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  • The Lek; Bespoke North Pennines Safari 26/04/2015

    Sunday 03:00 and the insistent beeping of the alarm tells me that it’s time to be up and out, to collect Sam and Brian.  Two cancelled Kielder trips, due to ‘adverse’ weather conditions, led them to suggest that we switch our attentions back to the North Pennines, where we’d had a successful early start just over a year ago.  Brian has written an excellent blog post about the day, which started with sunshine and ended with hail, and you can read his account here.

    Once again the Black Grouse performed beyond expectation.  At least 29 Blackcock were lekking and a minimum of 14 Greyhens were in and around the lek.  Subsequently we found two Blackcock lekking individually, each perched atop a small mound, apparently without any other grouse nearby.  Back at the main lek, a major point of interest was the behaviour of the adult males towards a younger bird.  Each time he appeared in the lek, the older, more experienced, birds broke off their attention from each other and pursued him until he flew off.  Time and time he came back, each time getting the same treatment.  The NGB (Next Generation Blackcock) upstart seemed undeterred by, perhaps even relishing the attention of, the beating he was taking from the experienced birds at the lek as they pranced, pouted, cooed and squared off against each other.  Wildlife’s an odd thing sometimes, but always fascinating to watch 🙂

  • Raptor Day; Kielder Safari 23/04/2015

    There’s a lot of very impressive wildlife in and around Kielder, particularly if you extend your visit across the border into Scotland, and we always hope for bright clear weather with a bit of warmth and a breeze…

    I collected Brian from Bellingham and we headed up the valley in just the sort of weather conditions that I was hoping for 🙂  Our day followed the typical pattern of one of our Kielder Safaris; some time in Kielder, some time over the border into the hills and moors of southwest Scotland, some more time back in Kielder.  With the descending silvery cadence of Willow Warbler dripping from what seemed like every tree, the swee-wee-wee-wee-wee of Common Sandpiper around the water’s edge and Siskin, Chaffinch and Goldcrest all singing enthusiastically, the aural backdrop to the day was a canvas on which the raptors danced.  Common Buzzards soared and mewed as Wild Goats trotted along a narrow valley with Hen Harriers, ringtail females and ghostly pale males, patrolling the fells above, Sparrowhawk soared just over a small plantation and then, the big three;  Osprey, the stunning ‘fish eagle’ hovering over the water before plunging, unsuccessfully, in search of fish, Goshawk, the ‘phantom of the forest’ rising from a nesting plantation that we’ve been watching for a few years now before soaring up on a thermal to take station high over his mate and their nest and, the most surprising find of the day, dwarfing the Common Buzzards it was sharing a thermal with, a Golden Eagle casting it’s majestic shadow over the hills.  One day it may be a common sight, but it still won’t lose the magic of a chance encounter 🙂

  • Jupiter; Discover Stargazing 21/04/2015

    One of the great joys of being a dark sky guide is using good optical equipment to allow participants on our stargazing sessions to see detail in things that are only visible to the naked eye as points of light.

    Venus and Jupiter were obvious in the twilight, and Sirius had vanished into the murk just above the horizon to the south, when Jane arrived for our Discover Stargazing session.  Sarah and Jodie arrived a few minutes later and we began our exploration of the night sky, starting with the Moon and the two impressive clusters in Taurus, the Hyades and the Pleiades.  Using pointers, particularly in Cassiopeia and The Plough, to locate other objects in the sky is always good fun and lets people start to make sense of what can often be a daunting amount of stars when it’s a clear evening at a good dark sky site, and the number of satellites passing over comes as shock to everyone, but the real star of this session was Jupiter.  The fourth brightest object in the solar system, more than 300x the mass of the Earth, taking nearly twelve years to orbit the Sun and with a surface temperature of -108C, Jupiter is an impressive planet.  Without going to extreme magnification we could still see bands on the surface of the planet and three of the Galilean moons.  Hard to believe but, including the four Galilean moons that are large enough to be seen through binoculars or a telescope, Jupiter has 67 moons.  There’s an awful lot of stuff up there, and we can’t see most of it!

  • Weasily identifiable; Lindisfarne Safari 20/04/2015

    April is when we start to spend more time visiting our inland areas, but the coast can still deliver real quality, and quantity, at this time of the year too.

    I collected Sue and Colin from Beadnell and we headed north to Holy Island.  Crossing the causeway we paused to watch Eider and Red-breasted Merganser in the channel under the road.  The mudflats produced Redshank, Oystercatcher, Curlew, Grey Plover and Bar-tailed Godwit, as well as a lot, and it really was a lot, of Grey Seals.  Close to 2000 were hauled out and soon began their eerie moaning.  Black-tailed Godwit and Teal were sleeping by the edge of the Rocket Pool, a lone Brent Goose was kept company by a herd of sheep, Meadow Pipits, Goldfinches and Skylarks were hurrying back and forth, a Redwing was foraging on the ground close to the field edge, a Sedge Warbler was singing it’s repetitive song from the reeds by the Lough as a Common Snipe put in a typically brief appearance and 12 Roe Deer were grazing near the Straight Lonnen.  Then we struck gold…walking slowly along the Hawthorns, a bird flushed from beside us.  The views were only brief but the white breast band, and silvery wing flashes, identified the bird as a male Ring Ouzel.  We continued walking slowly along the lonnen, and the bird kept a few metres ahead of us.  Then we lost track of it but stopped to watch two Blackbirds grubbing about in the undergrowth…and the ouzel called from a tree we’d already passed.  We turned as it flew out of hiding…followed by another, then another, and another and finally, a fifth male Ring Ouzel 🙂

