Northern Experience Wildlife Tours

Category: Northumberland Coast

  • Four seasons in two days

    I spent the last three days guiding a familiarisation trip around the northeast, showcasing the landscape, wildlife and birdwatching of Northumberland, the North Pennines and Tees Valley for two wildlife officers and the development manager from ORCA (Organisation Cetacea).

    My main input was to the 2nd and 3rd days, as I had another booking for the 1st day so only joined the group late in the afternoon on a rather wet Northumberland coast.

    Day 2 dawned bright and dry at home but, as I passed Morpeth, it looked wet and misty ahead.  The main road to Rothbury had been closed by flooding so a detour via the moors and past Cragside was necessary.  We met up with Gill Thompson, the Northumberland National Park ecologist, and parked at Lordenshaws for a walk up Simonside.  It was cold, snowy and exhilarating and we walked up to the start of the ridge.  Meadow Pipits, Skylarks and Red Grouse were all seen as we climbed.

    Steph, Kathryn and Martin on the ridge above Lordenshaws
    Steph, Kathryn and Martin on the ridge above Lordenshaws

    Returning to the car we set off to drive across to Otterburn, round the base of Simonside.  That ran into a slight problem as, although we were fine in the Landy, Gill’s car couldn’t get through one of the floods we encountered.  I continued with the girls and Gill backtracked to Rothbury to find an open route to Otterburn.  After an excellent lunch at Otterburn Mill we headed towards Kielder Water and Forest Park.  A drive along a forest road that isn’t publically accessible produced excellent views of Roe Deer and Common Buzzard…in increasingly heavy snowfall.  At the Kielder Castle visitor centre there was excellent information provided about Ospreys, Goshawks, Tawny Owls, Red Squirrels and Hen Harriers.  We also visited the two wildlife hides at Bakethin and Leaplish.  Crossbills were calling in the tree tops, Goldeneye were displaying on the reservoir and the feeding station was a hive of activity, with Chaffinches, Coal Tits and an elusive Treecreeper.  As we returned to the dam wall and waved goodbye to Shona, it was time to head to Hadrian’s Wall.  Gill provided an excellent description of the wall, it’s history and the geology of the area while we were at Steel Rigg.  Then, after a long day out it was time to travel the short distance to Saughy Rigg Farm; our accommodation for the night and also where were having dinner, hosted by the Kielder Partnership.  The welcome, accommodation, evening meal and breakfast at Saughy Rigg were as outstanding as ever and it was good to chat to Sian and Shaun (who were both students at Haydon Bridge High School when I was teaching there).

    Yesterday was our North Pennines day.  I went out for a walk at 6am, and it was a beautiful Spring morning; Curlews were displaying and the early rays of sunlight were highlighting the contours and crevices of the landscape at their very best.  After a breakfast that would set anyone up for being stranded in the middle of nowhere, Black Grouse was clearly high on the wanted list and I’d devised a route that would take in my top 2 sites for this handsome bird.  The first obstacle was a vintage Triumph, completely blocking the road with it’s front wheels in a ditch where it had hit a patch of black ice.  We manouvered our cars (Stephen had been away at a meeting the day before so was now travelling behind us) and a van to safety, in case the Triumph started sliding once it was back on the road.  Thankfully that was accomplished without any problems and we continued.  We would have checked one Black Grouse site and then re-traced our route, but that patch of black ice on a sharp downhill bend led to  a change of plan and we took the road from Allendale to Carrshield instead…

    As we crossed the moor there was a thin layer of snow on the road, but there were tyre tracks coming from the other direction so we continued.  Stephen was following our tracks and then, at the high point of the road, the Landy skidded on some hidden ice, juddered and stopped.  Snow was drifting in faster than we could shovel it away and we couldn’t get any traction to free us from the drift.  Other vehicles from either direction were getting into difficulty in less snow than we had and…to cut a long story short…the entire incident involved  two Landrovers, a family estate car and a snow plough all stuck fast, a team of drivers busy shovelling snow, two snapped tow ropes and Steph and Kathryn using the supplies (and flasks of boiling water) from the back of our Landy to provide coffee and hot chocolate to keep everyone warm.  (Note to self; keep two shovels in the Landy in future!).

    Once we we free from the drift, and checked that everyone else was able to continue, we headed on and found two excellent Blackcocks by the side of the road.  Across to Langdon Beck and our (delayed) rendezvous with Shane Harris from the North Pennines AONB Partnership.  As we re-structured the schedule Shane said “can anyone hear hissing?”.  Yes, after all the effort we’d put into trying to get some traction with our offside front tyre…it was punctured.  Just a minor inconvenience really so, with the spare wheel on, we had lunch at the Bowlees visitor centre (where the weather was positively summery), walked along the river at Low Force and then drove all the way down the Tees Valley to visit RSPB Saltholme.  Finally, I dropped the girls at Royal Quays, ready for their first sailing this afternoon.

