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Midsummer moorland meanderings, another alliteration; North Pennines 27/06/2014
I collected Peter for his third day out with NEWT and we headed southwest towards the big hills of the North Pennines. Midsummer on the moors is a very different prospect to the spring and early summer. Common Snipe, Curlew, Redshank, Lapwing, Oystercatcher and Golden Plover are all still there, but occasional calls are the…
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Drumming and lekking; North Pennines 05/04/2014
A pre-dawn start heralded a long anticipated day out with Sam and Brian, part of Sam’s prize from last years Natural History Society of Northumbria Photography competition. Sam is part of a generation of young photographer/naturalists in Northumberland, and it was a pleasure to have a day discussing photography, wildlife and ethics with himself and…
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Scouring the moors; North Pennines birdwatching 25/06/2013
Returning clients have become a bit of a theme for NEWT in the last couple of years, and it’s always lovely to meet up and hear what our clients have been doing, and seeing, since they were last out with us. Mike and Maggie were visiting Northumberland again, and their day out with me this…
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Spring (Gentian) time in the hills
The ‘quality over quantity’ birdwatching in the North Pennines has been the predominant feature of our days out with clients in the last two months, and a ‘phone enquiry on Tuesday saw me collecting David and Margaret on Wednesday morning for a day birdwatching in the hills. Red Grouse was the first of the upland…
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North Pennines Birdwatching 13/05/13
I collected Andreas ahead of a day of birdwatching in the North Pennines with two things in mind; Andreas’ target list for the day (Red Grouse, Black Grouse, Ring Ouzel) and the weather forecast (sleet and snow showers, temps as low as 7C)… Glorious and breezy weather accompanied our journey southwest and we were soon…
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Watching the drama unfold
Towards the end of a day in the North Pennines with Tony and Caroline, I suggested that we should head back to a Black Grouse lek where we’d watched two Blackcock pottering about in the early afternoon… Everything had been performing well. Red Grouse and Black Grouse playing hide-and-seek-and-run-away-a-bit, Curlew, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Golden Plover…
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Moorland meanderings
As I collected Jenny and Rob for a day in the North Pennines, the weather looked promising, although a little breezy, and we were quickly in the hills. The song of Lapwing, Curlew, Snipe, Redshank, Golden Plover and Oystercatcher carried on the breeze as we found our first Black Grouse of the day – a…
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Black Grouse Bonanza Day 1; Nothing to grouse about
As I drove to Peth Head Cottage on Thursday afternoon, the rain was hammering against the car windscreen. Friday’s forecast was good though so, after a meal at The Travellers Rest in Slaley, I reminded Derek and Deirdre that we would have an early start the next morning. 19/04/2013 05:00…the incessant ringing of the alarm…
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In the grip of winter…in late March
Sunday saw the two of us heading southwest into the North Pennines to carry out some recce work for a press trip that Martin was leading. As soon as we were up above the level of the Tyne valley there was snow laying, which got deeper as we gained altitude. Lapwings, Curlew and Oystercatcher were…