Yesterday was a long birdwatching day on the southeast Northumberland coast. I drove across to Haltwhistle to collect Judith and Doug, and was impressed by the big flocks of Redwing and Fieldfare around their farm. Once on the coast we found a flock of Dark-bellied Brent Geese bathing in a pond newly-created by Sunday’s rain,…

We finished October with four events in three days. Thursday was our last Seal Safari for the regular season, although we’ve got exclusive trips on November 21st and December 5th (give us a call, places are filling quickly). The seals performed as well as they always do (one pair performing a bit too well…) but…

After the excitement of finding a Sabine’s Gull yesterday, today was spent mainly at Alnwick Castle. After a private tour of the castle and grounds, and an excellent lunch, I headed back home to deal with all of today’s enquiries. As I drove down the A1, there were quite a few fields with large flocks…

It’s not often that we get to do a lot of birdwatching together but yesterday was an exception. The late-breaking news on Thursday night about the Eastern Crowned Warbler in Trow Quarry, South Shields, was exciting but we couldn’t be sure when (or if) we would have a chance to go and see the biggest…

Although there are some unpleasant connotations to the word ‘snipe’ these two definitions are related directly to the bird and it’s habits; Snipe n. One of nearly 20 wading birds in the Genus Gallinago, Lymnocryptes or Coenocorypha Snipe v. To shoot at usually exposed individuals from a concealed point of vantage Snipe are secretive, cryptically…

Today was a very special day. Way back in February I gave a presentation at the Wansbeck You Decide! voting day, and the Friends of Choppington Woods were awarded £10k based on my impassioned plea to support the reserve that lies behind my office. We’ve done a lot with the money but my own personal…

“Thank God I’m not a Redshank” That was a comment made yesterday by a client on a visit to the Lindisfarne NNR. The reason for the comment was the sad, windblown Redshank trying to extract a meal from the mudflats in front of us, while being buffeted by the wind. This came at the end…

I woke this morning to the sound of a gale howling across our back garden. I didn’t need to worry about the fence blowing down though…it had already been slowly removed over the last four years, so we now have a hedge of bramble and clematis on one side and a slowly developing hedge of…

Having set dates for our new Kielder Safaris only two weeks ago, the route was almost as new to me as it was to our clients, Helen and Steve. Having someone who is both a client and a friend as the first participant helped to calm any ‘first night’ nerves. Collecting the couple from Alnwick…

We returned to Northumberland late yesterday afternoon, after spending a few days in Rutland as part of the Birdwatching Northumberland team at the British Birdwatching Fair. Three solid days of promoting our beautiful county and,no sooner were we back home, then we were away up the coast to give a slideshow about…birdwatching in Northumberland. Today…