    As Stephen put it at the end of the trip “A real Northern Experience!”.

  • Not bad for mid-Feb

    Yesterday I led our first Safari Day of this week, to Lindisfarne and the North Northumberland coast.  Although I really enjoy trips where the main quarry is Red Squirrel/Badger/Otter/Fox/Roe Deer my lifelong love affair has been with birdwatching.  Northumberland is a top-quality destination for a winter birdwatching trip; just ask any of the writers/photographers who we’ve taken to the wilds of our home county during the cold(er) bits of the year.

    Yesterday was one of those days where you couldn’t wish for better conditions; clear blue sky, warm sunshine (although with sub-zero air temperatures for much of the day), no rain and only a very gentle breeze.  I collected Phil and Barbara from their holiday cottage near Guyzance and we followed the coast all the way to Lindisfarne.  Small groups of Pale-bellied Brent Geese beside the causeway were a novelty for birdwatchers from the southeast, who are used to seeing Dark-bellied Brents during the winter, and they commented immediately about just how black-and-white the Svalbard birds look.  Scanning the fields on the island we located a flock of ~800 Pale-bellied Brents, with a few Dark-bellied mixed in, allowing a direct comparison of the two.  The field was also shared by 200+ Curlew and smaller numbers of Redshank, Lapwing and Golden Plover.  Panic among a group of Starlings was traced to a 1st-Winter Merlin that helpfully perched on a post at the back of the Rocket Field.  It’s amazing how quickly time passes and after 2 hours we headed back towards the mainland among the general exodus that occurs as the end of safe-crossing approaches.  Another Merlin beside the causeway allowed even closer views so we stopped for a few more minutes of appreciation of this small predator.

    Our picnic spot, overlooking the mudflats between Holy Island and the mainland, provided excellent views of flocks of Lapwing and Golden Plover in the air as well as lots of Shelduck, Eider, Pintail and more PB Brents.  We enjoyed all of these in the company of Tom Cadwallender, Natural and Cultural Heritage Officer for the Northumberland Coast AONB, who was supposed to be meeting a camera crew from Inside Out.  When we left Tom, they were already 20mins late…

    Continuing down the coast, a very obliging Common Buzzard pranced around a field, presumably looking for worms.  The Skate Road held well over 1000 Common Scoter, 90+ Purple Sandpipers were huddled on the rocks as the incoming tide washed against their feet and a careful scan produced a few pairs of Long-tailed Ducks (Barbara’s 2nd lifer in a matter of minutes).  Red-throated and Great Northern Divers were, well diving mainly, and Slavonian Grebes were bobbing about just beyond the surf.

    Our final destination for the day was Newton, and the decision to detour from the coast route down the dead-end road to Low Newton proved to be an inspired one.  As dusk approached the assembled ducks on the pool (Teal, Goldeneye, Mallard, Gadwall) all provided entertainment as they called to each other.  Then, just a few feet in front of us, a Long-eared Owl silently hunting.  We all held our breath as it approached and then it veered away as silently as it had arrived.  The walk back to the Landy was to provide probably the best bird of the day, and one of those Northumberland birdwatching moments that was quite simply sublime; against an increasingly starry sky and crescent moon, with an impressive amount of Earthshine, a Bittern flew low over our heads and out over the bay.

  • Magic moments

    We’ve spent the last 3 days running a birdwatching press trip on the Northumberland coast.  Now, I’m not going to spoil the undoubtedly excellent article that will be written about the trip, but this morning we had one of those experiences that just take your breath away.  After a full day around the Lindisfarne NNR and a full day in Druridge Bay, this morning was the conclusion of the trip…and the best weather of the 3 days.  A bitingly cold northwesterly wind, beautiful blue skies and a choppy-looking sea as we stood on a cliff-top set the scene and then the main players came into view; first one Merlin darted in front of us, then a second.  As they were pair-hunting a Rock Pipit, which headed skywards to try and evade them, the kill seemed inevitable.  It was, as the hapless pipit was first caught and then tossed through the air from the male to his (presumed) mate.  We only just missed seeing a Grey Seal catch and kill a Herring Gull as well.  Nature may sometimes be cruel, but it’s inspiring, breathtaking and unpredictable.

