Northern Experience Wildlife Tours

Author: martin

  • Marsh Harriers breed in Northumberland

    We returned to Northumberland late yesterday afternoon, after spending a few days in Rutland as part of the Birdwatching Northumberland team at the British Birdwatching Fair. Three solid days of promoting our beautiful county and,no sooner were we back home, then we were away up the coast to give a slideshow about…birdwatching in Northumberland.

    Today has been a day at the computer, finishing the raptor species accounts for Birds in Northumbria 2008. When I first joined the team of authors several years ago, one very long-standing author assured me that spending a lot of time analysing all of the records for any given species would provide insights…

    Back in 2006 I managed to photograph Hen Harrier, Montagu’s Harrier and Marsh Harrier in Northumberland and all three species looked like potentail breeders that year. When I was writing the species account for Marsh Harrier in BiN2007, I became convinced that they had bred in Northumberland that year. 2008 again produced interesting records of juvenile birds at East Chevington in early-mid August. Finally, after nearly 130 years,breeding has been confirmed in the county. I’ve had the privilege to watch the adult birds food-passing, and the juveniles exploring the area around East Chevington, with our clients this year. Magnificent birds, and it’s fantastic to have them back as a breeding bird. With Osprey and Mediterranean Gull breeding in the county this year as well, it will be a long time before we have so many modern/first-time breeders in one year. Med Gull is almost certainly a first-time breeder; they’ve tried on Coquet Island previously, and birds have been seen at inland Black-headed Gull colonies, but there hasn’t been a confirmed breeding record.

    Predictions? Little Egret and Avocet…

  • Kielder…wilderness birdwatching

    With the Bird Fair fast approaching, and my species accounts for Birds in Northumbria due by the end of the week, things are rather busy. However, this morning saw me driving down to Northumbria Water’s offices in Pity Me (surely a contender for one of the oddest village names in Britain?) for a photoshoot for the Kielder Partnership. This was part of the marketing for our new range of Kielder Safaris, which start on August 27th and September 3rd. Our usual Kielder Safaris dates lie between March and May but the late-summer/early-autumn offers some mouth-watering prospects. Working closely with the Kielder Partnership (particularly the Forestry Commission) we’ve obtained a permit to take our tours through a usually ‘off-limits’ area of the forest. With the possibility of raptors, Otters, Roe Deer and Red Squirrels, and the spectacular scenery of Northumberland’s greatest wilderness, it should be a trip to remember. Give us a call on 01670 827465 to take advantage of our special introductory offer for these ground-breaking trips.

  • The future naturalists

    In the late nineties and early noughties, when I was a committee member of the Northumberland & Tyneside Bird Club, the issue of the ‘next generation’ of birdwatchers, and the recruitment of new members, was often discussed. Like many organisations, the average age of the club’s membership was increasing by one every year (which isn’t that surprising; you would need an awful lot of new, young members to affect that particular statistic). Committee attitudes varied from genuinely concerned through not thinking there was an issue to, and I still find this one hard to believe. not wanting new, inexperienced, birdwatchers to join at all.

    We frequently hear wildlife ‘celebrities’ bemoaning the fact that young people aren’t interested in wildlife. Are they right in that assumption? I had chance to consider this last week – August is a busy time for family bookings for NEWT (not surprisingly) and we had an Otter mini-Safari, with a family who had sons aged 12 and 15, and a Druridge Bay mini-Safari, where the family had a 9-year old son and 6-year old and 2 year-old daughters. Both trips were very succesful; Otters performing right in front of us on the first one and a wide range of spiders, wasps, bees, moths, butterflies and damselflies on the second….and all of the children were enthusiastic. On Thursday evening, we helped to lead a Bat Walk in Choppington Woods. The walk was fully booked, with 16 participants, and this was mainly families. Despite having to wait for the first bats to appear, enthusiasm levels stayed high and eventually we had them hunting close to us. Two of the children managed to locate a slight gap in the trees and discovered that this was where the bats were hunting. With a bat detector, and the keen eyesight of the young, they were enthralled for nearly 2 hours. There is a generation of young naturalists out there; we just need to work out how to engage, encourage and support them.

