Northern Experience Wildlife Tours

Thursday was my 3rd consecutive late finish.

Before setting off for a ’Red Squirrel and Badger Safari’ I had a few admin things to get done including some more planning for the Birdwatching Northumberland stand at this year’s British Bird Fair (I’ve got 2 lecture slots at the Bird Fair this year!).

After collecting our picnic from The Swan, I headed to Church Point to collect Vince and Karin for their second safari day this week.  Some unexpected birdwatching highlights included a Little Tern and a Cuckoo.  A group of Tufted Ducks staring at a reedbed, and a clearly annoyed Mute Swan staring at the same reedbed and hissing, suggested that we were close to an Otter but in the blazing sunshine it stayed in the shade of the reeds and out of sight.

The first of the day’s targets was achieved with possibly the reddest Red Squirrel I’ve ever seen, simply stunning as it ran along the sun-dappled canopy, and then it was time to position ourselves close to our favourite Badger sett.  Would the badgers come close?  would they only appear when it was too dark to really appreciate what magnificent animals they are? all worries were eased when, in broad daylight, our first Badger of the evening came trotting along only 5m away, apparently oblivious to our presence.  Another 3 Badgers followed, as well as 3 Red Foxes, and Tawny Owls were calling from the trees around us.

Of all of our tours, our evening mammal trips perhaps have the greatest unpredictability and the most remarkable ‘atmosphere’ of them all.  It’s still my favourite time of the day

Despised by many, loved by many, a source of great controversy, a tame garden visitor for some and a wild, wary, predator of the countryside for others.  The Red Fox is all of these, and much more.  One of my projects for this year is to photograph our local foxes, but recently an unexpected opportunity came along.

I was walking along the edge of some heather moorland when I heard the barking of a fox from a conifer plantation a few hundred metres away.  Although the light was poor, and fading fast as dusk approached, I set my camera on it’s tripod and started squeaking.  Being a predator can’t be an easy life, so it’s no surprise that the possibility of an easy meal (a prey species that’s clearly already distressed) is an attractive one.  Within a few seconds, a head popped up at the top edge of the moor.

My main concern now was whether the fox would quickly identify the source of the noise.  Foxes are always exciting to see on our evening wildlife watching tours, but they can be a bit of a nuisance as they have very sharp eyesight and often raise the alarm, even if you’re as well hidden as you can be and you avoid making any sudden movements.

On this occasion though, the lure of a ‘distressed rodent’ was so great that the fox made it’s way down the hillside, crossing the moor from side to side as it tried to home in on the sound.

Finally the fox found the source of the squeaking, and gave me a good hard stare for 30 seconds before trotting back up the hill and chasing another fox in and out of the plantation.