  • Call of the wild geese

    The last two days have featured a lot of geese. On Saturday we led a ‘drop-in’ birdwatching session in Budle Bay, for the Northumberland Coast AONB. Starting at 10:30, it was cold and breezy but the air was filled with Pink-footed, Greylag and Barnacle Geese for much of the day. The people who came along had varying interests and questions; some just wanted to know what “all of those geese” were, some were keen to learn the difference between Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwits…and one was interested in identifying sub-adult gulls! We were able to oblige on all counts, and really enjoyed a day of engaging the interested, the not-so-interested and the much-more-interested than they were before.

    This weekend was also the start of the Icelandic Goose Census for this winter. Pink-footed Geese are counted at core sites in October and November, Greylags in November and December. Our site is one of few that have both species in important numbers so we get to survey in all three months – and it can be very, very cold at dawn in mid-December! We have to arrive early so that we can sneak into position before it starts to get light. The site has been heavily disturbed for the last two winters and the geese have been erratic in using it as a roost. The journey to the site yesterday morning was enlivened by the creatures that use man-made roads for hunting, feeding and as a route from A to B; rabbits, hares, frogs, rats, a hedgehog, two barn owls and a long-eared owl were all along the 15 min journey from home. There was no sound when we arrived, and it was too dark to see. Would the geese be there, or would we have to spend another winter trying to track them down? As the grey light of dawn began to cast a faint glow over the pool it was obvious that they were there. Over 3000 Pink-footed Geese, 250+ Greylags and we snuck in, counted and snuck out without the birds flushing. Back at the car we were able to watch as they began to depart for their daytime feeding areas. Big flocks of geese are one of the great spectacles of the natural world. Birdwatching is like that; so many stunning sights and sounds that you can have an excellent day out at any time of the year. Big winter flocks, whether they be of geese, starlings, corvids, finches, waders or ducks are right near the top of our list of things that can change perception of what birdwatching is all about.

  • A Sunny Sunday

    Sarah had been feeling a bit under the weather for a few days, but was almost herself again this morning so we decided to head for the Northumberland coast for a few hours birdwatching. Our first port of call was Lynemouth, hoping to relocate the Water Pipit that Martin photographed on Friday. There were very few wagtails or pipits to be seen, and no sign of the Water Pipit, so we drove the short distance up the coast to Cresswell. The Avocets and Green Sandpiper seen earlier this morning had departed but we still had excellent close views of Skylark, Yellow Wagtail and White Wagtail. Alerted by a fellow birder to the presence of two Bottlenose Dolphins a few miles up the coast we headed to the spot described and found two Harbour Porpoises. Further north, we were looking for late-lingering Long-tailed Ducks and Slavonian Grebes. We found one of each but both birds were distant and not photographable. Another Harbour Porpoise appeared close inshore as we stood with the rising tide crashing against the rocks and Sarah’s videographic skills were tested to the limit with a small group of Sandwich Terns feeding just offshore. As we drove home, checking a Little Owl nest site on the way, we were handling an enquiry and booking for our Kielder Safari this coming Wednesday. Now that’ll be quite different to the last few days on the coast…

  • It must be getting warmer…

    …the sea’s starting to thaw.

    It was our pleasure today to take award-winning photojournalist Lee Karen Stow on a tour of the north Northumberland coast. It really was so cold that along the Holy Island causeway there were extraordinary ice formations where the incoming tide had frozen. Patches of snow amongst the Spartina were an unexpected sight as well. As the tide approached, the wading birds were all frantically feeding and allowed a very close approach. Pale-bellied Brent Geese moved along the shoreline in rippling waves and Wigeon, Teal, Red-breasted Merganser and Pintail were all part of the wildfowl throng. Common and Velvet Scoters were alongside Slavonian Grebe and Common Eider on the sea, and Oystercatchers, Grey Plovers, Turnstones and Purple Sandpipers were gathering on the rocks as the tide lapped up. After a warming lunch of soup and a sandwich we headed south, looking for flocks of birds, gathering together for the night. Pink-footed Geese and Whooper Swans were feeding in roadside fields and a mixed flock of Whooper and Mute Swans made a precarious landing on the frozen pool at East Chevington. Further south, at Cresswell, waders flocked together in the middle of the frozen pond and ducks hid amongst the reeds. A mass of Wood Pigeons swirled overhead, and as we headed north again towards Alnwick a corvid roost of Jackdaws and Rooks was gathering. Amazingly, as the birds assemble in a pre-roost on the ground, all is silent, but as they move off towards their night time tree-top roosts they chatter loudly, no doubt informing each other of the day’s adventures. As night drew in we all thought of warming mugs of tea and coffee, warm slippers and a good night’s sleep.