Light on the water; Bespoke Photography 10/09/2020
by martin on 11/09/20 09:33, under Bottlenose Dolphin, Northumberland Coast, Photography
Yesterday was a trip we were really looking forward to after what has been a really challenging year in so many ways. Emma and Janine have been on a couple of photography holidays that I’ve led since late 2018 and yesterday’s trip was organised for Janine’s birthday. Water and wildlife were the specific requests so I’d discussed how to structure the full day with Sarah and we thought we’d got a workable plan…
We started with wildlife; Dunlin, Redshank, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew and Turnstone all exploiting the rich food supply available on freshly uncovered sand and seaweed as the tide fell. Low-angled sunlight and mirror-calm water were everything we could have wished for and after a morning of wading birds we headed off for an excellent lunch, and outstanding views from our window table, at the Jolly Fisherman.
Post-lunch we stretched our legs and walked towards Dunstanburgh Castle as the tide turned and surf started breaking over the rocks in the foreground while we sat close to the rising water. Juvenile Gannets were diving offshore and I was thinking that there must be plenty of fish when I spotted a couple of dorsal fins and for the next 5 minutes we watched a group of around 10 Bottlenose Dolphins that seemed to be on a mission to get somewhere away to the south 🙂 Heading back south down the coast our final stop was at Howick Haven/Rumbling Kern as the tide started to flood in below the Bathing House.
Lovely entertaining clients who are pleasure to spend time with, fantastic light, obliging wildlife and the Northumberland coast. There can’t be many better ways to spend a day 🙂
Joyriders; NEWT’s North Sea Pelagic 02/09/2020
by martin on 04/09/20 10:11, under North Sea, White-beaked Dolphin
Wednesday’s 10hr Northumberland Ultimate Pelagic sailed with the intention of heading out to the furthest reaches of the Farne Deeps but just over 2hrs in, Mark and Martin looked at the weather and decided that it wouldn’t be safe to head as far offshore as planned. Checking the forecast for the rest of the day, and the bathymetric chart, a new course was set…and there were the White-beaked dolphins 🙂 52 minutes of mayhem later they departed as suddenly and mysteriously as they’d arrived, leaving behind a boat filled with grinning clients and memory cards filled with images and video 🙂
Northumberland Ultimate Pelagic 15/08/2020
by martin on 20/08/20 14:57, under MInke Whale, North Sea, White-beaked Dolphin
Saturday was our first 10hr pelagic, after August 5th had weather that wasn’t great. White-beaked Dolphin put in an appearance early in the day, a Minke Whale was well to the ENE of Alnmouth and Harbour Porpoise were regular throughout the day. Amongst mist and rain we had some sublime conditions, extraordinary light and incredibly smooth water…
NEWT’s 4hr North Sea pelagics July/August 2020
by martin on 13/08/20 10:28, under Bottlenose Dolphin, North Sea, White-beaked Dolphin
After a break of a few months we got back up and running in July, starting with our 4hr evening pelagics (and some 4hr daytime pelagics organised due to high demand!)
Here’s a gallery of images covering a few of the trips where we found dolphins. 10 trips in total – 5 found White-beaked Dolphin, 4 found Bottlenose Dolphin 🙂
NEWT Reopening and COVID19 01/07/20
by martin on 01/07/20 14:11, under admin
March 17th, when we suspended all of our tours, seems like such a long time ago! We’ve been overwhelmed with messages of support that have kept us going through those last few difficult months and so many of you have rescheduled tours with us for later this year and some for next year already too, and we’re incredibly grateful for that!
We now hold the ‘We’re Good to Go’ Industry Standard, showing that we are following government and industry COVID19 guidelines. Social distancing in the countryside isn’t an overly challenging task but we’ll also be carrying hand sanitiser for guests to use and all of the binoculars that we have for guests to borrow will be thoroughly cleaned after each tour.
After a careful and thorough assessment of all of our tours, for our first, easily manageable, steps back to running NEWT we’re planning to initially start with pelagic trips (with reduced passenger numbers), mini-Safaris (walking from a pre-arranged meeting point) and one-to-one photography workshops (with a pre-arranged meeting point). Other than pelagic trips all tours will initially be on an exclusive basis.