    Over on the mainland we had our picnic lunch as the eerie calls of Curlew floated through the heat haze across the mudflats and Sue spotted a Weasel.  It was running in and out of the vegetation so I started pishing…and it popped up and began running in our direction, sitting up on its hindlegs and staring straight at us 🙂  Eventually it got back on with whatever it was doing, and it put in repeat appearances for a few minutes.  A Brown Hare gave tantalising close views before vanishing into the crops and we finished in the shadow of Bamburgh Castle with Sand Martins hawking insects over the beach, Eiders bobbing in the gentle swell, a pair of Common Scoter slightly further from the shore, more Grey Seals, plunge-diving Sandwich Terns and lines of Gannets heading, mainly, north.  Not a bad range of wildlife for seven hours in mid-April 🙂

  • Stoatally different; Beginners Photography Workshop 19/04/2015

    Sunday afternoon was, thankfully, sunny and (reasonably…) warm for our NWT Beginners Photography Workshop.

    Once I’d found everyone near the entrance to the Druridge Bay visitor centre, we walked through to the feeding station hide at East Chevington.  Reed Buntings, Goldfinches, Blue Tits and Great Tits were around the feeders, some remarkably shy Pheasants were quite stunning in the sunlight and we covered the usual beginners workshop topics of shutter speed, aperture settings, ISO, histograms, exposure compensation, and how to attract wildlife close enough to your camera.  Then an opportunity that really doesn’t come along every day as Joan spotted a Stoat.  I started pishing and it popped back up briefly, sitting on a rock for just long enough to allow a few frames to be fired off 🙂  Colin’s shot of the Stoat was a great one to demonstrate how cropping can improve the composition of an image.  A Great Spotted Woodpecker was sitting high above the feeding station, frustratingly not coming down low enough to be in front of the array of cameras (Nikon, Canon, Fuji and Sony).  Then, one of the perpetual drawbacks of wildlife photography on a public nature reserve…the Pheasants scattered, all of the small birds left the feeders and a Black Labrador ran through the edge of the reeds 🙁 All it needed was a few minutes after the dog had gone though, and all returned to normal 🙂

  • Ringing the changes; Druridge Bay 18/04/2015

    Saturday saw Roger returning for a second day out with NEWT, after Kielder in May 2012, and, as he was stopping at The Swan, we chatted on Friday evening about the possible options.

    Although Druridge Bay was still planned to be the focus of part of the day, we decided to start with a quick trip into the Cheviot Valleys first.  Lapwings were displaying, newly arrived Willow Warblers seemed to have comandeered almost every bush and tree, Dippers were bobbing up and down on mid-stream rocks, a Peregrine soared along the top edge of the valley as Red Grouse chuckled and chuntered from the heather-clad slopes below and then, in a bare tree in a narrow steep sided valley, a real prize – a stunning male Ring Ouzel 🙂  Roger spotted another Peregrine and then a female Ring Ouzel perched obligingly in another bare tree.

    The coast had lots of what we would expect…but the ‘quality over quantity’ of the hills won out on the day 🙂

  • Tired and emotional; Bespoke Otter Safari 10-11/04/2015 Part 2

    …I was mulling over the options for last light when the buzzing from my pocket told me I’d received a text message.  Not from Sarah, but from Stephen “Hi Martin.  If you’re stuck for Otters…”

    A quick dash along the track back to the car, a quick car journey down the coast, and we were soon staring intently at a duck-covered pond.  A little bit of panic amongst the ducks, but no sign of an Otter.  We always want our clients to see the wildlife that they desire, but in this case Georgia was so excited at the prospect of seeing an Otter, and we’d put in so much effort in pretty unpleasant weather conditions, that I was willing one to appear…even though I know that’s not how wildlife sightings tend to work.  With falling light levels I tend to put my binoculars down and just scan with my eyes, so that’s what I did, not just because that’s my usual approach but also because I was chilled to the bone from earlier in the afternoon, shivering and barely able to hold my binoculars steady…and a brief dark shape rolling at the surface in the middle distance was just what I was looking for.  Switch to binoculars while giving directions to everyone else in the hide…and the Otter popped up into view 🙂  A second animal appeared briefly a couple of times but this one was obligingly hunting back and forth along the edge of a reedbed.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a client so overwhelmed by wildlife, so much so that I could have cried.  The Otter created a problem all of it’s own…there was no way we were going to get Georgia to leave the hide while it was still showing, and last food orders at The Swan were rapidly approaching.  The girls knew what they were planning to eat though so a quick ‘phone call to Sarah, who was on her way to the pub, sorted the issue of getting their order in on time.  Eventually it was so dark that Otter, reedbed and water’s edge merged into one and we headed back to The Swan.

