Northern Experience Wildlife Tours

Category: Southeast Northumberland

Watching the wildlife; Otter Safari 24/06/2013

Sunday morning, and the weather forecast of impending doom brought the not unexpected ‘phone call that saw clients transferring from Sunday’s to Monday’s Otter Safari. Monday afternoon, and the weather looked reasonable as I collected Ken and Rosemary from The Swan and then we drove to the coast and collected Paul, and Lisa and Steve, from Church Point.

I’d seen at least ten Otters in the last month, so I was fairly confident that an afternoon and evening around Druridge Bay, southeast Northumberland and the Northumberland coast would have a higher-than-average chance of successfully locating our target species for the trip. What we found raising interest in the local Mallards and Tufted Ducks in the mid-afternoon sunshine wasn’t an Otter, but the birds’ behaviour of slowly swimming along a reedbed, just a few metres from the shore, was a good indication of the predator they had spotted and we watched as a Red Fox slowly made it’s way along the edge of the pond followed by an ever-expanding entourage of ducks 🙂 At least eight Little Gulls provided some undeniably cute birdwatching interest and we continued our search. The next mammal to join the day list was Rabbit, under-rated and attractive, but still not an Otter. Flocks of geese and ducks seemed to be responding to some hidden menace; getting out of the water, cackling as if startled, getting back in the water, getting out of the water…but still no sign of an Otter.

As dusk approached, and a Roe Deer walked slowly along the edge of the pond, there was a change in the mood of the assembled ducks; suddenly alert, feeding stopped and heads were raised as high as their outstretched necks would allow. A pair of Greylag Geese were doing the same and Paul soon spotted the cause of their consternation as the head, then the sinuous body, and finally the tail, of an Otter broke the surface 🙂 Heading into a small bay in the reeds it soon slipped out of sight, only to reappear a few minutes later; twisting and turning as it fed close to the reeds. Common Pipistrelle, as we walked back to the car, and Brown Hare, as we drove back towards Newbiggin, were mammals #5 and #6 for the day and the trip was rounded off with a Barn Owl, flying from a fence post as we passed by.

26/06/2013
Otter Watching 02/06/13 – Patience pays off

Just a couple of days before the end of 2008, I led an Otter Safari that produced prolonged sightings of our target species…just 5 seconds after arriving at the first site I’d planned to visit that day! That produced a complication all of it’s own – how do you keep a family with a young child entertained for over 7 1/2 hours? In that case the answer was rockpooling; not the most enjoyable of experiences as I plunged my arm into the icy cold water to turn over a series of rocks chosen by a very excited four year-old. Usually though, wildlife requires a bit more of a patient approach…

I collected John and Kelly from Morpeth railway station on Sunday afternoon, in glorious sunshine, and we set off to search Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland.In the warm afternoon, with a myriad of insects buzzing around, Black-headed and Little Gulls, Swallows, Swifts and House and Sand Martins were all giving incredibly close views as they sallied back and forth in their pursuit of the tiny morsels of protein. Grey Herons were standing by the water’s edge, Little Grebes dived, re-surfaced, dived, re-surfaced repeatedly and Mallard, Gadwall and Tufted Duck seemed to be in two minds whether to simply laze around or engage in some half-hearted courtship. After 3 hours of peace and tranquility, and no Otters, I was wondering if we should move to another location. Instead I decided that staying put would be the better option…

A pair of Mallards came out of a gap in the reeds, no hurry, no panic but taking a direct line out to open water. I focused my attention on where they’d just appeared from and then a dark, menacing, sinuous shape twisted and turned in amongst the reeds and we had our Otter. Sometimes, you just need a little patience 🙂

07/06/2013
Waiting for the light

In an ideal world, a bespoke photography day with a client involves arriving at our chosen location, discussing techniques that will be required to achieve the desired image and then waiting for the perfect light to fall on the subject…

I arrived at Church Point on Sunday afternoon to collect Gareth for his bespoke photography trip. My task was to deliver locations that would provide the opportunities for landscape or wildlife photography, and give advice on technique when needed. In advance I’d planned a route through Druridge Bay, southeast Northumberland and the Northumberland coast that would provide a series of landscape opportunities. So, discovering that visibility on the coast was poor was a bit of a spanner in the works 🙂 My backup plan was some nice close, obliging wildlife…swifts, swallows and martins were the ideal subject for the afternoon. Difficult enough to test the abilities of most photographers, but usually obligingly consistent in their feeding, bathing and drinking behaviour.

As Gareth honed his ‘birds in flight’ skills we had an unexpected bonus in the shape of four Otters! A writhing sinuous mass of muscle and menace, they twisted and turned in the water before climbing onto the bank and one of them munched contentedly on the fruits of it’s labour – a large Eel.

Displaying Redshank, typically unobliging Little Grebes and a ghostly Barn Owl drifting across a reedbed as dusk approached all added to the wildlife experience as Gareth shot lots of images of Swallows as they twisted, turned and stalled just a few feet away from us. I managed a few shots myself, as we compared the effect of different camera settings, focal lengths etc.

