Northern Experience Wildlife Tours

Category: Druridge Bay

If at first you don’t succeed; Bespoke Otter Safari 14/02/2015

When we’re searching for Otters, a fair degree of success is down to hard work (checking sites repeatedly, so we know when and where they are), a good bit of it is down to luck (they are wild animals after all, so don’t perform to order…) and those often combine to give a gut-feeling…

I collected Adam and Heather from Newcastle Central Station and we set off towards southeast Northumberland and Druridge Bay for their bespoke Otter Safari. Our first destination was the site that’s our current ‘Plan A’…where there wasn’t any indication of Otter activity 🙁 Along the coast we checked other sites without any luck, although there were lots of Goldeneye, Little Grebe and thousands of Pink-footed Geese. Canada and Greylag Geese, Curlew and Redshank were all making a racket that suggested there was an Otter nearby, but still no sign. In marked contrast to the Arctic blast of a day earlier, we had our lunch on the top of the dunes looking over towards Coquet Island, above a beach covered in Sanderling, Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher, Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit and Redshank and a lone Grey Plover.

Then we headed back to ‘Plan A’. I was as confident as I could be that, with no Otter activity earlier in the day, at least one would be out and feeding as the afternoon wore on. Sure enough, we were soon watching the lithe sinuous shape twisting and turning in the water as an Otter fed on small fish 🙂 The look on Heather’s face was priceless, and reminded me that as much as I enjoy watching wildlife, I really enjoy seeing our clients enjoying it too 🙂

Here’s an image of the Otter we were watching, taken in mid-January.

Our Otter Safaris take place all year round, from warm summer evenings when we’re still out an about late in the day, through to the depths of winter, so there’ll be a time and date that suits you – just give us a call on 01670 827465 to find out when!

28/02/2015
Plan A, Plan B; Otter Safari 07/02/2015

A question I’ve been asked a few times recently is “What if we hadn’t seen an Otter there?”. The answer, of course, is that we have a Plan B (and Plan C and Plan D as well, just in case…).

I collected Bing and Martin and we headed out towards the coast for their bespoke Otter Safari. Just over an hour later, and Plan A wasn’t looking good; there were Cormorants, Goldeneye and Little Grebes as far as the eye could see, but no sign of our target species…however, good things come to those who wait, and when Bing mentioned that she’d just seen something diving I looked across in the same direction, and up popped an Otter 🙂 Here’s an image of an Otter at ‘Plan A’ in mid-January.

We watched it for a few minutes before it slipped out of sight, and I thought it would be sensible to put Plan B into action. First though, it was time for lunch. We paid a visit to probably the most endearing star of our recent days out

and then we sat on a cliff top as Turnstone, Sanderling, Grey Plover, Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher, Bar-tailed Godwit and Curlew scurried, stalked, prodded and probed their way along the shoreline below us. Plan B proved to be much more successful, as we watched an Otter as it startled Redshank, Curlew, Mallards, Canada Geese and Greylag Geese. We lost track of it for a few minutes, then suddenly it was right in front of us, getting out of the water briefly, before heading off into the reflection of the sun, and creating the typical ‘ring of bright water’, each time it surfaced 🙂 A Stoat provided some entertainment, as they always do – this one was photographed on New Year’s Day, when we were checking Plans A, B, C and D 🙂

Another species that we’ve been watching regularly over the last few weeks provided a vivid splash of colour in the fading light of the afternoon,

and then it was time to return Bing and Martin to their hotel, with the goal of seeing an Otter in the wild reached via Plan A and Plan B 🙂 If you’d like to search for Otters in the wild, or any of Northumberland’s other stunning wildlife, then give us a call on 01670 827465 – wildlife is unpredictable, but the one thing we can guarantee is that we’ll always do everything we can to make sure you’re in the right place at the right time!

10/02/2015
Snowstorm; Otter mini-Safari 04/02/2015

I’ve never made any secret of the fact that my enthusiasm is raised by the winter, and snow in particular. I love it, and always have done. We’ve only had a few trips over the last seven years with snow on the ground, and generally only a light dusting…

06:00 and there’s a very light covering of snow on the ground.

