Northern Experience Wildlife Tours

Category: Druridge Bay

  • The overlap

    On Saturday we ventured into Kielder Forest, checking out some new sites for our forthcoming safari on March 24th. The weather was changeable, but we still found our first Sand Martin of the year, as well as Goosander, Mandarin, Merlin, Buzzard, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk and plenty of Redwing and Fieldfare.

    Yesterday was WeBScount day, so we walked along the beach from Cresswell to East Chevington. It was so warm that hats and gloves weren’t required (for the first time in a long time). The beach was beautiful and clean and the weather was glorious; fluffy clouds against a deep blue sky above Druridge Bay. There were still plenty of birds as well, including a flock of 52 Sanderling charging up and down the edge of the surf like clockwork toys and 120 Wigeon resting on the sea. It won’t be too long before these winter visitors are on their way again but, for a few weeks now we’ll have the early summer visitors and the lingering wintering birds at the same time.

  • Signs of Spring

    06:30 – Martin woke from a good night’s sleep and sensed something different, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. The most obvious thing was that the sky wasn’t the deep black of a winter morning, but it was starting to get light already. 06:30? When did this start to happen? Then the dawning recognition…bird song. That was it; robins, blackbirds, chaffinches, mistle thrushes and song thrushes – all belting out their very own ballads as they tried to woo the ladies. As daylight took hold, the scene around the feeding station wasn’t quite how it has been recently. The blackbirds were fighting instead of feeding, our resident collared doves were nibbling each other instead of the seed that we provide for them – the long-tailed tits were feeding, but just the two of them instead of the dozen or so that usually encapsulate the feeders in a heaving ball of pink fluff.

    As we headed up the coast, the warm sunshine broke through the fluffy white clouds that were scudding across the sky, propelled by a wind that was chill enough to remind us that it is still the winter. A sprinkling of snowdrops decorated the roadside verges, another sign of new life after the heavy snow of recent weeks. And then, after a very productive and enjoyable photographic session near Bamburgh, on the journey home we passed fields of very small lambs. Does any creature revel in new life as much as these little balls of white wool as they dash headlong around the fields?

  • Change is all around

    There has been a noticeable change in the weather over the last couple of days with much warmer temperatures clearing away the snow that had fallen so hard at the end of last week. We may even avoid any frosts over the coming nights too. Being out and about over the weekend we saw our first snowdrops of the year, blanketing the ground in swathes of green and white as they did indeed push up through the snow and frozen ground to make us all think of spring. Skeins of Pink-footed Geese were heading north over Druridge Bay yesterday, perhaps already departing the wintering grounds in Norfolk, and Martin demonstrated his ability to pick up flyover birds on call as he pinpointed a small movement of Skylarks, presumably now dispersing from the large flocks in which they spend the winter (it’s a shame he isn’t so good at picking up the close range voice of his wife…). It’s noticeable too that the evenings are staying lighter for longer and dawn is getting earlier, giving all of our wildlife more daylight hours in which to feed up for the biggest change of all; getting ready to breed and raise the next generation. Collared Doves are cooing and preening on our extension roof, and spending more time near to last year’s nest.

    With this in mind we were pleased to hear of proposals to reintroduce set aside; the scheme where farmers are encouraged to leave part of their farms free from production to enable nature to take over, which provides plenty of food for some of our most endangered species such as Yellowhammer, Grey Partridge, Tree Sparrows and Skylarks. Introduced when European farmers were producing too much food, it was abandoned as food production became more critical. Reintroduction is planned on a voluntary basis, so let’s hope that room can be found for a little bit of nature to find its way back into our agricultural landscape to help support and conserve those declining species that were once so common.

  • “Much better than on the telly”

    The road beneath our wheels was a clear sheet of ice as we proceeded cautiously, past several drivers who hadn’t. The day promised clear skies and sunshine, but the strong northerlies overnight had whipped the sea up to the point where taking a boat trip would have been foolhardy at best. Of course, we always have a Plan B…so as the tide receded we were by the Holy Island causeway with a Landrover full of clients. Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Dunlin, Curlew and Bar-tailed Godwit were all probing the soft mud as Pale-bellied Brent Geese and Shelduck walked along the water’s edge. Then, mayhem…waders in the air as far as the eye could see. Tight flocks of Dunlin and Golden Plover weaving this way and that. It could really only mean one thing…and there was that one thing – a Peregrine Falcon tearing through the maelstrom. Eventually it settled, sentinel-like, on the mud and the waders settled back down. At the other side of the causeway a flock of Twite were shuffling amongst the seaweed and we set out on a walk in the biting cold of this winter’s day. A Common Seal (not common at all in Northumberland) was feeding in the surf just offshore from the end of the Crooked Lonnen and a flock of Curlew, Oystercatcher and Lapwing lifted from a field as a Carrion Crow harassed each bird that gained the prize of a juicy worm. A few Grey Seals were seen as well and we left the island, stopping to eat our lunch at a site overlooking the mudflats.

    Heading south down the coastal route we eventually arrived in Druridge Bay. As a stunning sunset developed Whooper Swans flew over our heads, softly calling to each other, and a Starling roost began to form. Small flocks flew by on their way to this evening rendezvous, eventually becoming bigger flocks, and then there they were; above the skyline, twisting and turning like one amorphous being. More and more birds joined the throng until there were probably 10000, circling and circling over the roost site until the climax of the dance and the final headlong dive into the reedbed.

    Like Rooks going to roost, Minke Whales feeding on Herring shoals, a Peregrine Falcon stooping at prey…a Starling roost really is a must-see.

  • Wild Goose chase

    For several years now we’ve been involved in the Icelandic-breeding Goose Census, and our survey work has enabled us to enjoy some spectacular flocks of birds departing their overnight roosts as daylight breaks, not only the geese but there’s also a roost of several thousand starlings at East Chevington, the site we count. Barn Owls are a regular feature of our early morning visits there as well. However, 2007 produced fewer geese than we expected and last month’s count revealed the presence of very few Greylag Geese and no Pink-footed Geese at all. We know they are around in southeast Northumberland – after all, we see birds regularly and it isn’t unusual to hear them calling in flight over our house at night. This month’s count was scheduled for this weekend so we headed out at 05:30 this morning, and headed for separate sites. Very few again at East Chev, but Sarah saw several flocks flying in over QEII Country Park. We haven’t found the roost site yet, but eventually no less than 1700 Pink-feet were gathered in one field…only 10mins from our house! Some map-work has revealed the possible roost sites so we’ll be out early again tomorrow. Maybe the census will have to change the site that is required to be counted in southeast Northumberland, although East Chev still holds some birds so we may have to carry out our own co-ordinated count at multiple sites to determine the exact number wintering in our area.

  • Lovely weather for…

    …ducks and geese. On Tuesday we were out on a tour in Druridge Bay, and were luckily sheltered from some torrential rain. Quite a lot of the day was spent discussing how to identify different species of duck, and relating head/bill profiles to what each species eats. Some nice waders were found as well; Wood and Purple Sandpipers were the highlights, but Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwits were together at Cresswell, allowing a comparison between these two sometimes tricky species. A couple of hours sitting on Church Point, Newbiggin, yesterday evening revealed an almost total absence of seabirds – but lots of wildfowl. Nearly 1400 Barnacle Geese, 450 Pink-footed Geese and 7 Velvet Scoters (gorgeous birds – if you’ve never seen one then click this link) all flew past as the sky darkened and looked increasingly ominous. Maybe these NW winds that are bringing so many Leach’s Petrels to the west coast will send a few our way…