23/05/2013
Promising conditions?

‘Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep…beep, beep, beep. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep…beep, beep, beep’, the mega-alert on my pager wasn’t entirely unexpected…

I’d collected Charlie and Edna from Holy Island for a day of birdwatching, from Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland north along the Northumberland coast and eventually back to Lindisfarne. Eponymously disyllabic Chiffchaffs, the descending silvery cadence of Willow Warblers and the mechanical reeling of Grasshopper Warblers accompanied our woodland walk as the first heavy drops of rain precipitated the donning of waterproof jackets. As we sat eating lunch, overlooking the North Sea, the strengthening wind, heavy rain and decreasing visibility might not have filled everyone’s heart with joy. I’m not everyone though, and I described the potential of early May, southeasterly winds, poor weather and the Northumberland coast to Charlie and Edna 🙂 As it began to clear we continued our journey and enjoyed excellent close views of Sedge Warblers and Reed Buntings singing and at least six Avocets. A stunningly yellow Yellow Wagtail was sharing a field with an equally stunning male Whinchat. Another heavy shower accompanied murky misty conditions…then came the piercing shrill of the pager as we drove through Embleton on our northward journey.

Just a few minutes later we were at Low Newton, enjoying good views of yet another excellent find by the Beadnell Stringer 🙂

Collared Flycatcher [Ficedula albicollis], Low Newton, Northumberland, 09/05/2013
Collared Flycatcher [Ficedula albicollis], Low Newton, Northumberland, 09/05/2013
Collared Flycatcher [Ficedula albicollis], Low Newton, Northumberland, 09/05/2013

12/05/2013
Creatures of the night

Even after 40+ years of wildlife-watching, there are still (in fact, quite often) occasions when I see something that’s really quite special.

After an afternoon around Druridge Bay and Southeast Northumberland with Michael and Wendy, we were heading for one of NEWT’s favourite spots along the River Wansbeck. The afternoon had produced some excellent birdwatching, with four Yellow Wagtails, including one bird that was almost canary yellow, a White Wagtail, four Avocets, a female Marsh Harrier, and a Peregrine hunting pigeons. As we passed Ellington a Barn Owl flew low across the road from our right, narrowly missing the oncoming traffic and quickly gained elevation above our side of the road with what appeared to be a look of surprise on it’s face 🙂

Surprise of the day came as we walked along the Wansbeck. In still quite good light, a Daubenton’s Bat was hawking low over the water. It’s a species we’ve encountered frequently on our trips, but never in such good light that we could really appreciate the beautiful red-brown of it’s upperparts and the white underside. As darkness fell, and we headed back to our starting point, another red-brown mammal finished the day for us, as a Red Fox trotted across the road.

02/05/2013
Arrivals

As I pulled into the car park at The Swan, Peter and Elizabeth were sitting in the bright sunshine. There was still a cold edge to the breeze though, and we set out to explore Druridge Bay, south east Northumberland and the Northumberland coast.

Masses of frogspawn was evidence that our amphibians were getting on with business as usual, regardless of the weather, and a newt rose to the surface of a small pond to take a gulp of air before sinking out of sight back into the murky depths. Chaffinches, Robins, Song Thrushes and Blackbirds were singing, and a Chiffchaff was a welcome sound – we’d normally expect to start hearing them in mid-March, but this was our first this year. A flock of Redwings were blown by like scraps of paper on the strengthening breeze and, just south of Cresswell, Fulmars glided effortlessly by, riding the updraft of the wind seemingly perilously close to the cliffs.

Another amphibian joined the day list, as a Common Toad walked along the path towards us, realised we were there, then retreated to the edge of the path and tucked all of it’s legs in so that it resembled a stone and waited for us to pass by. A Greylag Goose was incubating and I mentioned that the same site usually held a pair of Mute Swans…and one appeared, but we didn’t see where from. The mystery was solved a few minutes later as it’s mate walked out of a reedbed, straight over the incubating Greylag and paddled across the water. Incredibly the Greylag barely gave the swan a second glance, but just sat tight on it’s nest.

A Brown Hare sat haughtily in a roadside field, and a Sparrowhawk flew just ahead of the car for over 100m, before perching on a hedgerow and staring menacingly at us as we drove by. By early evening the wind had really stiffened again and it started raining. This didn’t dissuade a sub-adult male Marsh Harrier from hunting over a reedbed close to our position, and he eventually dropped into the reeds and onto prey; judging by the squealing he may have caught a Water Rail. Sand Martin, Swallow and House Martin in one flock were additions to the year list, 18 Red-breasted Mergansers were displaying, a few Goldeneye were busy feeding and, as we finished our day, along one of NEWT’s favourite rivers, a dark shape moving slowly along the water’s edge caused some excitement. Was this our quarry, the sinuous predator that terrorises fish, birds and small mammals? No, it was a Moorhen…

18/04/2013
Now, that’s a sign of Spring

With the wind still whistling around our ears last Thursday, I arrived at Church Point to collect Paul and Alex for a mini-safari around Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland.