08:00 and it’s starting to snow properly

08:15 I’m on my way to Lesbury to collect Phil and Carol, and it’s picturesque; sunshine, blue sky, pristine glistening snow blanketing the fields

08:30 now it’s bleak – not so much a white-out as a murky, unpleasant grey-out; heavy snowfall and the roads are completely covered

09:15 I arrive at Lesbury, and it’s picturesque again 🙂

10:00 We’re watching our first Otter of the morning when a proper snowstorm hits. This is wildlife-watching at it’s finest; an elusive predator hunting a little distance away from us, and the elements chucking a good amount of the white stuff in our direction 🙂 As the snow passes it turns into a quite pleasant morning; sunny, not too cold, although we can see snow in the distance. Then a second Otter appears, covering a lot of distance, but performing briefly within range of Phil’s camera. A hovering Kestrel found itself on the receiving end of a sustained attack by a Sparrowhawk, Mallards watched warily as the Otters swam by, Cormorants flying inland looked prehistoric and incredibly, we’d been watching the Otters for over two hours 🙂

Here’s an image from mid-January of one of the Otters that we’re seeing regularly just now.

We’ve added another Otter mini-Safari to our calendar, on February 27th, and there are a couple of spaces still available so give us a call on 01670 827465 to book your place 🙂

06/02/2015
In the teeth of a wintry gale; Otter mini-Safari 01/02/2015

I wake up and look at the alarm clock. It’s only 04:00, and the howling wind is tearing along the length of our road and beyond. I’m collecting James in 5 hours, for an Otter mini-Safari on his birthday, so I drift back to sleep, hoping that it won’t be quite so breezy by the time we’re out in the open and tracking down the sinuous, elusive predator.

I pull into the car park at The Swan at 09:00, and the wind has died down a bit 🙂 As we head towards our first location for the morning James describes his obsession with Otters, and we discuss where to look and how to study each type of habitat that they occupy. Approaching the water’s edge, there’s a stunning drake Goldeneye and a Cormorant…and less than 5 seconds later our first Otter of the morning 🙂 Diving and rolling, it soon vanishes – only to reappear a few metres away as it gets out of the water carrying a substantial meal and then creeps out of sight. We can see another Otter distantly, and a patient approach allowed us to get within a few metres of that one too, as Goosander and Red-breasted Merganser were also reaping nature’s rich bounty nearby.

The Otter we managed to get clsoe to by stalking is one that we’ve been watching since mid-December, and here’s a picture of him in January.

As the morning wore on the wind started to pick up again, with Lapwings tossed on the breeze like leaves and a Common Buzzard battling against the wind. A Cormorant caused a brief ‘is that another Otter?’ moment and 4 hours had quickly passed so I returned James to The Swan then went home and started wondering whether a bike ride in that wind would be a good idea…

We’ve got Otter Safaris regularly throughout the year, so give us a call on 01670 827465 or email enquiries@newtltd.co.uk to join us in searching for this stunning predator 🙂

02/02/2015
Charming; Bespoke Birdwatching 10/11/2014

Even after 40+ years birdwatching, there are times when I’m not sure whether the thing that excites me the most is a lone rarity, a life or death interaction involving one of the predators we encounter, or an impressive flock of something common…

