170 MR. J. J. HILLS REPORT OF 



On leaving Newcastle a typical Race-week rainstorm was 

 raging, the whole place being in a deluge ; but as our train 

 sped north we ran into better weather, and on arriving at 

 Belford we were delighted to find that the district had escaped 

 the rains altogether. After the drenched conditions under 

 which we left Newcastle, the balmy evening air in the Belford 

 lanes was a pleasant contrast, and as we drove leisurely to 

 the village, we conjured up all sorts of pleasant possibilities 

 for the days to come. 



The first day was devoted to Spindleston and neighbour- 

 hood. Warren Mill nestling at the corner of the peaceful bay, 

 the bridge, the rippling burn with its darting trout, the rugged 

 crag of Spindleston towering from a base of close-clad wood, 

 all combine in forming a most charming picture. From the 

 tops of the crags an extensive view is obtained, with Holy 

 Island away in the north, like a jewel set in an ever- changing 

 sea. 



Leaving the beetling crag of Spindleston with its clamouring 

 daws, the party wended their way homewards by the fields, 

 passing the stately Hall of Belford in its woods and parks ; 

 thence by a quiet meadow stream decked with silver-flowered 

 cress and yellow flag, and so on to the village while the black- 

 bird sang his mellow evensong. 



The programme for the second day included Ross Links, 

 'Budle Bay, and the heights of Chesterhill, and although 

 perhaps not quite so picturesque as Spindleston the ground 

 was highly interesting, and produced a number of welcome 

 additions to the botanist's list. 



That corner of coast by the bents of Ross and the flats of 

 Budle Bay, though wild and weird, is a fine setting for the 

 bird life of the district. Here the party were treated as 

 unwelcome intruders, and the scolding note of the disturbed 

 redshank, the pipe of the ring plover,, and the wail of the uneasy 

 lapwing were a constant accompaniment until the party were 

 well beyond the jealously-guardetl haunts of these wary birds. 

 The melluw pipe of the curlew was heard on every hand as 



