Country diary: A well-hidden secret in a well-wooded valley

West Dipton Burn, Northumberland: The ravine is waking to the sound of blue tits and jays. Somewhere here is a cave of local legendThe West Dipton Burn cleaves a deep, snaking ravine through the land south of Hexham. One of several streams that feed into the Devil's Water - a tributary of the Tyne - its precipitous sides are thickly wooded. It is to this woodland area that we are heading.To reach it via the valley bottom is difficult. The cliffs close in the higher up you go, and crossing the many fords is only possible when the water level is low. So we enter the woods from the top end, using a path that runs along the upper rim and hugs the drystone wall. Emerald hummocks of moss cushion the thruffs - the through stones that bind the wall. Down below, the sheltered dene is starting to wake up: the chink-chink of chaffinches, the busy trills of blue tits, the squeaky sawing of great tits. Continue reading...