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  • Winter Wonderland 21-24/02/2016

    Our Winter Wonderland holiday started on Sunday evening with Ben and Diane, and David, arriving at the Bamburgh Castle Inn.

    Day One 22/02/16.  Our first full day was around Lindisfarne and the North Northumberland coast and everything that makes the area so good in the winter put in an appearance.  Purple Sandpiper, Oystercatcher, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Common Redshank, Turnstone, Grey Plover, Golden Plover, Dunlin and Knot represented wading birds, Common Scoter, Eider, Red-breasted Merganser, Long-tailed Duck and Slavonian Grebe were just offshore, Grey Seal and at least 16 Roe Deer provided some mammal interest and there were lots and lots of geese.  Pale-bellied Brent, Dark-bellied Brent, Pink-footed, Greylag and Barnacle filled the air, the fields and the mudflats as Skylarks sang and fought, heralding the arrival of spring 🙂

    Day Two 23/02/16.  Our second day was spent around NEWT’s local patch, Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland.  One of our favourite mammals was soon on the trip list as an Otter cub appeared from its hideaway in a pile of boulders and spent a little while feeding close by 🙂  The long-staying Long-billed Dowitcher joined the trip list too, feeding alongside Knot, Common Redshank and Bar-tailed Godwit and unexpected birds included Marsh Tit and Treecreeper.  As the afternoon light faded, we watched a family group of Whooper Swans and a pair of Dippers sat almost motionless on a mid-stream rock as the water rushed around them and a Barn Owl was a welcome addition to the trip list just before an incredibly brief sleety shower reminded us that this is the winter 🙂

    24/02/16.  Departure day dawned bright, cold and encased in frost at the end of the holiday.  Just the way the winter should be!

  • The hunter, hunted; Lindisfarne Safari 19/02/2016

    Our second successive day on and around Lindisfarne was accompanied by an incredibly stiff breeze, which contributed to a fascinating encounter…

    I collected Andy, Jill and Catherine from The Swan and we collected Alison en route to the north of the county.  Waiting for the tide to clear from the causeway, we spent the first part of the day on the mainland.  Bar-tailed Godwit, Oystercatcher, Purple Sandpiper, Turnstone, Curlew, Common Redshank and Knot were all close to the edge of the breaking surf as Long-tailed Duck, Common Scoter, Eider, Razorbill and Slavonian Grebe braved the icy bite of the wind out on the exposed sea.  Teal, Wigeon, Pale-bellied Brent Geese and Dark-bellied Brent Geese grazed on the newly-exposed areas of mudflat as the tide fell and a stunningly handsome drake Pintail flew by.  Grey Seals hauled out on exposed sandbars and, over on the island, we watched a Kestrel, holding position in the breeze, as another raptor found itself in a bit of difficulty…

    Between the island and the mainland, a Sparrowhawk was beating a desperate path into the wind.  Struggling to make headway, its task was made all the more difficult by the attention of a Herring Gull.  Exposed, and really not in its element, the Sparrowhawk was driven back by the wind as the mob of gulls began growing.  Time and again it flew towards the mainland only to be brought almost to a standstill by the breeze and harassed by the gulls into turning back towards the island.  Eventually it dropped towards the sea before accelerating across the gap, just a few feet above the deadly waves, and was lost from sight as it neared the relative sanctuary of the mainland.  If there’s a rule when watching wildlife it should be ‘expect the unexpected’ 🙂

  • Bottling; Bespoke Lindisfarne Safari 18/02/2016

    Pat and Jenny’s second day out with NEWT was to a location that really comes into it’s own during the winter…

    Bar-tailed Godwit, Purple Sandpiper, Oystercatcher, Grey Plover, Common Redshank and Turnstone were all showing well on the rocks below us and I started scanning just beyond the bay, and there were 7 Bottlenose Dolphins heading south 🙂  One of them was an incredibly distinctive animal that we first encountered in Northumberland last winter and this latest sighting will be added to our database of dolphins re-sighted close to our shores.  Heading across to Holy Island dense flocks of Golden Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Dunlin and Knot filled the air and we enjoyed views of both Dark-bellied and Pale-bellied Brent Geese as well as Greylag, Pink-footed and Barnacle Geese.  Skylarks put in an appearance too, always a nice bird to see as they’re scarce in Northumberland during the winter, and then potentially the bird of the day remained unidentified as a distant ‘ringtail’ harrier made a brief appearance in the dunes on the north side of the island before disappearing from view.  The one that got away…

  • Scarcities; Druridge Bay Safari 16/02/2016

    Returning clients are always a pleasure, and as a business it’s a great vote of confidence that we’re doing the right thing…

