Author: martin

It’s been a busy few days in the office for yours truly; our revamped newsletter goes out early next week, enquiries and bookings are picking up as the post-Christmas slump diminishes and I’ve been finalising the details for some exciting new products and services like our stunning North Pennines Wildlife Spectacular weekend. This is the first time we’ve announced this so I’m really excited by the prospect of taking calls about it and enthusing about the North Pennines in May. We’re very close to completing the details for an equally exciting ‘Whales, Waders and Wildfowl’ weekend based in Seahouses in September and what promises to be a breathtaking landscape and wildlife photography weekend in the North Pennines in late October.

When I have been out and about so far this week the weather has been quite gloomy. I usually carry some (way too much – Sarah) camera kit wherever I go but it’s stayed in the case this week. Then, as I was driving to Rothbury for a meeting with the northern area manager for the Northumberland National Park Authority yesterday afternoon (yes, the private and public sector can work well together), the thick fog (where did that come from?) suddenly lifted for a distance of just a few miles and the impressionistic white and pink fluffy sky was a landscape photographers dream…and the realisation that I’d left my camera gear in the house was a nightmare 🙁 Lesson learned.

We were just on our way to the coast yesterday morning when Jason Thompson from Sound Ideas ‘phoned to say that there was ‘a dolphin or porpoise’ washed up on the beach at Newbiggin. As we were just driving past Ashington, we joined Jason on the beach within 5 minutes and were able to identify the animal as a Harbour Porpoise; recently deceased, 1.5m long and with no obvious sign of a cause of death. We took the requisite measurements and photographs and, shortly after leaving, ‘phoned a couple of other people who we knew would be interested in the stranding. When they arrived soon after, the carcass had already been removed, with just a tractor trail in the sand to show where it had been. Perhaps the council were concerned about public safety with it being a nice, sunny Saturday morning? Who knows? The one thing that is certain is that it was removed a lot quicker than last year’s Minke Whale at Cresswell. Something we should all be grateful for 😉

Although this is the commonest cetacean recorded in Northumberland waters, you never really get a good look at one; when they break the surface the impression is of a tiny triangular dorsal fin mounted on a wheel that remains submerged as it rolls along. They’re not keen on boats so pelagic trips usually only manage a fleeting glance. However, I did once lead a school trip to Mull and see (and hear!) them just behind the boat we were on so there’s always an exception to the rule. You just can’t be sure where wildlife is concerned. I’ll blog about our solo Long-tailed Tit sometime soon…

Thursday’s Druridge Safari was treated to much better weather than originally forecast. It was still very cold though so, when Friday’s forecast said it would be ‘noticeably colder’, I wasn’t convinced. First collection was from Church Point, where it was fairly overcast and not that cold. Then up to Amble, still not too cold, before making our way slowly back down through Druridge Bay. First stop was to check through a herd of swans in a roadside field. Everyone could pick out both adult and juvenile Mute and Whooper Swans from among the herd and we headed to Druridge Pools where Teal, Mallard and Wigeon were all very vocal and Goldeneye, Tufted Duck and Little Grebe weren’t. Looking across to the distant hills we could see clouds passing over them. As the cloud cleared to the east it was very obvious that it had left a pristine, fresh snowfall. By this time the clouds above us had cleared as well and the temperature had dropped considerably. Spotting a flock of finches flying across the road ahead of us I stopped so we could take a close look at the birds and check through for anything unusual. Mainly Linnets and Chaffinches, they fed close to the road, quite unconcerned by our presence. Then, there was a real gem; a male Brambling in amongst the flock. Eventually it settled on the barbed wire fence close to us so everyone enjoyed binocular-filling views. Flocks of Lapwing, Golden Plover, Oystercatcher, Redshank and Knot circled overhead, spooked by an unseen (by us, anyway) threat and a flock of Pink-footed Geese filled the air over a distant field. The waders picking their way over the rocks as we headed back towards Newbiggin included three or four Purple Sandpipers and there was great excitement amongst the group, seeing this arctic-breeding wader. Back at the Church Point car-park, the flock of Black-headed Gulls surely had to contain a Mediterranean Gull, didn’t it? It did, a stunning adult, sitting on the barrier in the middle of the car-park in the middle of a row of it’s commoner cousins. Fine ID details were studied before the birds took off and the Med really stood out with it’s ghostly white wings and it’s subtle, but obviously, different shape and flight. Seven days until our next Druridge Safari, but in the meantime I’ll be back there trying to get a prize-winning shot of that Brambling. We just need some snow to add to the ‘feel’ of the shot.

Today started with a mini-safari. Meeting at Church Point, the finer points of Black-headed and Mediterranean Gull identification were given a thorough going over as the flock of Med Gulls is still present on the beach. Up the coast and checking the pools, displaying Goldeneye were stunning, Herons were sitting around looking grumpy and a call from Sarah, who was surveying waders elsewhere in Druridge Bay, alerted us to a Barn Owl that was hunting in bright sunshine at lunchtime. As the tide fell we headed back down the coast, stopping to check the waders as they dodged the dog-walkers and settled on the rocks as they became exposed. Curlew, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Turnstone and Ringed Plover were all expected but three Purple Sandpipers were a real bonus. I still couldn’t convince Joanne that they are actually purple though…

After lunch we set out on a mission…to find the roost site for the Jackdaws and Rooks that we’ve been seeing on their evening flight-lines for a few months now. After mapping the directions of the groups of corvids, the roost site was predicted to be…exactly where we found it this afternoon! We also found the pre-roost site, a field where the birds gather in complete silence before flying into the main roost. As we drove around the opposite side of the wood we found another pre-roost gathering. So there’s another mystery to solve…why two separate pre-roosts? Are there two separate roosts in the same wood? Are there even more pre-roosts in the same area? Have we found a ‘super-roost’ of multiple roosts? As the sky suddenly darkened and the rain began to fall we abandoned our observations and drove home, planning our strategy for studying corvid roost behaviour further.