  • A full diary

    It’s been a hectic week for NEWT; evening pelagic last Friday, pre-walks for the Kielder Walking Festival and the Northumberland National Park Walkfest at the weekend, and Safari Trips every day since then.

    I’ve posted a report of the pelagic on my personal blog ‘Diary of an Addicted Seawatcher’. The Kielder pre-walk was enlivened by 30-40 Crossbills and 2 recently fledged Common Buzzards who were ‘mewing’ at us until we passed out of their line of sight.

    Our three Safaris this week have all been very different; Monday produced excellent views of 2 Otters, Tuesday was much more ‘birdy’, with 2 juvenile Marsh Harriers, Little Egret, adult Curlew Sandpiper and both Barn and Long-eared Owls and yesterday had a more invertebrate focus – Small Copper, Wall, Painted Lady and Red Admiral butterflies, Blue-tailed Damselflies and a Sand Wasp that was watched as it hunted spiders along a small section of sand dune.

    Today and tomorrow I’ll be leading walks from the Ingram visitor centre as part of Family Walkfest 2009. And once all that’s done I’m going to try and get some good photos/video of Long-eared Owl. We’re going to have a lot of editing/uploading to do during the winter!

  • When the seabirds have gone…

    the Farne Islands still have Grey Seals. July marks the end of our Farne Island Safaris until next May, but we still have Seal Safaris to deliver.

    Meeting up with Matt and Hannah in Seahouses harbour, the weather looked ok…overcast, but the cloud was breaking up, and with strengthening SSE winds, set to test our skipper on the journey across to the islands, and back again.

    As always, the Grey Seals were lazing in the warm sunshine, offering excellent photo opportunities. Feeding flocks of Gannets and Sandwich Terns impressed as they soared, hovered, dived, and emerged with fish.

    Back on the mainland we stopped for lunch and watched more Gannets and terns as they fed offshore from our vantage point. As we journeyed up the coast there were some stunning waders still in their full breeding plumage; Dunlin, Knot, Golden Plover and Black-tailed Godwit. Sparrowhawks zipped from one side of a line of trees to the other and we found 5 Greenshanks, 2 Ruff a Common Sandpiper and a juvenile Spotted Redshank. On to another favourite NEWT location, and we were soon spotting more seals – all bobbing about upright in the rising tide. Some life eh? Lay on some sand, have a bit of a scratch, let the tide lift you up, go to sleep, let the tide lower you back onto the emerging sandbar, and so on and so forth. Of course, our Seal Safaris in late October will witness a rather more stressed time of year for the seals.

    One last stop before the return to Seahouses and more photogenic wildlife; Green-veined White butterflies mating, Cinnabar moth caterpillars, Harebells and a Small Copper, a truly beautiful butterfly to end the day.

  • …and more on Tuesday

    After Monday’s mini-safari, today we had a full Safari, South-east Northumberland birdwatching and Otters. Collecting Linda from her holiday accommodation atThe Swan at Choppington, the day started with excellent views of a Red Squirrel along the River Blyth. Nuthatches were calling all around, but we couldn’t see them in the dense foliage. As the day progressed it just got better; Little Egret, Dunlin, Turnstone, Buzzard and Sparrowhawk all added to the birdwatching interest, Bloody Cranesbill, Tufted Vetch, Viper’s Bugloss and Self-heal were found while looking down rather than up and insect interest was evident with Blue-tailed Damselfly, Small Skipper, Common Blue, Shaded Broad-bar and Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet as well as a stunning, newly emerged Painted Lady. The Otters were on top form as well, with all three of last year’s kits showing close enough to allow Linda the opportunity to photograph them. On route back to The Swan we stopped in Newbiggin to check for Mediterranean Gulls…and found at least 11, with 8 adults and 3 of this year’s birds all sitting on the beach. After a full day out it’s time to go to for a drink…with Linda…at The Swan (it is our local, after all).

