The last six days have seen a rush of activity on the Northeast Cetacean Project; with the weather and sea conditions working to our advantage we completed three survey days this week. Time back onshore has been spent compiling a detailed database of cetacean sightings, preparing for the forthcoming tourist season, consulting on an important familiarisation visit and leading a southeast Northumberland birdwatching Safari Day on Wednesday.
The focus for the Safari Day was bird song and calls, so we concentrated on three of our local riverside woodlands. The warm sunny weather encouraged a lot of birds to be very vocal, particularly up to mid-morning. Bird songs and calls are something that can take a long time to get to grips with but, once you do, it makes a big difference to your birdwatching. You’ll know the birds are there before you see them, and vocalisations are a valuable identification tool as well. That was the rationale behind our Beginners Birdwatching ‘Bird Song’ course and, with bookings taken already, we’re looking forward to helping more of our clients to develop those skills.
For the first time this year we’re putting out the moth trap. It’s warm, cloudy and dry outside so hopefully we’ll have a good catch. With a bit of luck it’ll be cool enough in the morning that any moths we trap will be fairly inactive and they can be photographed, identified and released into the shrubbery with the minimum of fuss. With a good weather forecast for tomorrow, a day of photography could be on the cards.