Autumn arrivals; Otter Safari 04/10/17


There’s something special about birds with ‘Little’ in their name, unsurprisingly quite little and I can’t think of a single one that isn’t a delight to watch…

I collected Calvin from Church Point ahead of an afternoon and evening around Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland searching for Otters, and the first spots of drizzle were in the air on a stiff westerly breeze.  We could soon hear the distinctive yapping calls of Pink-footed Geese high overhead, and there was an almost continuous passage of these winter visitors from the north for around 7 hours no matter where we were on the coast.  A party of Whooper Swans dropped in, bathing and calling before probably continuing south (we came across what looked to be the same birds a few miles further down the coast later in the afternoon) as a juvenile Marsh Harrier quartered the reedbeds, hanging in the breeze.  A very obliging Little Owl was preening itself on top of a stone wall, Goosanders sailed menacingly out from bankside vegetation, four Little Grebes were plundering a shoal of small fish and the passage of geese continued.  A nice wader roost included Curlew, Lapwing, Redshank, Dunlin and three really smart looking Little Stints before another juvenile Marsh Harrier drifted by, scattering them all and revealing the presence of two Curlew Sandpipers which quickly vanished away to the north in light drizzle.  The most surprising bird of the afternoon was a Green Woodpecker that flew across the track at Druridge Pools – checking with Ipin, it turns out that there are only two previous records for the site!

As dusk approached the forecast drizzle arrived and, as geese continued to pass high overhead, Grey Herons and Little Egrets flew to roost in the gloom.