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Last light; Otter Safari 24/02/17
After some wild weather the blue skies and fluffy white clouds, as I set off for a day searching for Otters around Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland with Jo, Pat, Rachel and Dave, came as a welcome sight… Now that we’re in the late winter, wildfowl are looking at their finest and are starting to…
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Planning; Bespoke Otter Safari 03/02/17
In glorious sunshine I arrived in Longframlington to collect Lisa and Lucy ahead of a day searching for Otters, Red Squirrels and Kingfishers around Druridge Bay and the Northumberland coast. I was greeted by Ridley, Lisa’s cockerpoo, and it was quickly decided that he would be joining us on the trip 🙂 Our first Otter…
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People watching; Red Squirrel Bespoke Safari 03/06/2014
I love watching wildlife, always have done since I was very young and I love watching wildlife with our clients. Sometimes though, people are just as interesting… I collected Richard and Jan from their b&b in Chatton and we headed down through the centre of Northumberland in search of the Red Squirrel. Our first stop…
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Christmas Eve
It’s become a tradition over the last few years that, on Christmas Eve, the Friends of Choppington Woods have a walk from one end of the reserve to the other. One year we finish at our house and the next at Glen and Karen’s. This year we were starting at our end of the woods…
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“You should have been here yesterday…”
On days when one species doesn’t appear, the supporting cast can often be equally stunning. An icy breeze was whistling around the car as I collected Matt and Kate for a day searching for Otters and other wildlife around southeast Northumberland. We started with a riverside walk and were soon enjoying excellent views of a…
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A hunch pays off
Days out with a specific target in mind for our clients can be very good, or very frustrating and, as I drove across the snow and ice coated roads towards Elsdon to collect George, Tam, Ken and Kath, I had a good feeling about the day ahead. One of NEWT’s all-time favourites was in our…
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Red Squirrels
Now, we’ve never made a secret of our love for Red Squirrels; we regularly take clients to see and/or photograph them and we have them as a garden visitor. Red Squirrel conservation is a bit of a thorny issue though, particularly as control of Grey Squirrel numbers, especially in and around areas where Red Squirrels still…
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Patience pays off
Finding Red Squirrels on a Bank Holiday Monday had the potential to be a tricky task. With a good weather forecast, all of our local woodlands were likely to be filled with visitors. I headed up to Alnwick, to collect Tracy, Graham, Eleanor and Joe, before the rush started, and Sarah set off at the…
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An eventful evening
Thursday was my 3rd consecutive late finish. Before setting off for a ‘Red Squirrel and Badger Safari’ I had a few admin things to get done including some more planning for the Birdwatching Northumberland stand at this year’s British Bird Fair (I’ve got 2 lecture slots at the Bird Fair this year!). After collecting our picnic from The…
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On the trail of the otter…and then some
Yesterday was the first of several forthcoming days where we’re running multiple trips on the same day, and with 6 clients during the day, and 2 of them joining us for an evening safari as well, it was a day that could go really well, or not… The primary target species for everyone was our…