Northumberland communities - Widdrington

Where does the wildlife go?

2011-11-07T14:05:01Z

Written by Kevin O'Hara, conservation officer at Northumberland Wildlife Trust

Where do they all go in winter? - Part 1

Recently I felt the first twangs of winter; the 'first frost' gripped my garden, the chickens came skidding out of their ark, and I had to break the ice on their drinking water. I really like those first days, when we still have some daylight left to enjoy the wonderful colours and smells. I take the camera and binoculars with me when I walk the dogs, keeping an eye out for winter thrushes or other visitors. The clocks have altered and we start the long haul of winter - not until February will some real light return to the sky, and warmth to the sun.

It is during these months that we wonder where, exactly, many of our resident wildlife species go to survive the coldest and wettest days of winter, especially those that are more delicate and less mobile.

We may have an idyllic mental image of a hibernating hedgehog (unless you're my terrier, Brock) cosily curled up under the garden shed, but other UK creatures avoid the chill in very varied and often surprising ways.

In the North East the weather is more variable than the rest of the country and our continental neighbours, upland birds such as red grouse, need only make temporary altitudinal movements, generally returning to higher ground once the snow relents. However, with snow lying longer on the hills they often move to the tops where drifting snow exposes the best feed.

Relief from the winter cold is also afforded by migration to salt water. For example, the kingfishers from the Blyth and Wansbeck disappeared over the last couple of winters, but I regularly saw kingfishers in the estuaries and along the open rocky shoreline.

The golden plover's breeding grounds in the Pennines seem remarkably empty after the birds leave together. They abandon the open moors to winter on the coast, some pushing as far south as Sussex and in extreme weather, over the channel to France.

The grey partridge is a highly sedentary bird and whilst I have been heartened by the number present in my local area this year, they will have a tough time in the open countryside this winter if it is a hard one again. This is why I keep banging on about good hedgerows and not flailing them to within an inch of their lives (plus maintaining a good field margin) - this is where these birds find shelter, food and warmth. Other residents, like the woodcock, whose numbers swell in the winter months with continental migrants readily make bad-weather-related movements. With great dependence on wetlands, most of our wildfowl and waders must constantly shift location in icy weather.

Amongst the species that truly hibernate to escape the winter cold, bats are the most well-known occupants of houses and other buildings; mostly roosting in the roof, but also sometimes (as in the case of my house), in the tiny spaces in the wall cavity. They will also roost under tiles, beneath lead flashing, in boiler rooms, cellars and service tunnels...anything that maintains a constant temperature and affords access to the outside world, and that replicates their natural hibernacula such as caves, trees and other enclosures.

I will be making the most of these last rays of light because I can't stand the dark winter nights. As a youngster it was a time for pranks and dares, but now health and safety, political correctness and a zero-tolerance society has put paid to nicky-knocky-nine-doors, apple bashing and dogging (the traditional pursuit of legging it through people's gardens unobserved, not the lewd public behaviour of some ex-football stars).

Besides, at 48 my days of out-running the local plod may have come to an end. I content myself with using my rowing machine in the conservatory whilst staring at the grey skies, shooting defenceless pigeons around my farmer friends' fields, days out walking my dogs (avoiding hibernating hedgehogs), and a bit of photography and writing.

Unusual catches made a big splash with locals

2011-08-04T10:44:35Z

In March 1849, fisherman at Cullercoats found floating in the sea a fish of "uncommon length and of silvery and dazzling brightness".

It was later identified as one of the rare Gymmetrus species, 12ft 5in long, 13in in depth and three inches thick, with a crest of 14in in height.

The fish caught at Cullercoats in 1849

In 1846, other fishermen had caught off Alnmouth the first specimen in British waters of Trichiuvus Lepturus (the Blade Fish), 13ft 9in long.

Then in 1840, at Newbiggin, the ebbing tide left by the Church Rocks a rare 70-pound Opah (King Fish).

While it still lived, its colours were said to be brilliant and people from all around the locality flocked to see it.

The King Fish had a vermilion head, greenish violet back, greenish silver sides, large forked tale and fins brightly dazzling and a flecking of white spots all over it.

Its mouth, large enough to admit a hand, was "as smooth as polished marble," toothless, but with a tongue covered with short prickles that leaned backwards towards the throat.

Then there was the turbot, caught by Robert Oliver of Newbiggin in May 1842. This specimen was offered for sale at Morpeth Market by Alice Dawson. It was five-feet long, three-feet across, seven inches thick and seven stone two pounds in weight.

Lynemouth or Cresswell, however, claims the largest capture from the sea, in the form of a monumental Spermaceti Whale, 61ft in length, over 37ft in girth and 12ft in height as it lay on the beach. Its tail was 14ft across.

