Northern Experience Wildlife Tours

Blog

  • A cold walk and a varied week

    I’ve had another week of meetings (and late-cancellations of meetings as well) with a wide enough range of topics to keep me on my toes.  I’ve enrolled on the Natural History Society of Northumbria ‘Lichens and Bryophytes’ course and the first session was on Monday; my use of dichotomous keys as an aid to identification has been sporadic previously, but now I’ve got to learn.  A one-to-one clinic on Wednesday, discussing the new Northumberland brand and ways to enhance our own marketing, gave me lots of new ideas.  Most valuable of all though was a meeting later that afternoon with one of Northumberland’s major land owners, discussing species conservation, land management, nature tourism and access to the prime natural history areas of his estate.  New NEWT products are on the way…

    As I sat in the office yesterday afternoon, staring at the cold gloom outside, I had a call from my good friend, and bird race team-mate, Iain.  He was complaining about being stuck in his office on such a lovely sunny afternoon.  His office is only 20 miles up the road from ours, but was blessed with much better weather.

    One thing that unpromising weather does give me time for is processing a few images from the last month.  With the launch of our new website Northern Experience Images I needed to do a reasonable amount of uploading.  Here a just a few from last Saturday, when the temperature was somewhat lower than it is now and myself, Sarah and Andy had a walk along the coast from Embleton towards Dunstanburgh Castle.

    Dunstanburgh Castle from Embleton
    Dunstanburgh Castle from Embleton
    Dunstanburgh Castle from Embleton
    Dunstanburgh Castle from Embleton
    Dunstanburgh Castle and boulder beach
    Dunstanburgh Castle and boulder beach
    Boulders at dusk
    Boulders at dusk

    It was cold, really cold.  As we walked back through the dunes in the dark, there was a bitter northerly wind and it felt like a real wilderness.  Winter, my favourite time of the year (until the green shoots of spring begin to appear anyway…).

  • Big Garden Birdwatch

    We had a leisurely hour of birdwatching yesterday morning.  With all of the feeders stocked with top class bird food from Poltross, and a bacon and egg butty and a mug of coffee in hand, we settled down into our respective positions on either side of the kitchen.  With commentary on the dismantling of Andy Murray in the background, binoculars were trained on the feeders, the ground, the shrubbery and the Ash tree.  After a slow start, things began to gather pace and we finished with 76 birds of 20 species;

    Collared Dove 4

    Wood Pigeon 2

    Jackdaw 1

    Carrion Crow 1

    House Sparrow 1

    Starling 7

    Blue Tit 2

    Great Tit 3

    Coal Tit 7

    Willow Tit 2

    Long-tailed Tit 3

    Chaffinch 14

    Greenfinch 5

    Goldfinch 2

    Bullfinch 4

    Goldcrest 1

    Robin 6

    Dunnock 2

    Blackbird 5

    Redwing 4

    There were a few absentees as well, all seen regularly in the days leading up to the Big Garden Birdwatch;

    Jay

    Great Spotted Woodpecker

    Sparrowhawk

    Siskin

    Maybe 25 species in 1hr is a target to aim for in our garden next year.

  • Deskbound

    Not something I particularly enjoy but I’m currently trying to juggle at least four separate projects ahead of the ‘busy season’ starting in February.  That means a lot of time in the office and birdwatching limited to our garden and the edge of Choppington Woods.  After a couple of months of the Chaffinch flock containing almost exclusively male birds (the species scientific name Fringilla coelebs means ‘Bachelor Finch’ – a reference to the habit of male and female birds wintering separately in parts of it’s range).  now though, the girls are back.  The party’s over, boys.

    This morning has seen the Press Release about an exciting offshore survey project that NEWT is a partner in.  Working with Natural England and Marinelife, with additional support  from the Northumberland and Tyneside Bird Club, we’re furthering the existing knowledge of seabird and cetacean distribution in the North Sea.

    As I look out of the window this morning there’s a howling northerly and it’s snowing.  Back to the wintry weather 🙂 and a weekend of birdwatching, photography and filming wildlife ahead for all three NEWT guides.

  • A bit of this…

    The last few days have been fairly quiet, although quite varied.  On Thursday I was at the North Northumberland Tourism Association AGM at Paxton House.  On arrival the car park was close to full, with just a couple of spaces not occupied.  I reversed my Mondeo into one of them, thinking that the snow sounded very crunchy, and went into the meeting.  For me the highlight of the event was a talk by Laurie Campbell, covering things that he’s photographed in and around North Northumberland.  Returning to my car and the inevitable…it wouldn’t move anywhere with the wheels spinning on the snow.  Luckily Chris Calvert from Bamburgh Castle was leaving at the same time and, along with Verity from the Grace Darling Museum, he helped to push the car clear of the snow.  I wouldn’t have had that problem in the Landrover…

    On Friday I chaired a committee meeting of the Southeast Northumberland Tourism Association.  As a new project, all of the committee are putting in a lot of effort and our AGM will be in February, the website should be up and running soon and we’re designing a leaflet to highlight the tourist attractions in our area.

