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A real challenge
In the 17 years that I’ve lived here, I’ve always believed that Northumberland is one of the finest counties for birdwatching in the whole of the UK. That belief played a big part in reaching the decision to launch NEWT, and it’s why we’re such an enthusiastic member of the Birdwatching Northumberland Consortium. We’ll be…
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A day in the Bay, Birdwatching Northumberland (part 2)
Our second day out with the winners of last year’s Birdwatching Northumberland competition, was a day in Druridge Bay. It provided a real contrast with our earlier trip to the Harthope Valley. After collecting Jean and Andy from the Bamburgh Castle Inn we headed down to Embleton to collect Helen, our third client on this trip,…
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Slow, slow
Yesterday was the first of two days out with the winners of last year’s Birdwatching Northumberland prize draw. After collecting Andy and Jean from the Bamburgh Castle Inn our destination was the Harthope Valley in the Cheviots. It’s one of our favourite locations; stunning landscape, interesting geology and, of course, excellent wildlife. As we reached…
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What does my office look like?
Occasionally I find myself pondering that question. On Wednesday I left home early to drive to Seahouses and collect Carolyn and Brian, two clients who we first met last year. As we headed up the coast through Bamburgh and towards the Lindisfarne NNR for a day of birdwatching, we stopped at each promising area. Before we reached Holy Island itself…
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The dawning of the “season”
After a cold, wet day surveying one of our inland tetrads for the Bird Atlas, we had a very early start on Sunday for our Dawn Chorus walk at Lee Moor Farm. Ian was, as always, an entertaining host for the event and we walked around the farm, enjoying the songs of Willow Warbler, Song…
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A forest foray
After a Druridge mini-safari on Tuesday, which included a visit to the Common Crane near Eshott, yesterday was something completely different with a Kielder Safari. After collecting Ruth and Diana from Stannington we took the scenic route up through Knowesgate to Bellingham, in the wilds of west Northumberland. That’s the point where we deviate from…
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All change
Over the last few days there has been a distinct change; now, when I open our patio door, I can hear Song Thrush, Greenfinch, Chaffinch and Robin all singing. Last Saturday, even in the bitter cold and howling gale that was battering the Northumberland coast, our Druridge Bay Safari was enriched with birdsong. Opportunities to…
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A swell weekend for a survey or two…or three
Saturday was planned as the next survey day for NEWT/Marinelife…and then in the early hours of Saturday morning the sea began to turn ‘a bit lumpy’ (c)Allan Skinner. With over 3m of swell smashing it’s way through the harbour mouth at Amble there was no chance of getting the boat out. With all three NEWT…
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Since I last blogged…
We’ve spent three tiring but very enjoyable days working on the Birdwatching Northumberland stand at the British Birdwatching Fair (highlights were a talk by Jari Peltomaki about owls in Finland, and ‘An Audience with Simon King’ was very entertaining as well) where we spoke to an awful lot of people who are interested in birdwatching…