We’re busy today contacting all of our clients who have trips that had to be postponed or who are booked with us over the next month and then we’ll be taking new bookings before the end of the week 🙂
Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Statement from Northern Experience Wildlife Tours
by martin on 17/03/20 09:18, under Uncategorized
With updated advice from the UK Government yesterday afternoon (March 16th) we’ve reviewed our position relating to upcoming tours.
We’re in unprecedented times and our thoughts are with anyone whose life is being adversely impacted. Wherever you are we hope you and your loved ones stay safe and healthy.
Our government has advised against non-essential travel or social interaction and our view is that our tours fall firmly in the non-essential category. We’ve taken the decision to suspend all of our tours until we have further guidance from the government. We’re directly contacting all of our clients with upcoming trips to discuss options for postponing or refunding. We’d like to reassure everyone that if you’ve paid for a tour with us, either in full or a deposit, your money is safe.
As a small business we know the current situation will hurt us, and the other small businesses we’ve worked with over the last 12 years, but the health and wellbeing of our clients and the wider public is, and always will be, our primary concern.
Once we’re through this we’ll still be here and still taking our clients out to experience Northumberland’s landscape and wildlife. Hope to see you soon!
Bespoke Otter Safari 07/02/20
by martin on 10/02/20 11:22, under Druridge Bay
As I collected Amy and James from Warkworth, ahead of a day around Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland, the forecast for the morning was good, but there was a chance it would start to deteriorate during the afternoon…
With only a gentle breeze every area of water we looked at was close to mirror-calm. Mallard, Gadwall, Goldeneye, Wigeon, Teal, Mute Swan, Canada Geese and Greylag Geese were all staying low on the water as Grey Herons sat in their usual pose of misery and Water Rails began squealing from the reeds. Little Grebes were diving, Cormorants were drying their wings with heraldic majesty and Lapwings flushed in panic, caught on the now stiffening breeze like windblown leaves. Curlews flew off, their eerie cries carrying over the calm water and a presumably confused Fulmar was soaring around over a coastal pool before heading back out to sea. More Fulmars accompanied our lunch stop, arcing along the clifftop with an uncharacteristically calm North Sea behind them. With the breeze picking up there was an obvious lack of passerines. Jackdaws and Wood Pigeons were sitting in bare trees, Little Grebes were patrolling close to overhanging vegetation where Moorhens were dabbling and as the Sun was setting in the west, remarkably orange, 3 Roe Deer were chasing around a steep field overlooking the river.
Another great winter’s day with lovely clients 🙂
Vital signs; Otter mini-Safari 12/01/20
by martin on 15/01/20 15:36, under Druridge Bay, Southeast Northumberland
A dual purpose title for today’s blog…
I collected Fara, Andrew and Nicola & Graeme and Jen from Newbiggin and we set off to explore Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland on a Sunday morning that was thankfully lacking the stiff breeze that has characterised the winter so far…
Water that was almost mirror-calm was patterned with the concentric circles of diving Little Grebes, Goldeneye and Cormorants as a Grey Heron stood motionless, uncharacteristically obliging, and a Little Egret darted at small fish in the shallows before flying upstream, followed by noisy Oystercatchers, into what little breeze there was.
En route to our second site I thought it would be worth stopping to check for Little Owls, and one was sitting quietly sunning itself. If you’ve never seen one of these elfin sprites, here’s one of Sarah’s photographs from a few years ago 🙂
The temperature was starting to drop and a breeze was becoming noticeable as we settled to scan over a pool and reedbeds. Suddenly the Lapwings all took flight, forming a tight wheeling flock tossed on the breeze as Mallards turned and stared at one area of reeds. After a couple of minutes the Lapwings were back down, as the discordant calls of Canada and Greylag Geese carried on the breeze and Mallard, Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall, Pintail and Wigeon were all dabbling contentedly again. The calm didn’t last long though and the Lapwings were soon scattering in panic again. The third time they flushed the Mallards were once again looking at the same reedbed, this time with three Little Grebes joining with the intense study of a very localised area. Everything we’d look for when searching for Otters was happening right in front of us…the only thing missing was an appearance by our quarry itself. Here’s an Otter from January 2015, sporting a very fetching boa of seaweed 🙂
Lovely clients, lots of photography discussion, great weather and I brought home an owl pellet to dissect 🙂
and ‘Vital signs’ as a blog title? It’s a track on Rush’s album Moving Pictures and our tribute to Neil Peart who sadly passed away last week.
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