    On Sunday we carried out our WeBS count (a week late but the Birdwatching Northumberland Press Trip coincided with the scheduled count date).  Northeasterly winds at the start of the month have deposited huge volumes of sand a long way up the beach (and along the footpath in Cresswell village) almost to the height of the dunes in some places.  The highlight was a loose group of divers on the sea, 15 Red-throated, 2 Great Northern and 1 Black-throated.  As we approached the Chibburn mouth, the end of our survey section, Sarah commented on the sheer walls of sand next to the Chibburn as it wound it’s way down the beach.  Not surprisingly, Sarah took the sensible approach and walked well away from the edge…at least I earned some brownie points by removing Sarah’s ‘scope and tripod from my shoulder and throwing it clear as the sand gave way beneath my feet.

    Now I’ve got a day in the office and it’s gloomy and overcast.  Two Jays and a Great Spotted Woodpecker are in the apple tree and Siskins have started visiting the feeders (after merely flirting with the boundary of our garden earlier in the winter).  Lesser Redpolls are still around the edge of Choppington Woods.  Can we set a new high total for our garden when it’s the Big Garden Birdwatch next weekend?

  • When the weather is miserable…

    After the changeable weather during the Birdwatching Northumberland press trip culminated in excellent conditions on Monday, I hoped that we would get more of the same on Tuesday for a Lindisfarne Safari that I was leading.  It looked good; at home we had a heavy frost and clear blue skies.  Yet just a few miles down the road, as I headed to Gosforth to collect our client, there was a bank of thick fog.  Not to worry, conditions might be better on Holy Island…they weren’t, in fact the fog was even thicker.  As we stood on the Heugh it was eerie.  A bitingly cold southeasterly wind and visibility down to just a few metres.  Oystercatchers, Redshanks and Herring Gulls could all be heard through the mist and we continued our journey around the island.  Song Thrushes lifted from each clump of grass as we walked towards the harbour and slightly improved visibility allowed us to look closely at Teal, Bar-tailed Godwits and Curlew.  Lichens and mosses came under great scrutiny (remarkable structures when viewed under a hand lens).  Off the island we found Pale-bellied Brent Geese, small groups of Whooper Swans, a field with lots of Greylag and Pink-footed Geese (and a ‘Canalag’ hybrid), several Kestrels, an incredibly obliging Common Buzzard, a mixed thrush flock (Redwing, Fieldfare, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush and Blackbird), plenty of waders and, finally, as the mist returned and brought steady rainfall with it, Common Scoter, Shag and Eider on the sea. As we drove back down the A1 the worsening weather made it seem likely that we’d had better conditions than back at home.  There’s always something to see, whatever the weather.

  • Magic moments

    We’ve spent the last 3 days running a birdwatching press trip on the Northumberland coast.  Now, I’m not going to spoil the undoubtedly excellent article that will be written about the trip, but this morning we had one of those experiences that just take your breath away.  After a full day around the Lindisfarne NNR and a full day in Druridge Bay, this morning was the conclusion of the trip…and the best weather of the 3 days.  A bitingly cold northwesterly wind, beautiful blue skies and a choppy-looking sea as we stood on a cliff-top set the scene and then the main players came into view; first one Merlin darted in front of us, then a second.  As they were pair-hunting a Rock Pipit, which headed skywards to try and evade them, the kill seemed inevitable.  It was, as the hapless pipit was first caught and then tossed through the air from the male to his (presumed) mate.  We only just missed seeing a Grey Seal catch and kill a Herring Gull as well.  Nature may sometimes be cruel, but it’s inspiring, breathtaking and unpredictable.

  • The (h)edge of reason

    We’re well into warm(er) weather now, although there was a fresh covering of snow this morning and as Martin sat through a 2hr meeting at Matfen Hall yesterday morning there was steady snowfall throughout.

    As well as the flocks of birds that are visiting gardens so that they can find enough food to survive we’ve been finding reasonable flocks of farmland birds.  One flock we’ve been watching has lots of Linnets, Reed Buntings and Yellowhammers and at least 12 Bramblings.  They’ve found a wheat field that hadn’t been harvested so there was a substantial food source above the snowline even at the weekend when there was still a lot of snow on the ground.

    Patience was the key to watching them.  Standing motionless meant that they were willing to approach to within the minimum focusing distance of our 500mm lens.  Well worth the discomfort of standing in one place in sub-zero temperatures 🙂

    Mixed flock in a hedge, a warming winter birdwatching sight
    Mixed flock in a hedge, a warming winter birdwatching sight
    Brambling and Reed Buntings
    Brambling and Reed Buntings
    5 of the Bramblings
    5 of the Bramblings
    Linnet
    Linnet
    Reed Bunting
    Reed Bunting
    Reed Bunting
    Reed Bunting
    Yellowhammer
    Yellowhammer
    Yellowhammer
    Yellowhammer

    Of course, with so many birds concentrated in one small area it was inevitable that ours weren’t the only eyes watching them.  Through the camera lens there was a rush of wings as everything took off, a blur across the viewfinder and then an opportunity for a morbid portrait.