…well, I’m not sure really” We get a lot of ‘phone calls and e-mails that start like that.

“What Turkey-sized birds could be wandering about in Harwood Forest?” (We checked that report out with a visit to Harwood – remarkably the birds in question were, in fact, Turkeys).

Then we were sent a photograph of a Black Panther sitting in a tree, paw dangling down, looking for all the world like it was waiting for an unsuspecting rambler. (That was a stuffed toy, but posed very realistically).

“What’s this bird?” – nearly always a Chaffinch (they may be incredibly common, but if you’ve never seen one before then the psychedelic colours of a male are a bit of a shock).

“What’s this moth?” – these are usually something bright and eyecatching like Cinnabar or Burnet, but with 1000’s of species in Britain anything is possible.

“I’ve just heard a flock of geese flying over my house” (This call was a valuable one in our ongoing efforts to determine the roost sites of wintering geese in southeast Northumberland).

I love these calls. Each and every one of them means that someone has had an encounter with wildlife that has stimulated a desire to know more, leading to discussions about what it is, why it’s there, what it’s doing. When I left my career in chemistry and teaching in order to set up Northern Experience Wildlife Tours I thought I had a rough idea of how the rest of my life would pan out. I never realised the scale of the enjoyment that it would bring me though. Spending the rest of it talking about wildlife with journalists, clients, public sector bodies or people who just want to know what the ‘strange bird in my garden’ is really was a career move I will never regret. In fact, that was one of the comments that led to the existence of NEWT “Don’t regret the things you have done, but one day you may regret the things you didn’t”.

That’s what one of our clients today suggested was the reason we didn’t see an otter. Just before we arrived at our favoured spot, no less than 20 ramblers were there…watching an otter. It must have suffered a bout of stage fright because it had disappeared by the time we arrived. The howling southwesterly gale didn’t help either; the surface of the pond was whipped up into waves that wouldn’t have looked out of place on Hawaii 5-0 (if you’re younger than me you’ll probably have to google that). A lone Goldeneye was engaging in some half-hearted display and a flock of Tufted Ducks were looking very agitated before all scattering – with the rough water we couldn’t see what had spooked them. Back down the coast and a flock of Lapwings, Dunlin and Golden Plover proved rather captivating when viewed through the ‘scope as did a Curlew. Now that’s a bird I see most days but ‘scope-filling views of one feeding are still fascinating. Returning to Church Point at Newbiggin, the wind had now reached the point where it was taking the new beach and depositing it in the car park. Who needs expensive scrubs and exfoliants when you’ve got nature to scour your face to the smoothness of an apple? We headed home with rosy cheeks…

…and a Kestrel for a Knave”. So ends the poem in the Boke of St Albans. These are the two raptors that we see most regularly from our office and garden (although Buzzard, Goshawk, Peregrine, Merlin and Hobby are all on the list as well) but I never tire of watching them.

I’d just finished filling our bird feeders and, as usual, the Coal Tits had been sitting at the top of the apple tree and scolding me, impatient for the feeders to be replenished. I turned to walk back into the house, and almost every bird in the garden began alarming frantically. I looked back at the feeders, and felt the rush of wings as a male Sparrowhawk hurtled past me and into the tit flock. On this occasion he was unsuccessful, and perched on our fence as the garden emptied of birds; steely blue above, orange below and with a penetrating gaze from that orange-yellow eye – a male Sparrowhawk is a stunning bird. Not keen on being watched, he launched himself from the fence and away into the woods. 10 minutes later he was up over the trees with his female, both flying along with deep, slow wingbeats although not progressing into a full display flight. The serious business of breeding is still some way off but this semi-display isn’t unusual on bright days during the winter as the pair reaffirm their bond and their territory. It’s a real boost to see these birds because, as well as having the ‘presence’ that all raptors have, it shows us that there is a healthy population of small birds in the woods.

Long-tailed Tits have been one of my favourite birds for a long, long time. Almost undescribably pretty, these pink, black and white birds usually grace the feeders in our garden with their presence only once a week or so (not surprising as their diet is predominantly invertebrates) – at least until this winter that was the case anyway. Now they’re here every day, presumably because of the sharp frosts we’ve had which will be limiting their natural diet. Each visit doesn’t last very long, just 2-3 minutes. Peanuts and fat balls are their food of choice at the feeding station, and their already endearing appearance is multiplied as they all hang on the feeder at the same time; up to 8 birds on the peanut cage and another 7 or 8 on the fat feeder, a heaving mass frantically pecking at the food. Then, they’re off, all calling as they depart, and the feeding station is left to the Blue, Great and Coal Tits.