Thursday’s bespoke Druridge Bay Safari for Keith and Jean was forecast to be dry…so it was unexpected when the first drops of rain started hitting the car windscreen as we headed south from Outchester…

With fish taking flies from the surface of the River Blyth a Dipper flew past as Song Thrushes, Chaffinches and Chiffchaffs sang from cover and we took shelter from the rain under the trees.

Lapwings, Dunlin, Redshanks and Curlews were roosting, heads into the wind, as Avocets fed busily and Grey Herons and Little Egrets stalked along the reedbed edges, a Barn Owl ghosted over the fields and an Otter swam across the pool wrestling with a large Eel 🙂 Our regular Little Owl was sitting in it’s usual spot, sheltered from the wind and rain and, as the gloom of dusk gave way to a stunning pink sunset over Little Grebes, Great Crested Grebes, Coots, Moorhens and Greylag and Canada Geese, a male Marsh Harrier was quartering the reeds and Brown Hares raced ahead of us on roads and footpaths.

The journey back north brought another Barn Owl hunting along the roadside verge as the sunset faded to near darkness.