After a day in the North Pennines, I had an hour at home before setting out for an evening mini-safari around Druridge Bay. I couldn’t have anticipated that the evening would bring one of the most astonishing things I’ve seen…
I collected Fiona and Damien from Morpeth and then headed north east to Amble to collect Mark and Mrs Blake. The good weather of the earlier part of the day continued and we were soon watching four Avocets, and listening to a fifth, as a flock of Tree Sparrows foraged on a pile of rotting vegetation, a Grey Heron stalked along the edge of the pond and Black-headed Gulls hawked insects over nearby fields. One of Northumberland’s long-standing Bird Race teams passed through and picked up Avocet and Little Gull for their day list.
As we continued our journey north through the bay, it became obvious that there had been a huge hatch of insects. Dense clouds of them were hanging around us and they were providing a feast for Black-headed Gulls (several hundred), at least eight Little Gulls and countless Swallows, Swifts, House Martins and Sand Martins. With barely any breeze, and mirror-calm water, the birds were flying back and forth deftly picking insects from the water’s surface, and the swallows and martins were passing within a few feet of us. The whirling, twisting mass of birds was breathtaking, and numbers had barely decreased by the time it was so dark that it was time for us to finish our evening. Lovely clients, common birds, abundant insects and a memorable wildlife spectacle 🙂