As much as I love the winter, there’s something special about warm spring and summer evenings with Otter Safaris and Druridge Bay Safaris finishing at dusk…

I collected Andy and Helen from Bedlington for their second trip with NEWT, following a cold wet Lindisfarne Safari in 2012, and Kate and Rob and Keely and John from Newbiggin and we headed out for a few hours searching Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland for Otters…

16 Avocets, with some displaying and mating, was an impressive total as Oystercatchers, Common Redshanks and a Little Ringed Plover patrolled the mud in search of food. At least 4, and possibly as many as 6, Little Egrets were stalking in and out of channels between the reeds and a Barn Owl hunted over rough grassland before perching obligingly on a fence post in beautiful evening light.  Then Rob spotted an Otter and we watched it for a few minutes as it fed before vanishing out of sight into the reeds 🙂

With dusk approaching we headed to the site that I was confident would produce an Otter sighting in twilight. A Roe Deer was standing on the far side of the water before racing off up the bank and heading into cover as Little and Great Crested Grebes dived in search of fish. Tufted Ducks were suddenly looking alert and small groups started flying off. Kate thought she’d seen something close to the Tufties but it had gone out of sight behind the reeds. With daylight giving way to dusk and Arcturus and Capella both shining through the twilight sky I was scanning a patch of flat calm water and realised that there was a fine trail of bubbles and a pattern of swirls…then an Otter popped up 🙂 It quickly moved away towards the dark shadows of a reedbed and a small group of Mute Swans, with it’s presence eventually only betrayed by the ring of bright water each time it surfaced.

6 clients, 4 hours, 2 sites, 2 Otters, 1 great evening of wildlife watching on the Northumberland coast 🙂

Here’s an image of an Otter family in January 2018 from one of our regular sites 🙂