Red-breasted Mergansers flew by at our first stop, as Alex’s sharp eyes picked out a Roe Deer, eying us nervously from the opposite bank of the river before vanishing into the undergrowth (the deer that is, not Alex!). More Mergansers were displaying (quite a comical act), as were a pair of Great Crested Grebes, including ‘dancing with weed’ – that could conjure up some odd images 🙂 Meadow Pipits were picking their way along a grassy field, Wigeon were grazing, a single Long-tailed Duck stayed distant and spent much of it’s time underwater and Tufted Duck, Gadwall and Goldeneye demonstrated that you don’t need to be colourful to be attractive.

Despite the weather, and the late arrival of many of our summer visitors, one pair of birds seemed oblivious to the conditions. A female Marsh Harrier fought against the breeze before dropping out of sight, only to reappear again as a male, who we had watched hunting at some distance, flew over with prey. The female rose ahead of him, and as he caught up with her he tossed the love offering through the air and into her talons. Harrier food-passes will always be one of my favourite wildlife spectacles. The raw emotion and the invisible connection between the birds, following the arc of the food item as it travels between them, is just very, very special.

17/04/2013
From the office window

I’m easily distracted and always have been, but also quite obsessive. Maybe an odd combination, but it seems to work for me. With an office window that looks over several allotments and gardens, as well as the 76ha of mixed woodland that is Choppington Woods Local Nature Reserve, I’m quite keen on keeping a close eye on what turns up in the garden…

With the shaded areas of the garden still carrying a light veneer of frost, and a stiff southeasterly breeze cutting to the bone as I filled the feeders yesterday morning, a Common Buzzard soared overhead as the Coal Tits perched just a few feet above me, providing encouragement for me to hurry up and fill the feeders. As soon as I was back inside, the tree was a mass of excitement. Chaffinches were dropping in from every direction and I settled to checking through the birds on the feeders, and on the ground below them, hoping that the Bramblings we’ve had for the last few couple of months would be still around. What I found instead were visitors that were even more unusual in the context of our feeding station – 3 Lesser Redpolls were picking at fallen seed on the ground and a Goldcrest was hurrying around the edges of the shrubbery nearby. The Redpolls were just another episode in what has been an unusual winter in our garden; our first garden record of Marsh Tit, second record of Tree Sparrow (2 birds which have been with us every day for a few months now), third record of Nuthatch, the return of Willow Tit after nearly a two year absence, regular sightings of Brambling and occasional Treecreeper have made this a winter where we really couldn’t predict what would be on the feeders whenever we checked them.

As I sat down to write this, I glanced out of the window and my eye immediately fell on seven bulky finches in our neighbour’s Silver Birch trees. As one of the birds was hanging upside down while feeding, lifting my binoculars only confirmed what I already knew; another infrequent visitor had put in an appearance this winter. I opened the window, and heard the metallic ‘chip-chip’ as the flock of Common Crossbills flew into the pines behind our house. Now, what was I meant to be doing ? 🙂

21/02/2013
Waxwing lyrical again

One of my favourite birds eased the pain of a shopping trip to Morpeth on Saturday morning. Why a painful shopping trip?…well, going to order a pair of reading glasses was my acceptance that my eyesight (at least my near vision) isn’t what it was when I was younger. I do a lot of reading, but I’ve reached the point where my arms simply aren’t long enough to hold things far enough away for me to be able to read them, and I can’t grow longer arms…

As we approached Morpeth, it was comforting to realise that my vision, beyond a few feet, is still fine, as a distant flock of birds resolved into a group of at least 38, outrageously beautiful, Bohemian Waxwings. There really isn’t too much in the way of subtlety where Waxwings are involved and, shopping trip completed, I positioned myself with camera. Take a few shots…move closer…take a few shots…move closer. Then the inevitable happened and the birds moved closer to me, and too close to focus on (with the camera, not with my eyes!). Before that though, I did manage just under 300 images 🙂

11/02/2013
Big Garden Birdwatch 2013

Last weekend was the Big Garden Birdwatch and we followed tradition by sitting in our kitchen with a mug of coffee, and a bacon and tomato sandwich, having topped up all of the feeders the evening before. An hour later, we’d racked up a list of 21 species; Blackbird 3, Jackdaw 2, Collared Dove 2, Robin 3, Chaffinch 20, Great Tit 3, Coal Tit 3, Magpie 1, Blue Tit 2, Dunnock 1, Goldfinch 8, Jay 1, Bullfinch 1, House Sparrow 1, Greenfinch 1, Woodpigeon 2, Redwing 1, Tree Sparrow 1, Song Thrush 1, Sparrowhawk 1, Brambling 2. Quite a successful hour, although most species weren’t present in the numbers we would have expected and, as usual, several species that had been visiting the garden in recent days (Marsh Tit, Willow Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Siskin, Great Spotted Woodpecker) failed to appear during the 1 hour of the survey. Easy birding, and part of a huge national survey. If you didn’t do it this year, give it a go in 2014 🙂

31/01/2013