    I collected Lindsay and Abbie from Felton, for their second trip with NEWT after a Kielder Safari in 2012, and we headed down to Druridge Bay to collect Simon for his third trip with us, after a stunning pelagic trip in 2012 and a day on the coast in 2014.  The day featured a lot of the birds that are regular on the Northumberland coast in the winter; mixed flocks of passerines around feeders included, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Tree Sparrow and Long-tailed Tit.  Eider rode nonchalantly over the swell near to the shore, Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Mallard, Wigeon, Teal and Little Grebe were dabbling or diving and the end of the day brought two scarcities.  Common Scoter may be a common wintering bird on the sea off Northumberland, but seeing one on a pond is much more unusual.  Black-necked Grebe is an uncommon winter visitor to Northumberland, but a gem in black and white and a great way to finish the day 🙂

  • Captivating; Bespoke Otter Safari 15/02/2016

    Whenever we’re out in the Northumberland countryside there’s always plenty of wildlife to see, but sometimes the star of the show is just so captivating that we could watch it all day…

    I collected Pat and Jenny from Amble, for the first of their two days out with NEWT,  and we headed down the coast for a day exploring Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland in search of Otters.  Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall, Mallard, Goldeneye and Tufted Duck were all evident at our first site and, along with the wary Greylag Geese nearby, were studiously avoiding one area of the pond.  There was no sign of any obvious source of concern for the assembled wildfowl though so, as they began dispersing across all of the water, we headed on.  Our second site looked initially unpromising too, as somebody already there told us that they hadn’t seen an Otter and neither had another observer who’d been there for four hours.  I was still confident though – it’s a site I’ve watched regularly for eight years, so I’ve got a good idea of the what and when of Otter activity there…and after 5 minutes I spotted an Otter cub as it crept furtively along the water’s edge 🙂  For nearly two hours we watched as it fed non-stop, making it’s way around a circular feeding route a couple of times.  Redshank, Curlew and Little Grebe got out of the way as the hungry mustelid approached them.  Eventually it disappeared from view and we moved on to enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

  • Between the storms; Bespoke Otter Photography 31/01/2016

    I collected Gill and Stuart from The Swan, ahead of a day in search of photographable Otters, and the most noticeable thing was the gentle breeze and lack of rain/sleet/hail/snow 🙂  Always a good start…

    After a morning of Treecreepers, Moorhen, Little Grebe, Long-tailed Tits, mirror-calm water, two separate incidents where Mallards, Mute Swans and Black-headed Gulls all gave an indication that they’d spotted a predator and lots of entertaining discussion about the ethics of wildlife photography (and the brilliance of the Nikon D810) we had lunch overlooking the remarkably calm North Sea, with a flock of Eider offshore and Fulmars arcing along the cliff tops.  I’d seen two Otter cubs on Thursday, when I was getting in some recce work before the arrival of Storm Gertrude, so I’d already decided where we’d be spending the afternoon.  Goldeneye and Little Grebe were sitting quietly on the water, a lone Little Egret was stalking through the shallows and Cormorants, those briefly convincing Otter lookalikes, were busy eating their way through plenty of small fish.  Then, the change in behaviour I was looking for; Redshank scattered and Cormorants took off as if they’d rather be anywhere other than where they’d been feeding.  Looking like a rock moving slowly through the shallow water the adult Otter was hunting, head and tail submerged and it’s impressive muscular torso above the water line 🙂  Then, much closer to us, an Otter cub diving persistently, crunching it’s prey each time it surfaced.  Closer and closer, until it obligingly got out of the water in front of us.  A second cub was slightly more distant, and we’d got three separate Otters in view as a Kingfisher treated us to repeated fly-bys on what seemed to be a regular feeding circuit.

    As Black-headed and Herring Gulls passed overhead in the rapidly deepening gloom of dusk and a strengthening cold breeze brought persistent drizzle we headed back to the car after nearly three hours with the Otters. You just don’t notice the cold and wet when you’re enjoying yourself 🙂

  • Midwinter mammal magic; Otter and Squirrel Safari 10/01/2016

    Trips with more than one target species can be tricky, particularly if the different targets don’t occur at the same sites as each other…

    I collected Lynn, Alan, Glynis and Michael from Swarland and we headed southeast towards Druridge Bay.  The weather forecast promised showers and the first of those, accompanied by a bone-chilling breeze, hit just as we reached our first site. What didn’t mind the weather though were the two Otter cubs that we were soon watching 🙂  We watched them for 30 mins as they fed synchronously in turbulent water; drifting , diving, bobbing up like corks and, after coming very close to us, eventually drifting away when they heard a dog-walker shouting at her errant pet.  A walk on the beach worked up an appetite for lunch and then we were off in search of our second target for the day.  Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Great Spotted Woodpecker were all visiting feeding stations but in the icy breeze I wasn’t overly confident that we’d have any luck.  Checking a different clump of trees proved the key though, and we soon found ourselves just a few metres away from an apparently unconcerned Red Squirrel 🙂  As dusk approached, Little Grebe, Goldeneye and Mute Swan were silhouetted against water turned pink by a stunning sunset, and Lapwings flew by like gigantic moths in the half light.

