The wind is whipping around my ears, bitingly cold. A real multi-sensory experience, with an eerie whistling as it carves through the dark towers of a nearby stand of pines. Against the inky blackness of the night sky a myriad of stars are twinkling and the moonlight is diffused through a thin halo of cloud. Birdwatching in the dark is an endeavour of surprises. The thin, high calls of Redwings carry on the wind; stragglers from the daylight feeding foray into the hinterland of Blyth and Newbiggin, the coastal towns of southeast Northumberland. Immersion in the darkness is always an exciting experience. Stripped of much of the visual world around us, other senses come to prominence; the scent of leaf-mould and fungi, the quavering hoots and sharp ‘kewicks’ of Tawny Owls, barking Foxes and rustling rodents, the tactile sensation of twigs and branches brushing against your face as you pick your way down a familiar footpath. Without the visual clues that usually lead you down the route, it’s like a whole new world waiting to be explored.