Author: martin

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!

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.

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).

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.

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.

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…

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.

Let’s start with a warning – Google Maps may provide directions for where you are going, but it doesn’t know when a road on the route is closed!

Anyhow, with a dim and distant memory of Forest Hall, from the days when I still lived in Newcastle, I collected Douglas on time. We headed west from Newcastle and out to Hexham to collect our second participant, Tim, for a day of birdwatching in southwest Northumberland and the North Pennines AONB. Visiting my favourite site for Short-eared Owl, we were struck by the strength of the wind. And it wasn’t going to ease off…

Upper Teesdale was our next port of call, and we walked from Cow Green down to Cauldron Snout. The area may not be as good for flowers as in May and June but there was still plenty to hold the interest. Several feathers, bird corpses and poo were a topic for discussion/identification and we had lunch sitting next to the roaring cataract of the waterfall. The howling gale blowing straight up the valley made for a really wild experience…and a quicker walk back to the carpark!

Black Grouse were a major target for the day, but we had to be persistent; with the lekking season over, long vegetation in most of the meadows and the high winds, it was going to be a challenge. With the benefit of lots of Black Grouse sites, I was confident that we would find one. One of the sites produced lots of Lapwings and over 100 Golden Plover, but still no grouse. A stop to check another site produced a real wildlife drama as a Stoat chased Lapwings at the edge of a pond. Last chance saloon…and before I set up the telescope my attention was drawn to a dark speck high against the blue sky overhead. It suddenly loomed larger as it plummeted towards the ground; Peregrine Falcon, the fastest bird in the world, joined briefly by another before it soared up, harassed by swallows and martins. Time to focus my attention on scanning for grouse – and there he was, a handsome Blackcock, braving the wind and shuffling through the long grass. Then panic behind us, as Lapwings Oystercatchers and Starlings all took to the air in alarm. The Peregrine had been joined by 2 Common Buzzards. A stunning end to our North Pennines day.

We should have been spending yesterday at the Osprey Watchpoint at Kielder; conservation and engaging the public (particularly with birds of prey) are very close to our hearts and have occupied a lot of our spare time for the last few years. However, the weather on Friday was a long way from promising and I was tasked with checking the conditions and forecast first thing on Saturday and contacting all of the volunteers and the volunteer co-ordinator and making a decision about the viability of having 5 volunteers sitting at Kielder in the rain.

So…we found ourselves at a loose end and decided to have a trip into Newcastle. First stop was the Thomas Bewick exhibition at the Laing Art Gallery, followed by the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition at the Hancock Museum. The incredible detail of Bewick’s art was clearly revealed with the aid of magnifying glasses and you can only wonder at the tiny scale he was working at. The photography exhibition was a bit of a mixed bag; some images that were breathtaking, but quite a few that just left me cold. Photography deserves to be treated as an art form, and art should trigger emotion; maybe positive, maybe negative. I suppose all of the images must have touched something in the judges…