It was August 8, 1822, when this giant put in an appearance offshore. Why it should have turned up at all, no one knew. It is difficult to imagine that during the time it was caught, Northumberland looked like Greenland. However, there it was, proceeding nor'-nor'-west at a stately quarter knot when it was observed from the shore. There was at once great excitement in the neighbourhood, not least among the landed proprietors, who coveted so rich a prize.

The great creature touched shore at the south side of the Lyn, on the property of the delighted Ralph Atkinson of Lynemouth, and then it drifted off again! When it finally came to rest on the beach, it lay on the property of AJ Cresswell of Cresswell, who was as delighted as R Atkinson was chagrined.

Both insisted, both demanded, both rushed to the law and a formidable dispute was building up when the Admiralty intervened, seized the oil (nine tons 158 gallons) and decorated the bones with broad arrows, and that was that. The bones were later handed over to Mr Cresswell, who raised them on a stone platform in his ground at Cresswell.

www.sixtownships.org.uk

Your Photos: Seal at Druridge Bay

2011-08-03T09:55:32Z

Former North East teacher Paul Wright - now working in London - has returned to the region to visit relatives and was delighted to come across a baby seal as he walked on the beach at Druridge Bay yesterday.

Story of a whale at Druridge Bay

2011-06-29T08:30:41Z

Fishermen in Newbiggin were telling a whale of a story in May 1959.

This is the story of a battle at sea with a 40-foot whale which tangled up in the nets of the coble Green Pastures and had to be killed by rifle fire.

Mathew Stanton, 39, and 19-year-old Henry Rowe, both of Newbiggin, were quietly fishing for salmon a few hundred yards offshore in Druridge Bay when a whale larger than their 30ft boat charged into their nets.

The two fishermen, fearful for their own safety and to avoid damage to costly nylon nets, discharged their rifles at the threshing whale. The shots maddened it, and three times the coble was struck heavily by the 40ft monster. Panic then set in when the two fishermen thought the boat was going to capsize.

However, help was close by with Dennis Taylor, Miller Dent, Edward Armstrong and James Arkle, in the cobles Royal Diadem and The Jean. They joined the battle with additional rifles which were used by fishermen to deal with seals.

Together they discharged about 60 rounds at the monster whale before it sank to the bottom and the coble was able to get clear.

They all managed to get back to dry land safely where old-timers among the fisherfolk said they had never known a whale so close to shore.

strong>Read more South East Northumberland history articles at www.journallive.co.uk/johndawson or visit the Six Townships Community History Group website at www.sixtownships.org.uk

Photos from our Northumberland Flickr group

2011-05-25T00:00:06Z

Spectacular photos shared by members of our Northumberland group on the Flickr photo-sharing website. Click on a photo to see the caption and to view it in a larger size.

You can join the Flickr group to share your own local photos, or send them to northumberland@ncjmedia.co.uk.

'Brutal' double tragedy at Ellington

2011-05-18T08:30:31Z

A shocking double tragedy occurred, which was the first of its kind in the district of Ashington, in the early hours of Sunday, January 2, 1921, at Ellington. The victims were 51-year-old Edward Gardner Taylor and his 31-year-old wife Beatrice.

Taylor was a soldier when he met Beatrice, who was eventually to become his second wife. After leaving the Army he rejoined soon after the beginning of the First World War, and became a sergeant's instructor.

Ellington in 1900. This is how the area would have looked at the time of the murder, surrounded by fields and farming.

They came to Ellington to begin a new life together with Taylor's son from his previous marriage and two daughters, Norah and Lilian. Taylor, who was addicted to drink, soon got a job at nearby Ellington Colliery as a rolleywayman, underground. Jealousy and drink was a problem with the relationship and many heated arguments occurred.

On New Year's Day, Taylor left the house by himself and went for a drink. After a long session he arrived home and complained about a New Year's Greetings card that Beatrice had received in the morning from her sister. He then accused her of having been with a man.

Taylor thought the best way to find the truth out was to send a telegram to her sister to see if it was true. He left the house at six o'clock to go to the Post Office only to find it was closed.

As seven o'clock approached, there was no sign of Taylor and Beatrice found her husband at the Plough Inn.

They went to bed, but soon after began quarrelling. Taylor said, "Who was the man who sent you that card?" and added, "You were with him on Monday night." Beatrice replied, "I'll bet you it was my sister May."

The two little girls, who were awake, were horrified to see their father push their stepmother on to the bed and kneel on her brandishing the razor. The little girls screamed and ran out of the room, awakening their brother, who went to the door and saw his stepmother lying on the bed with his father kneeling on her with an open razor in his hand. He ran out to seek PC Rattray, who lived close by.