    Multi-mammal days are always fantastic.  Our one day record on a trip with clients is 8 species, but there’ll surely come a day (probably during the summer when we can search for bats at the end of the day) when we hit double figures!

  • The approaching storm; Druridge Bay Prestige Tour 04/01/2016

    04/01/2008, and NEWT’s first ever day out with clients was a strange, cold, gloomy day where we managed to find our target species for the day, Roe Deer.  Eight years on and I found myself out with clients on January 4th again…

    As I arrived at Church Point to collect Roberta and Dougie, the first thing that struck me was the height of the waves crashing into Newbiggin Bay.  Then the icy cold wind started probing, although it couldn’t breach the layers of clothing I’d aligned against it.  Whichever direction you looked, the weather looked different; a patch of blue sky, sunlight trying to break through the clouds, distant rain…all possibilities seemed open as we headed down the coast.  Greylag Geese, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Gadwall, Teal, Coot, Moorhen and a lone Lapwing braved the cold as the first rain shower of the day made the water’s surface dance.  Next came what all agreed was the highlight of the day as Goldeneye and Little Grebe drifted apart and the space between them was occupied by an Otter 🙂  With a 75% success rate on our Otter Safaris during 2015 it wasn’t suprising that 2016 started with such an obliging mustelid which came closer and closer before drifting away and feeding incessantly.

    Lunch overlooking the North Sea brought Fulmars arcing effortlessly along the cliff tops, a very obliging Little Gull looked tiny alongside Black-headed Gulls and the wader and wildfowl list for the day continued to grow with Wigeon, Red-breasted Merganser, Scaup, Pochard, Pink-footed Goose, Dunlin, Ruff, Redshank, Curlew, Golden Plover and Long-billed Dowitcher.  A very vocal Fieldfare gave remarkably confiding views, Goldfinch and Tree Sparrow jostled for position on feeders and, as the wind strengthened, waves crashed on the shore with a roar reminiscent of heavy traffic and the rain showers intensified, we headed back to Church Point.

  • Feeding time; Otter Safari 29/12/2015

    Yesterday saw returning clients, as Jayne and Andy joined us for an Otter Safari.  Their previous day with NEWT, back in September 2010, proved memorable as we found a White-winged Black Tern at Cresswell.

    Under blue skies and sunshine, in stark contrast to recent days, we headed for Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland.  Arriving at our first site, it was immediately apparent that Little Grebe, Mallard, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Wigeon and Mute Swan were all avoiding one area of the pond.  As a noisy flock of Fieldfare moved through the trees above the reedbed on the opposite side of the water the birds began dispersing over the wider area of water and there was no further sign of possible Otter activity so we headed onwards.  Little Egret were darting at small fish in the shallows, Curlew, Oystercatcher and Redshank were probing the mud as Goosander and Eider dived in search of prey.  I focused my attention on a gap between two small groups of Little Grebe…and there was the tell tale dark shape, twisting and diving 🙂  A second Otter surfaced right alongside the first and as they came closer I could see that they were the two cubs that we’ve been watching for the last few weeks.  We watched them as they came closer and closer, feeding constantly for over 90 minutes, regularly surfacing and diving synchronously.

    After lunch overlooking the North Sea, we headed to Cresswell where an impressive wader roost included Redshank, Oystercatcher, Turnstone, Dunlin, Knot, Curlew, Lapwing and the Long-billed Dowitcher.  Skein after skein of Pink-footed Geese patterned the sky, Red-breasted Merganser were displaying and drake Goldeneye stood out from the gloom as the sky clouded over, a strengthening breeze began to exert a chilling grip and we headed back to Alnmouth.

  • Captivating; Otter mini-Safari 16/12/2015

    Wednesday’s trip was an Otter mini-Safari, concentrating on Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland, and I collected Gillian, Stevie, Evelyn and Davy from Church Point, in weather that was quite a contrast to Tuesday’s gloom…

    We haven’t had an Otter Safari since late November, and we’d been on a long run of successful trips, so I’d got my fingers crossed that we’d find Otters at at least one of our regular sites.  Incredibly, we’d not even reached the water’s edge when we spotted the first Otter cub of the afternoon 🙂  Within a few minutes we were watching an adult female and two cubs, and for nearly two hours they provided fantastic entertainment; feeding, playing, play-fighting, calling to each other, clambering into the holt for a rest.  After the female ate a small fish on a rock right in front of us, she caught a larger fish and swam towards the holt and both cubs came rushing out of the holt and met her before she’d reached the water’s edge as Little Egrets and Little Grebes continued plundering the supply of small fish.  We finished at dusk with an impressive roost of Lapwing, Dunlin, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Teal and Wigeon.  It would probably be a struggle to watch a 3hr wildlife documentary, but 3hrs of real wildlife just getting on with life in front of you seems to fly by 🙂