Heavy rain was forecast today so we headed off on our adventure early. Already the clouds were smothering the tops of the Simonside hills, spilling over the sides and marching towards us – would we be able to complete our walk without getting wet?
Our destination today was Harbottle Moors which is within the Northumberland National Park and notified as both a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) simply because of the rich diversity of wildlife that is found here.
We parked at the Forestry England Car Park just past the village of Harbottle and, as usual, we were very keen to begin our walk.
There was no one around and we jumped out of the car and chased each other up the steep stony track past tall, majestic spikes of bright purple foxgloves. These common foxgloves are biennial. They live for two years, flower in their second year, and then they set seed and die. There seem to be so many around this year, so it must be their second year.
At the top of the slope, a wooden gate flanked by tall spiky rushes, opened onto a large area of heathland and this in turn stretched out far towards the hills in the distance.
There was also a red flag flying - a warning that we were about to enter land belonging to the Army - and that somewhere firing practice was taking place. In fact, the local Otterburn Ranges are the largest firing range in the UK.
A massive 23% of the Northumberland National Park is owned by the MoD and so is inaccessible to the general public. This limited disturbance has allowed wildlife to thrive.
The ground in front of us was carpeted in rafts of heather, bilberry and bracken and, these were interspersed with young birch trees which shook their delicate leaves in the breeze. Everywhere the thick peaty soil was clothed in a thick matt of moss. The soil here is very low in nutrients and so the plants need to be very hardy in order to survive. Some plants, such as sun dews, have adapted to this harsh environment by becoming carnivorous. These plants entice insects to land on their sticky leaf pads and once trapped, the unsuspecting insect is enfolded and digested!
We were very careful to follow the fence line through this part of the Moor as it is managed as a Nature Reserve by the Northumberland Wildlife Trust. The path took us past a forest of bog myrtle, a plant that grows in great profusion here. – Another name for it is sweet gale because it has a beautiful sweet aromatic scent.
Over the years bog myrtle has been used for a myriad uses – to repel insects, to flavour beer (in spite of the fact it has hallucinogenic properties), as well as to soothe sensitive skin and cure acne.
We walked through another gate and here we brushed past thick stands of wet vegetation on either side of the path and, the bilberry bushes were already laden with round plump purple fruit.
As we climbed higher, we could see the Drake Stone perched above us. This rock is a huge sandstone boulder that was deposited here during the last Ice age and is said to have magical healing powers.
We were intrigued and we had to get a closer look. Bruno was the first to reach it and, ever intrepid, he perched as close to it as he could. Even he wasn’t brave enough to jump right on top of it! The wind was so much stronger up here and it whipped our fur into our faces. All around us, there were breathtaking views as far as our eyes could see.
As we scrambled back down from the Drake Stone, we could see Harbottle Lake below us. It was very peaceful – the only sounds that we could hear were the birds singing and the trees swaying in the breeze.
The ground was much wetter here and the rich green vegetation was punctuated with snow-white cotton grass seed heads.
All at once we became aware of a commotion above our heads – a group of five small dark coloured birds were performing acrobatics in the air-. This was clearly a family group of merlins. Time and time again the birds dipped and dived, climbed and swooped, and all the time shrieking loudly.
Merlins are the UK’s smallest bird of prey, and they measure only a little bit bigger than a blackbird. They prey on other small birds such as meadow pipits and these they catch on the wing – There are only 1400 breeding pairs of merlins in Britain, so it was very exciting to see them.
When we reached the far end of the lake, there were more warning notices from the MoD and so, we turned away from the lake and made our way towards West Wood.
It was a steep climb, up and over boulders, and through large expanses of a variety of different species of heather. Some heathers were already sporting magnificent purple flower heads whilst others such as ling and cross leaved heath were not yet ready to break bud.
In some ways, it was quite a sad walk through the woods – so many trees were still lying prostrate on the ground, having been wrested from the grounds by the storms of the last few years. No matter, the wood was absolutely singing with bird song and one of the most vocal choristers was a tiny wren whose song was completely disproportionate to its size!
It was so exciting exploring the wood - we climbed up and down precariously steep paths – lined with roots and boulders and corridored with tall pines - thank goodness for four-paw drive!
We emerged at the other side of the wood to hear the merlins again. One of them even posed on a gate post for us!
Once again, the views across the moors were breath-taking.
We followed a gravelled track down the hill to a gate that was guarded by two Belted Galloway heifers relaxing with their calves but, whilst they ignored us completely, their taupe-coloured youngsters seemed much more interested. So, we decided to make a sharp exit under the gate – Julie had to teeter across the cattle grid.
As we reached the road, the first raindrops began to fall so we made a mad dash back to the car
We just made it – Phew!!
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