DAY OUT: Prestwick Carr, Northumberland/Tyne and Wear
From the city to Mire
This rare habitat just north of Newcastle has attracted naturalists for centuries; visit in autumn, when waders begin to gather and owls haunt the mire, says Anthony Toole
Spreading from Newcastle’s northwest corner into Northumberland, Prestwick Carr is a rare lowland raised mire. From a small crossroads parking space north of Prestwick, it can be surveyed from any of four roadways.
Flocks of fieldfares and redwings grace the hedgerows to the sides of a rough track leading north. A roe deer, emboldened by a watery barrier, might watch as you quietly pass by. The damp, occasionally inundated fields have, in more than one year, welcomed a great grey shrike and an eastern yellow wagtail, while buzzards habitually circle over a forested patch.
The east roadway leads past a feeding station frequented by almost every variety of tit and finch, including bullfinch and willow tit. A viewing platform looks over the wetland, which is visited by little egrets and snipe, and regularly quartered by short-eared owls.
Owl magic
Tune in to BBC Radio Four’s Tweet of the Day to hear how photographing short-eared owls helped teenager Josh Myers control the symptoms of Tourette’s syndrome.
Anthony Toole is a freelance travel and science writer.