I collected David and Dot from Gosforth and we made our way across to the coast for a day of mid-November birdwatching. This proved to be a day of flocks; Pink-footed Geese rose then dropped in nearby fields, peppering the sky and cutting through the autumn air with their yapping calls. Mini-murmurations of Starlings twisted, turned, bunched and swirled, demonstrating that they don’t just reserve that spectacle for the fading light of evening. Common Snipe were sitting in the vegetation close to the water’s edge, extraordinarily well camouflaged when asleep and only really betraying their presence once they woke up and started probing in the soft mud of the shallows. Oystercatcher, Turnstone, Redshank, Curlew and Eider are almost a given on the coast in the winter, a lone Sanderling hurried back and forth in a flock of Ringed Plover and Teal, Wigeon and Goldeneye are eyecatching whether in flocks or alone. Elegant Pintail glided by and Stonechats flicked their tails nervously perched in the tops of bushes in the dunes along the coast. One isolated tree brought a memorable spectacle, with a charm of Goldfinches, and a lone Greenfinch. For a couple of years now, a lot of our clients have reported increasing numbers of Goldfinch, and a tremendous decrease in Greenfinch. No matter how numerous Goldfinch become, it’s hard to imagine that we could ever become blase about them; strikingly patterned, with their red face, black and white head and yellow wing flashes, and with liquid, twittering songs and calls, they really are quite charming 🙂

22/11/2014
Battling the elements; Otter Safari 06/11/2014

Last Thursday was Sue’s second Otter Safari with us this year, after an unsuccessful search in early July…a trip that was followed by five consecutive successful Otter Safaris for other clients! I was really looking forward to this trip – Sue is great company and pleasure to be out birdwatching with – but the added pressure of already having one Otter Safari not produce our target species had me planning, re-planning and then planning some more…

I’d got two sites lined up that I was confident would produce Otter sightings, but the one spanner in the works was the weather forecast. If it was accurate (and, as it turned out, it was) we’d got three hours of good weather, and four of poor, ahead of us. As I drove to Church Point, I was mulling over the options for the two sites, and decided to go with the one that’s been our most reliable this year during the good weather, and then head to the other one towards dusk. Then I thought about it again – would the reliable site, where I can usually predict to within a few metres where the Otter will first put in an appearance, be better in the poor weather just before dark? I decided to trust to my first instinct and we were soon watching over the water as the wind strengthened and the first drops of rain were carried towards us on the breeze. As Goldeneye and Cormorant dived in the ruffled water I noticed a dark shape in the corner of my field of vision. It might have been nothing, but I held my concentration on that spot and just over a minute later an Otter cub surfaced in front of us 🙂 Twisting, turning, porpoising, diving and feeding, it kept us entertained for 90 minutes before slipping out of sight as the next wave of raindrops stung our faces on the now howling wind.

We retreated to the car and sat eating lunch overlooking the North Sea, as a distant speck heading towards us over the waves revealed itself to be a Blackbird that paused for a few minutes on the cliff face before continuing its migration inland. Then a Wheatear came ‘in-off’, and soon after that three Redwings arrived, following what must have been an arduous sea crossing, as the rain intensified. As dusk approached, and the rain somehow became even heavier, we watched flocks of Teal and Wigeon, Common Snipe and Dunlin probing in soft mud, Curlew appearing as if from out of nowhere, Starlings and Jackdaws heading to roost, and Blackbirds, Robins, Fieldfare and more Blackbirds, and more Blackbirds 🙂

14/11/2014
From the sublime to the gloomy; Bespoke Birdwatching 04/11/2014

The first of two bespoke birdwatching days for Alan and Sandra began when I collected them from Weldon Bridge and we headed across to Druridge Bay and the southeast Northumberland coast.

A ghosty pale Mediterranean Gull was a good start to the morning, Redshank, Turnstone, Oystercatcher and Purple Sandpiper were roosting just above the breaking surf and Eiders were rafting just offshore. Atlantic Salmon heading upstream on the River Coquet provided lunchtime entertainment, then the afternoon brought beautifully sublime light conditions that illuminated Golden Plover and Lapwing as they twisted and turned while Common Snipe slept, fed and bickered with each other in the muddy margins, a Little Egret stalked patiently along the edges of the reeds and a Spotted Redshank stood out like a shining beacon as the sun sank below a thick bank of cloud on the western horizon and it turned cold and gloomy. Starlings came to roost, although with little appetite for a full-blown murmuration, and Pink-footed Geese arrived from surrounding fields, yapping noisily as they dropped from the air towards the water. When it was too dark to see anything and we headed back to the car, the yapping of the late arrivals still cut through the gloom overhead.

