a misty moisty morning when Dave and I set off for the third time to try to spot an Osprey on Kielder Water.
By the time we reached Falstone, a village just below Kielder Dam, the mist had lifted and the sun shone. There are several routes that will take you to Falstone, we chose the A69 west, the A68 north and then followed brown signs for Bellingham and Kielder. A map is not necessary but OS OL Explorer 42 Kielder Forest and Water covers the stroll.
We parked in Falstone for two reasons; it's free and it's a pleasant walk of about a mile up to the dam.
It's nice to have a car park picture again, I've not been walking for a couple of weeks, due to an age induced injury
The North Tyne at Falstone.
From Falstone we walked across a couple of fields which supported some lively lambs and their mums, past a farm now used by the Forestry Commision as a cold store (why?) and up the track to the dam itself.
There is a large stone thingee to commemorate the opening of the dam by the Queen, or the closing of it as she jokingly said.
Large stone thingee.
We first went to look at the new nests the martins were building under the eaves of the car park toilets (£5 for a day's parking) and then stood by the wall next to the road which crosses the dam.
And there it was, high in the sky, white headed, sharp beaked and gently circling, an osprey. Then it vanished.
With eyes on the skies we crossed the dam, occasionally looking at the grassed southern side as we have seen deer there before, bujt not this morning.
As we crossed the dam the roar of a low flying RAF transport probably scared off any osprey.
This is not an osprey, this is a very large plane.
At a very low height the plane circled the dam four or five times before heading off, leaving us to walk to Tower Knowe, café and visitor centre.
At the centre we decided to call a Herbie, sitting on the beach near the ferry landing. The ferry, apparently, does not run at the moment and the landing was padlocked.
Three children, Emily, Andrew and Philip (why were they not on their ipads?) were happily throwing stones in the water so we gave them a demonstration of what I called "ducks and drakes" and Dave, being a midlander called "skimming." I managed to make a stone skip a few times, and felt very pleased.
Lunch over we looked in the visitor centre which had a fine display of dolls and lampshades as well as books on Northumberland walks and tea towels. Who buys lampshades out here?
There is also an excellent display on the dam itself, the construction and the use to which the water is put. We watched a short film on the planning, construction and opening of the dam which supplies water to the Tyne, the Wear and the Tees, mostly through a system of pipes and pumping stations..
We then walked on from Tower Knowe following the lakeside path for several miles. At one point \I spotted a large predator in the sky but on closer examination through the binoculars it turned out to be a buzzard.
After a while we decided it was time to turn back as we both had evening appointments. So we walked back to Tower Knowe and across the dam. At the foot of the dam, against a plantation fence was a single deer. Back at Falstone we changed and headed home.
A fine walk out, a bit of practice for the forthcoming Dalesway Walk.
At last I had seen an osprey, plus buzzard, plus a deer, plus many willow warblers, a garden warbler, robin and lots of LBJs.
And a matrix:
steps miles
NAK 24778 9.38
iPhone 19888 8.2
etrex 8.83
Dave's 3D 19303 9.46
""""" USB 18123 9.15
"""""""NAK 18080 9.13
""""Sylvia's mother 19851 10.30
3hrs 22 mins walking, 2hrs 10 mins talking
It was a misty moisty morning when Dave and I set off for the third time to try to spot an Osprey on Kielder Water.
By the time we reached Falstone, a village just below Kielder Dam, the mist had lifted and the sun shone. There are several routes that will take you to Falstone, we chose the A69 west, the A68 north and then followed brown signs for Bellingham and Kielder. A map is not necessary but OS OL Explorer 42 Kielder Forest and Water covers the stroll.
We parked in Falstone for two reasons; it's free and it's a pleasant walk of about a mile up to the dam.
From Falstone we walked across a couple of fields which supported some lively lambs and their mums, past a farm now used by the Forestry Commision as a cold store (why?) and up the track to the dam itself.
There is a large stone thingee to commemorate the opening of the dam by the Queen, or the closing of it as she jokingly said.
We first went to look at the new nests the martins were building under the eaves of the car park toilets (£5 for a day's parking) and then stood by the wall next to the road which crosses the dam.
And there it was, high in the sky, white headed, sharp beaked and gently circling, an osprey. Then it vanished.
With eyes on the skies we crossed the dam, occasionally looking at the grassed southern side as we have seen deer there before, bujt not this morning.
As we crossed the dam the roar of a low flying RAF transport probably scared off any osprey.
At a very low height the plane circled the dam four or five times before heading off, leaving us to walk to Tower Knowe, café and visitor centre.
At the centre we decided to call a Herbie, sitting on the beach near the ferry landing. The ferry, apparently, does not run at the moment and the landing was padlocked.
Three children, Emily, Andrew and Philip (why were they not on their ipads?) were happily throwing stones in the water so we gave them a demonstration of what I called "ducks and drakes" and Dave, being a midlander called "skimming." I managed to make a stone skip a few times, and felt very pleased.
Lunch over we looked in the visitor centre which had a fine display of dolls and lampshades as well as books on Northumberland walks and tea towels. Who buys lampshades out here?
There is also an excellent display on the dam itself, the construction and the use to which the water is put. We watched a short film on the planning, construction and opening of the dam which supplies water to the Tyne, the Wear and the Tees, mostly through a system of pipes and pumping stations..
We then walked on from Tower Knowe following the lakeside path for several miles. At one point \I spotted a large predator in the sky but on closer examination through the binoculars it turned out to be a buzzard.
After a while we decided it was time to turn back as we both had evening appointments. So we walked back to Tower Knowe and across the dam. At the foot of the dam, against a plantation fence was a single deer. Back at Falstone we changed and headed home.
A fine walk out, a bit of practice for the forthcoming Dalesway Walk.
At last I had seen an osprey, plus buzzard, plus a deer, plus many willow warblers, a garden warbler, robin and lots of LBJs.
And a matrix:
steps miles
NAK 24778 9.38
iPhone 19888 8.2
etrex 8.83
Dave's 3D 19303 9.46
""""" USB 18123 9.15
"""""""NAK 18080 9.13
""""Sylvia's mother 19851 10.30
3hrs 22 mins walking, 2hrs 10 mins talking
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