    I’d arranged to take the girls back to Newcastle to catch their train on Sunday morning, but a text from Alan changed our timings slightly and soon I was standing on the dunes at Cambois with Fran, Georgia and Sarah…watching a small group of Bottlenose Dolphins through the mist, rain and, yes, once again, bone-chilling wind 🙂

  • “I really love otters”; Bespoke Otter Safari 10-11/04/2015

    Friday and Saturday saw a two day bespoke safari for Fran and Georgia, arranged by their mum back in early December.

    I collected the girls from The Swan and we headed towards Druridge Bay.  We weren’t too far along the road when Georgia asked if we’d seen any Otters recently.  I told them about Thursday’s sightings, and there was an obvious raising of excitement levels in the car…and, with typical wildlife unpredictability, we managed to get right through Friday without an Otter sighting 🙁  Dippers zipping back and forth along the River Blyth were entertaining, a drake Garganey on the Wansbeck was stunning, Little Egrets and Avocets were elegant, but of the sinuous stealthy predator there was no sign.  We returned to The Swan and I started revising our plans for Saturday…

    Saturday 05:00 and I stumble sleepily to the bathroom.  There’s one thing I really don’t want to hear, and that’s a howling gale.  This wasn’t looking promising; our plan for the day was a Seal Cruise around the Farne Islands, and then more time searching for Otters, and neither of those would be helped by the hoolie that I could hear whistling through the trees in our garden.  We arrived in Seahouses for our sailing on Glad Tidings V, and the sea was looking ever so slightly lumpy.  We did manage to sail though, and were rewarded with Cormorant, Shag, Guillemot, Eider, Kittiwake and the two stars of the morning – Puffin and Grey Seal.  Back on dry land we resumed the search for Otters, and the wind strengthened so that we could hear an eerie whistling around trees, bridges and us!  With a wind chill factor taking temperatures down to bone-chilling, and a hail storm pinging ice off our heads, we were having to suffer for our wildlife…and still no Otters.  Sarah was out and about checking other locations and sending regular texts to let me know where she’d checked.  Our final backup plan was an 06:00 start on Sunday, but I don’t think anyone was really too keen on that idea.

    18:30 and the wind shifted from west to southwest and weakened slightly, the sun came out and I started to feel more optimistic.  I had one decision left to make though, and that was which of our two options for sunset to go for…

  • More mustelid mania; Otter mini-Safari 09/04/2015

    I’d arrived at Church Point, to collect Ian, Rosie, Ali, Vicky, Suzie and Aravind, and then had a voicemail on my mobile.  One of their cars had a problem, so they’d taken it to CarBar.  A quick change of plan and I collected them from Morpeth instead, and we headed towards the southeast Northumberland coast in search of Otters.  Goldeneye were displaying, Redshank and Curlew were probing the gooey mud and a Little Egret caught a fish and then dropped it and just stared at the water without refinding it’s prey.  Rosie had just asked where Otters were most likely to be seen on the stretch of water we were looking at, I turned to indicate the general area that I thought would be most productive…and there was an Otter 🙂  We watched it for a few minutes as it fed, and I was fairly sure it was one of the young female Otters we’d watched regularly since December.

    Each time the Otter dived we could follow it’s movements by the trail of bubbles on the water’s surface but it soon vanished from view, as they often do, and everyone’s attention remained focused on the water.  Then another Otter popped up.  This one was a bit of surprise though; a very small cub that isn’t any of the four animals we’ve been watching over the last few months.  It surfaced like a spyhopping dolphin before sliding back beneath the waves then an adult surfaced just beyond the cub, and we’d seen three different Otters 🙂  Rosie then spotted another mustelid, and the Weasel engaged in a game of peek-a-boo from a stone wall before running along the bank.

    Sometimes, when the day seems to be going wrong…

  • Springtime on the coast; Otter Safari 08/04/2015

    The lack of summer visitors has been commented on by local birdwatchers for the last couple of weeks, but there are signs that the summer is on its way…

    I collected Sam and Linda from West Acre House and we headed towards the coast, thankfully free of the sea fret that hampered Monday’s trip.  All of our Otter sites were very quiet on the mustelid front, but birdwatching is starting to pick up.  A male Marsh Harrier, and no less than three female harriers nest-building, was a fantastic start to the morning.  Chiffchaff, Chaffinch and Robin were all singing, Little Egrets were keeping up their recent record of putting in an appearance on our tours, a song-flighting Meadow Pipit settled obligingly close to us, Skylarks were soaring and singing high overhead, Little and Great Crested Grebes may be at opposite ends of the size spectrum but both are quite beautiful, Curlew and Redshank were digging in the mud, Goldeneye were displaying their golden eyes in the bright sunshine and Gadwall, Mallard and Tufted Duck were all caught in two minds between feeding and courting.  15 Avocet were radiating elegance and the day had passed so quickly.