13/11/2014
Wild Goose chase; Bespoke Birdwatching 30/10/2014

Thursday was Pete and Janet’s 6th trip with NEWT, and the dismal, gloomy, drizzly south easterly weather as I drove to Embleton seemed ever so slightly promising 🙂

We started around Druridge Bay, checking a small area of woodland close to the coast, and soon encountered one of my favourite passerines, with three Brambling feeding quietly high in the canopy and two more flying over noisily. Everywhere we went there were Robins and Blackbirds, although little sign of any other migrants other than a large flock of Redwing over Cresswell and a flock of Fieldfare near Beadnell. Leaping Salmon on the River Coquet provided a lot of entertainment and a Cormorant which had been catching small fish, dived, causing a large Salmon to leap clear of the water. The fish splashed back down and the Cormorant surfaced, gripping it behind the gills. As the bird drifted downstream with its catch, we couldn’t believe that it would be able to deal with such a large fish…then it manouvered it so that the fish’s head was pointing down it’s throat and swallowed it whole!

As dusk approached, we were on the coast near Holy Island. Little Egrets, Grey Plover, Curlew and Redshank were on the mudflats and the high yapping sound of Pink-footed Geese could be heard distantly. Skein after skein appeared against the dark clouds overhead, settling close to the oncoming tide. Then more, and more, and more…thousands and thousands of geese, still arriving when it was so dark that they were just a slightly darker speckling against an almost featureless backdrop. Finally, as we headed back to the car, the ‘teu-it’ call of a Spotted Redshank cut through the gloom as the geese continued to arrive.

03/11/2014
Under a darkening sky; Northumberland Coast 27/10/2014

Yesterday was a safari day on the Northumberland coast, with a plan to enjoy the birdwatching around our regular Otter sites and then a stargazing session in Druridge Bay.

I collected John and Pam from home in Cullercoats and we drove up the coast. As we ate our picnic lunch in the shadow of Bamburgh Castle, we could see Gannets diving offshore, beyond the rafts of Common Eider that were surfing the gentle swell. Kestrels were seen throughout the afternoon and a real ‘from the car’ bonus came in the shape of three Roe Deer. As so often happens as we approach the winter, wildfowl dominated the birdwatching. As well as the Eiders, with males resplendent in their breeding finery, Teal, Mallard and Goldeneye looked at their best. As a Grey Wagtail perched on a mid-stream rock, and fish swirled and leapt from the water, a male Kingfisher perched on a branch overhanging the river, flocks of geese peppered the sky wherever we were, and a flock of Greylag Geese began to flush as the search and rescue helicopter passed noisily overhead. Whooper Swans looked as stunning as ever, flocks of Lapwing and Golden Plover swirled in the stiff breeze and, as dusk approached, Pink-footed Geese began arriving to roost. Flock after flock of Pink-feet appeared out of the gloom, announcing their imminent arrival with their yapping calls, eventually in near darkness when they were just a black speckling against the dark grey brooding clouds.

28/10/2014
Once Bittern; Druridge Bay mini-Safari 22/10/2014

Yesterday afternoon brought quite different conditions to Tuesday evening; still cold and windy, but the clear skies had been replaced by gloomy cloud as I collected Charlotte, Ali, Ben and Thomas from Newbiggin for their second NEWT trip in two days.

In difficult light, and occasional rain, we didn’t manage to find an Otter, but there was a wealth of birdlife to enjoy; a Cormorant was drying it’s wings as Little Grebe, Shoveler, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Moorhen and Mute Swan fed nearby, flushed briefly by a Sparrowhawk that landed on a small rock in the water before heading off to menace something else. As dusk approached, although it was hard to discern any difference from mid-afternoon, Starlings began a murmuration, Greylag and Pink-footed Geese arrived noisily to roost, Whooper Swans were whooping loudly and there was the ‘is it a heron, is it an owl?’ moment as a Bittern flew lazily from the reeds, passing by us on it’s way to another reedbed 🙂

23/10/2014