When he came back his stepmother was lying on the bed bleeding but still breathing. His father was sitting up in bed, also bleeding; he looked at his son but said nothing.

James went outside again for help and met a man, James Hunter. They entered the bedroom but by this time Taylor and his wife were both dead.

In summing up, the coroner said it was the most brutal case he had ever dealt with.

Six Townships Community History Group website

Your Photos: Cresswell beach

2011-05-16T12:03:52Z

Peter Arris of Ashington took this picture at the south end of Druridge Bay, showing the anti-tank blocks still in place from World War Two.

Send your photos to northumberland@ncjmedia.co.uk to see them on this site.

Philip Joisce's invention was sold around the world

2011-03-31T12:33:49Z

With the death of Philip Joisce, of Northwoods Works, Stobswood, near Morpeth, in March 1979, the North East lost one of its most talented, inventive and original minds.

He was well-known to a wide circle of local farmers, businessmen and fellow engineers for his expertise with all kinds of machinery.

King Edward IV School, Morpeth

Born in 1911 in Hartford Road, Bedlington, and educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Morpeth, from 1924-26, he gained his Higher National Certificate in electrical engineering at Rutherford College, Newcastle.

Most of his working life was spent in Bedlington, where in 1937 he branched out as an electrical contractor.

Shortly after, he invented, manufactured and marketed a unique tool for stripping mineral-insulated cable, a tool which was accepted worldwide as the most effective of its kind.

In 1969 he moved from Bedlington to Stobswood, where he set up his own engineering business in the old pit baths, and continued to sell his "joistrippa" to customers from markets which ranged as far afield as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Six Townships Community History Group websitePhilip Joisce's invention was sold around the world

Your Photos: Swan on Linton Water

2011-03-30T12:42:35Z

Lesley Robson shared this picture in our Northumberland Communities Flickr group.

Join the group to share your photos or send them to northumberland@ncjmedia.co.uk to see them on this site.

Your Photos: Lambs in the sun near Cresswell

2011-03-08T10:44:35Z

Andy Browne photographed this welcome spring scene of lambs basking in the sunshine on Sunday.

Upload your photos to JournalLive or send them to northumberland@ncjmedia.co.uk to see them on this site.

Your Photos: Druridge Bay wartime defences

2011-02-14T16:27:05Z

Malcolm Davidson's photo featuring the concrete wartime structures at Druridge Bay makes the most of a drizzly day.

Send your photos to northumberland@ncjmedia.co.uk or upload them to JournalLive to see them on this site.

Your Photos: Morning glory at Druridge Bay

2011-02-08T10:43:30Z

Flickr user jeremy :: jpmvc made the most of dawn at Druridge Bay to capture some wonderful textures and light patterns in the sea.

To share your photos on this site join our Northumberland Communities Flickr group, or send them to northumberland@ncjmedia.co.uk

Your Photos: Artificial Clouds, Lynemouth

2011-02-01T16:31:21Z

Michael Brewis added this photo to our Northumberland Communities group on Flickr, taken at sunrise looking towards the Rio Tinto Alcan plant. Click on the photo to see it in full size.

Join the Flickr group to share your photos for this site or send them to northumberland@ncjmedia.co.uk.

Your Photos: Sunrise at Druridge Bay

2011-01-18T11:38:32Z

Neil Coleran uploaded this stunning view of Druridge Bay to JournalLive.

You can also send your photos to northumberland@ncjmedia.co.uk to see them on this site.

Jubilee People's Millions

2011-01-11T15:43:55Z

Big Lottery Fund and ITV, with the approval of Buckingham Palace, are helping to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

Jubilee People's Millions projects will inspire, involve or improve their local communities. If you've got an idea that could breathe life into your local area and improve the lives of the people who live there, why not apply for a grant of up to ÃÂ£60 000!

Eight finalists from the North East (and eight reserves) will be given media training. The eight finalists then produce a short film about their project, which will be shown on Tyne Tees news. The public will vote for the projects they would like to see receive the funding. During voting week, two projects will be shown every night from Monday - Thursday, with four winners and one runner up announced by the end of the week.

For more information visit www.peoplesmillions.org.uk or phone 0845 0 10 11 12. Groups have until midday 4 February 2011 to enter. The winning projects will be awarded the funding in summer 2011, in order to be up and running in time for Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee year in 2012.

The application process is quick and easy.

For finalists, the People's Millions can help:
Ã¢ÂÂ¢ galvanize your supporters and the local community
Ã¢ÂÂ¢ raise the profile of your project and your organisation
Ã¢ÂÂ¢ give you valuable but fun and supportive media training - reserves receive the training too.
Ã¢ÂÂ¢ clarify and publicise your strengths and goals

Watch the Jubilee People's Millions launch film as well as clips of previous winners.