    Who ended up on the menu?
    Who ended up on the menu?

  • Layer upon layer of food glorious food

    No, not a post about the culinary delight I conjoured up yesterday for Sarah (butternut squash stuffed with bacon, blue cheese, garlic, creme fraiche and honey) although that was a bit of a milestone in my domestication 😉

    No, it’s a post about an unexpected bounty that our garden birds are reaping currently.  I usually try to fill all of our bird feeders just as it’s getting dark, that way the birds don’t get disturbed (not that it seems to bother some of them – Coal Tits will often just move to slightly higher branches in the apple tree, Robins seem to have no problem sitting just a few feet away).  Inevitably some seed gets spilled.  There’s also a reasonable amount of seed on the ground because the Coal Tits will sit on the feeders and discard anything they don’t fancy at the time.  With several days of snowfall over the last few weeks this was creating something that I hadn’t realised; layers of food sandwiched between each successive snowfall.  Now that the thaw is well under way, although there is still plenty of snow down here on the low ground, these layers of chilled bird seed are being exposed.  30 Chaffinches have been under the tree for most of today, and 8 Greenfinches have been around as well.   After a complete absence of sightings in recent weeks, a Great Spotted Woodpecker has returned to the garden.  At least one Brambling is still making sporadic appearances and the Blue, Coal and Great Tits are almost too numerous to count.  As we’re feeding in parts of Choppington Woods, and some of our neighbours have well-stocked bird feeders we might expect numbers to decrease but we’ve got more birds now than in the depths of the snow and ice last week.  Time to refill the feeders and dream of a rare thrush, bunting or accentor 🙂

  • Breaking the ice

    With Sarah back at work, we finally had some time to go out together on Saturday morning.  Watching a procession of cars skidding and sliding along the road outside our house, we decided to leave the Landy on the drive and go for a walk around Choppington Woods.  First though, there was an icicle that had been developing steadily over the last two weeks and should have made a good image.  Unfortunately it was above our bedroom window so required an uncomfortable, and potentially risky, manouvre.

    Rack of icicles above our window
    Rack of icicles above our window

    The start of the interesting icicle can be seen along the branch on the right of the image.  In total it was over 2 feet long, and dangling above Sarah’s car…

    Apparently, in some countries it's illegal to let icicles develop on your property
    Apparently, in some countries it's illegal to let icicles develop on your property

    The first golden light of the day began to selectively illuminate some of the trees around our garden, so I took a quick shot before we went to see if we could find the same light in the woods.

    Our patio, golden light and eleven bird feeders
    Our patio, golden light and eleven bird feeders

    Sarah has, for some time now, been the guinea-pig for the ‘how to take your camera off auto’ approach that we’re employing on our beginners photography courses this year.  It’s a good job we’re both so relaxed about things, as a teacher-student relationship between husband and wife has so many potential pitfalls 🙂

    We found that golden light that we were searching for and, as photographically beautiful light often does, it offered just a few seconds of opportunity.

    A fleeting chance
    A fleeting chance

    As we continued our walk, finding tracks of Red Fox, Roe Deer and Otter, Sarah decided to turn her hand to portraiture.  Now, I’m much happier behind the lens (and I’ve photographed quite a few weddings, and more baby portraits than I care to remember) but this wasn’t too bad an experience.

    As happy as a Polar Bear in snow...
    As happy as a Polar Bear in snow…

  • Snowbound

    OK, not quite, but since December 31st we’ve had about a foot of snow in total.  I cancelled our Otter Safari on Tuesday for safety reasons.  That decision proved to be the right one as we had heavy snowfall on Tuesday afternoon, making the roads even more hazardous than they already were.  I drove to Wallsend to collect Sarah from work, and the 13 miles took 80 minutes – and that was mainly on 3 of Northumberland’s major roads (A1068, A19 and A1058).  Cars were sliding from one lane to the next and I’m amazed that I didn’t witness any collisions.  We’ve been using the Landrover for the last couple of weeks so when Sarah wanted her car to drive to work yesterday we had to dig it out of the snow.  I can’t recall having to do that in the 17 years that we’ve lived up here.

    For the last day and a bit I’ve had a throat infection so I’ve stayed in the house.  That hasn’t been a huge burden though as it’s allowed me to spend a lot of time watching (and filming) the birds around our feeding station.  For as long as I can remember, birdwatching has been something that’s always been an option when I’m unwell.  The Brambling that Sarah found on Sunday is still around, Long-tailed Tits are visiting much more frequently than they ever have before, the Blackbird count has risen to 9, at least 5 Robins are trying to hold dominion over the patio and flocks of Siskin and Lesser Redpoll are patrolling the edge of Choppington Woods and the bottom of our allotment.  Yesterday even a Goldcrest joined the chirping masses around the apple tree.  With niger seed, peanuts, fat balls, mixed seed and windfall apples our garden is like an all-you-can-eat buffet.  The one notable absentee from our usual list of visitors is Great Spotted Woodpecker, although we did see one in the woods on New Year’s Day.  Has one of our neighbours set up a more attractive feeding station?  We’d better raise our game, just in case.