Tag: Common Whitethroat

  • Back on track and tracking the storm; Druridge Bay mini-Safari 04/07/21

    With so many postponed trips last year, it’s been great to get out again and start meeting clients who we’ve been chatting to via email for a long time 🙂 I arrived in Druridge Bay and met up with Phil, then Melanie, then Marjorie and Ollie for an evening searching for otters and other wildlife.…

  • summertime?; otter mini-Safari 13/06/21

    After a few very warm sunny days, it was grey and cooler when I arrived to meet up with Teresa and Pam for an evening in Druridge Bay… In the cooler conditions the dense clouds of chironomid midges had gone, but the songs of meadow pipit, reed bunting, skylark, willow warbler, common whitethroat and chiffchaff…

  • This is the sound of the summer; otter mini-Safari 10/06/21

    As I arrived to meet up with with Peter and Melanie, and Kristina and Paul, for an evening in Druridge Bay, the sky overhead was fluffy white clouds on an azure background but away to the north it looked grey and ominous… Tufted ducks and Canada geese were alert as a Marsh Harrier drifted by,…

  • Druridge Bay bespoke birdwatching 27/05/21

    I arrived at Church Point to meet up with Sandra and Francis, and we set off for a day around Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland, an alternative to the bespoke Farne Islands safari originally planned (a long time ago…) but currently not possible for circumstances that are beyond our control, and bafflingly inexplicable… Starting with…

  • Anticipation; Otter mini-Safari 19/05/21

    At this time of year our new ‘mini-Safari only’ approach means a late(ish) start so I can spend time earlier in the day doing other business jobs, and cooking. As I get older I’m getting better at timing things so I made a tartiflette, and a tomato and aubergine curry, and still had time to…

  • Otter Safari 15/05/21

    The last 14 months has been a strange time of arranging, postponing, rearranging, postponing, so it was a relief to finally be heading to Newbiggin to collect Mel, George, Betsy and Ernest for a few hours around southeast Northumberland and Druridge Bay. Starting with clear blue skies we watched mallards, gadwall, Canada geese, mute swans,…

  • Wading through the sublime light; Druridge Bay mini-Safari 20/08/2020

    I arrived to meet Paul and Helen ahead of a few hours around Druridge Bay and we set off to walk south along the coast… A mixed wader/gull/tern roost produced Lapwing, Golden Plover, Dunlin, Knot, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit, Little Ringed Plover, Common Redshank, Spotted Redshank, Sandwich Tern and Common, Black-headed, Herring and Great Black-backed Gull…

  • Mediterranean; Druridge Bay Bespoke Birdwatching 30/04/18

    I collected Pete and Jan from Embleton for their 11th day out with NEWT, and our intended destination was the Cheviot Valleys.  That isn’t where we headed though as the howling northerly wind would have made several hours on exposed moorland quite unpleasant so, after a quick chat, we decided to head down the coast…

  • Summer days; Cheviot Valleys Bespoke birdwatching 18/06/17

    An early start on Sunday saw me collecting Jill and Steve for their 4th day out with NEWT (and Steve’s 5th trip with us as he was on this memorable pelagic!)… Our destination was the Cheviot valleys, but we headed to Bothal first to search for the Ruddy Duck that had been there the day…

  • The golden hour; Bespoke coastal birdwatching 07/06/17

    I collected Nicky and Mick from Newbiggin and we set off for an afternoon and evening exploring Druridge Bay and south east Northumberland.  The weather was somewhat nicer than it had been 24h earlier, in fact postively summery although with a fairly stiff breeze.  Sometimes I could write a blog post by skipping to the…