  • Otters on Monday

    Yesterday we had an Otter mini-safari, but for once my usual confidence was waning; a howling gale was blowing and the surface of the pools we usually visit was whipped up like the North Sea on a rough day, not exactly ideal viewing conditions. I focused my attention on the one patch of calm water, sheltered by a line of trees. A dark, menacing shape broke the surface…and it was a Cormorant 🙁 The next one wasn’t though, and we were soon watching Otters at both ends of the pool. Their behaviour in the rough water was very different to how it is in calm conditions, and an interesting experience, possibly explaining the suggestion by several observers that Otters are often absent on very windy days. After the NEWT Otter Experience, we carried on with a spot of birdwatching before returning to our starting point at Newbiggin, and the sight of an adult Mediterranean Gull floating high above the beach.

  • Eye of the Storm

    Friday saw the first NEWT/NTBC birdwatching pelagic trip of the year, and 12 eager participants gathered on the marina at Royal Quays ready for the off. The weather looked fine, and the cloud cover suggested that visibility would be good. Most of the chum ingredients had been prepared and measured in advance so, before we were out of the Tyne, the unrefined cod-liver oil and vegetable oil had been added to a dustbin full of finely ground popcorn. Hmmm, lovely. Crew menber and chum-meister Jimmy quickly produced a good quantity of diced Mackerel to add to the mix and we headed out into the unknown.

    Soon, we were finding a steady stream of Manx Shearwaters. Nearly all heading south, which was unusual in itself; perhaps they knew something that we didn’t…it wasn’t long before we noticed that in every direction around us there seemed to be heavy storms, and soon the rain hit us as well. Mobile ‘phones began ringing, to check that we were all ok, as mainland Northumberland was under a deluge and a frightening electrical storm. Watched from the boat out at sea it was spectacular, as was the intense double rainbow away to the east. All the while, we had lots of birds in attendance; Kittiwakes, Fulmars, Gannets and gulls. Manxies continued to pass by and I latched on to a probable Sooty Shearwater, but in the gloom couldn’t be certain. A Harbour Porpoise broke the surface in the wake of the boat and, as the rain stopped, the sunset over North Northumberland was breathtaking.

    After 10 years of operating Northumberland Pelagics, right back to when NEWT was just a glimmer of a thought, my enthusiasm for them keeps on growing. With 4 more from Royal Quays this year, there’s still lots of opportunities to find ‘the big one’; birdwatching roulette par excellence.

  • Beginnings…

    Yesterday was the first of our Beginners Birdwatching courses, and involved a trip across to Inner Farne. As the end of the breeding season draws near the number of birds has declined dramatically, even in the 10 days since I was last there. Even so, it’s still an experience to remember. The Arctic Terns are much less aggressive, now that their chicks are able to fly short distances themselves, the Puffins are still standing around their burrows and Kittiwakes and Shags have got large nestlings. With lower numbers of birds, it made the teaching and learning process so much easier with a lot less to take in than there would have been a month ago. The way we’ve structured the courses is as pairs of half-days, with the second trip providing opportunities for participants to practice/extend the skills and knowledge they’ve gathered on the first trip.

    We’re going to run these courses every second month, so late September will be our next one; again based on the coast, but this time concentrating on waders. Beginners Birdwatching, Northumberland as a classroom…

  • In deepest Northumberland

    Wednesday started with the long drive to Bellingham, to investigate new areas for our Kielder Safaris. By lunchtime I’d seen a flock of 30 Crossbills, a couple of Buzzards and a remote track, offering stunning views, was added to our route. Late August/early September will see the debut of our new Kielder Safari, so keep checking our calendar.

    Then it was time to drive to Once Brewed to pre-walk one of the routes for this year’s Family Walkfest. The route follows a new boardwalk and I spent 3 hours checking all of the plants, birds and insects that can easily be spotted along the way. Most exciting was when I found a Mountain Bumblebee, but Grasshopper Warblers, Siskins, swans and geese all grabbed the attention as well. Should be an excellent walk for all the family so check the website and sign up before it’s fully booked.