Just got back from our holiday in Northumberland and read your post.
Next trip will be an evening down to the Sang.
Didn’t see a kingfisher while we were away, but we went on a 3 hour boat trip which took us close up to the rocks around the Farne Islands and finally going ashore for an hour on Inner Farne.
They have 80,000 puffins on those islands and we saw a good number up close, fascinating birds, walk a bit like a penguin.
We were told to wear hats as the terns on the island will attack your heads and that did happen, but not only did they attack people, they attacked the puffins.
While we watched a puffin came back with small eels it had caught, four ganged up on one puffin, trying to get the eels, but they were unlucky as the puffin hopped down his borrow out of their reach.
There were masses of these burrows that the puffins build and each puffin we were told have their own burrow that they come back to the same burrow the following year to breed. Never seen so many birds close up as we did on that trip.
I know you have links with the North East, so you may have seen this for yourself, but it was a very entertaining and interesting hour on the island.
We had planned this holiday four years or more ago but had to postpone it, but we finally made it and what a beautiful area and the people are so friendly and helpful and if you like quiet A roads etc that’s the place to be.