Welcome to my blog. I live, knit, crochet, spin and craft near the Northumbrian Coast (but not too near – the waves won't be splashing my yarn!).There's a story in every stitch, every grain of sand, every blade of grass. I thought I'd blog about it…
Yesterday we headed up the coast to Newton by the Sea. It was a glorious, if blustery day. K and Buddy set off for a walk along the beach while I stayed in the car with my knitting.
The sunshine had brought people out and the beach was quite busy.
On quieter winter days the shoreline is peppered with wading birds, but not today. There were too many walkers and dogs for that. Several oystercatchers and redshanks had gathered on some rocks just offshore, an altogether safer place.
I also saw a whinchat on the marram grass at the top of the beach. They are quite common on the dunes here and I always love to see them.
When K returned he reported a large raft of ducks, mainly widgeon, at the southern end of the bay. It seems that overwintering wildfowl are beginning to gather prior to the spring migration
Of course I love to knit with a sea view. Today’s knitting on the dashboard is the second of a pair of toe-up socks in my handspun alpaca and wool.
It felt good to be out on such a beautiful day, in between this week’s storms.
We often meet Daughter for a walk at Druridge Bay Country Park. The weather was lovely the other day so off we went, accompanied by Buddy the Labrador of course!
Spring flowers are everywhere and I spotted one I haven’t seen in ages. This is doves-foot cranesbill.
The little pink flowers resemble those of Herb Robert, another member of the cranesbill family, but that has fern-like leaves. Doves-foot craneshill has clumps of round, lobed leaves.
On the lake the paddle boarders were out in force and and a lone windsurfer sailed by . We noticed a straw bale floating in the water. Our first thought was that it had been dumped there, but then we spotted another, then another across the other side. . They had been deliberately placed in the water all around the lake.
We suspect this is being done to control the growth of algae. Straw, especially barley straw, produces substances as it breaks down and these inhibit algal growth. This form of control is preferable to less environmentally friendly chemical herbicides. In the past we’ve seen warning notices posted in the park about toxic blue-green algae. During such an algal bloom people are advised to stay away from the water. Algal toxins can be fatal to dogs so pets should also be kept out of the water. These blooms usually occur in hot dry weather.
Although there were quite a lot of people about, they were spaced out in the park. The only exceptions to this were the children’s play area and the car park. Some people were having their picnic right by their vehicle, which seemed rather sad when there are so many other lovely spots across the park.
The beach had more people than I’d seen in a while, but was not exactly crowded!
In the visitor centre there was an exhibition of wildlife paintings by local artist Diane Patterson. She paints on wood and the grain inspires the picture, often forming the background landscape. I particularly liked her portraits of hares.
We stopped for a takeaway hot chocolate and then continued on around the lake.
The cowslips have been flowering for a while but we found a huge patch of them which looked quite spectacular.
Bluebells are in full bloom on the edge of the wooded areas.
Sunday was a dull, dank sort of a day, but we headed up the coast to Newton-by-the-Sea. Daughter, K and Buddy went along the sand and I took the dune path, which is more scooter friendly.
Behind the dunes are a series of ponds that are a magnet for waterfowl. I could hear a flock of geese fly by. As they came down in an adjacent field another flock flew up. What a din they made!
Further on there are reed beds.
The bird hide that overlooks the main pool is locked up at the moment – (another consequence of the pandemic) .
At the side of the path is this rather interesting seat
Sheltered by a woven willow screen, a simple bench has been decorated with driftwood and bits of discarded fishing gear washed up on the tide.
There was so much moisture in the air that dew was condensing on to plants like this Burnet rose.
The cobwebs looked bejewelled with raindrops.
The only wildflowers I saw were an occasional hogweed flower…..
…and bright yellow gorse.
The gorse, known locally as whin, blooms throughout the year. At the end of November it brings a very welcome splash of colour.
At the weekend we went for a walk in Druridge Bay Country Park. We normally go in the Hadston entrance to the park, but this time we used another way in to the south that I’d never used before.
My first thought as we walked along the path here was that there was a ridiculous amount of litter, but on closer inspection, what I thought was discarded paper turned out to be fallen leaves.
I think these are from White Poplar trees, which had turned bright yellow for autumn except for the downy underside of the leaves which stay white.
There were quite a lot of these trees in this part of the park and when I checked I found out that they thrive in coastal areas, so are perfectly suited to this location.
We walked as far as the beach. There were quite a few people about, including a couple of surfers. There were certainly big enough waves for them. Buddy had a bit of a run about. He loves the beach.
I stayed at the end of the path – scooters and sand are not a good combination!
We walked back through the park and around the lake. Some of the trees in more sheltered spots have retained their leaves but many have fallen. It was damp murky weather and the rain had left the leaves slippery and beginning to rot down – no crunching through dry rustling leaves today! This larch provided a splash of colour. Its needles have now turned bright mustard yellow and the twigs are dotted with small round cones.
Buddy has never learnt that the water by the stepping stones is deeper than he thinks so we called him back before he made his usual mistake.
Even when the sun isn’t shining it’s always good to get outdoors, though I was quite glad to get back indoors and warm my hands on a mug of hot chocolate.
It was blowing a gale last night – I was at a friend’s house for Book Club and as the wind got up we could hear what sounded like neighbours’ bins blowing over. On the way home some our Club members had to move a fallen branch off the road and even the short walk between car and house was difficult.
I was therefore keen to get to the beach this afternoon to see if the waves had been whipped up by the storm. I’d been busy doing jobs at home and I needed a break so decided to head off down to Alnmouth before it started to get dark (Of course I took the knitting)
Although it was still windy, it was blowing offshore so the waves weren’t big, though there was spray coming off the breakers.
It was bright and clear and the dog walkers were still out in force
I drove round to the estuary where we moor our little boat in the summer. It’s a mud mooring: the rope is attached to a special kind of anchor which is screwed deep into the mud. We don’t use the boat in the winter as weather conditions aren’t as good and with more storms, debris like fallen trees from upstream can float down and damage moored craft. There are still a lot of boats at the moorings though.
Thought the estuary itself is sheltered, navigating out to sea can be difficult if the waves are big at the river mouth. Today was not bad though.
The shoreline to the south was quiet enough for gulls and oystercatchers to congregate.
Do you have a favourite place to go when you feel the need to get out of the house for some fresh air?
It finally stopped raining so I joined K and the dog at Alnmouth today. I’m not good at walking on sand so decided to take a few pics for the blog. I love to sit and watch the sea (sometimes knitting at the same time). The view changes so rapidly. The carpark at Alnmouth overlooks the beach so it’s a perfect vantage point. We love it in the winter as there are fewer picnickers (Buddy the labrador is very greedy).
The sea was rough today and the tide was in. Usually there is a good view of Coquet Island from here but the weather was too murky to see it.
Tank traps from WWII
The waves have washed a lot of sand away and the old tank traps are easy to see here. These concrete cubes are found at lots of places along this coast – they were defences against enemy landing craft, left over from World War Two. Today some children were having fun climbing on them. In summer they are a great place to dry wet swimming towels, but nobody was venturing into the water today!
I’m on the next stage of the stash busting blues project, having done lots of maths last night to work out the transition from the collar to the body and the shaping increases for the next part of the pattern. It’s pretty straightforward for the rest of it if all goes to plan, so it was bliss to just be mesmerised by the waves and get on with my knitting!
Stitches by the Sea 