Tag: Coot

  • The approaching storm; Druridge Bay Prestige Tour 04/01/2016

    04/01/2008, and NEWT’s first ever day out with clients was a strange, cold, gloomy day where we managed to find our target species for the day, Roe Deer.  Eight years on and I found myself out with clients on January 4th again… As I arrived at Church Point to collect Roberta and Dougie, the first…

  • Northerlies; Otter Safari 21/11/2015

    Approaching Scots Gap, to collect Teresa, Lisa, Scott and Brett for an Otter Safari around Druridge Bay, the overnight snow made the road ‘interesting’ in places.  The icy fingers of the northerly wind probed and poked at exposed skin and we headed down towards the coast… Just a few miles along the road we came…

  • Spring arrivals; Druridge Bay Safari 30/04/2015

    It’s been a cold windy spring, and a few of our summer visitors seemed a bit tardy; we found our first Sand Martin and Chiffchaff later than we would have expected, but the day has been coming when things would start to happen… I collected Jan and Peter from Church Point and we set out…

  • A trip with extra added bite; Otter Safari 02/04/2014

    After a remarkably mild winter, Wednesday brought some weather with a bit of bite, the sort of day where you really need the wildlife to be performing at it’s best to take your mind off the conditions… I collected Katherine and Brenda from Church Point for an afternoon/evening Otter Safari, and we headed north up…

  • Performer

    There are times when we’re out with clients and encounter a species that’s really unexpected, other times a bird or animal will do something really impressive and sometimes, just sometimes, it’s the often overlooked ‘little brown jobs’ that are the stars of the show. I collected Stephen from home in North Shields and headed north…

  • Arrivals

    As I pulled into the car park at The Swan, Peter and Elizabeth were sitting in the bright sunshine.  There was still a cold edge to the breeze though, and we set out to explore Druridge Bay, south east Northumberland and the Northumberland coast. Masses of frogspawn was evidence that our amphibians were getting on…

  • Fireworks

    As a chemist I’ve found fireworks fascinating for some time.  While I was still teaching, I developed a series of demonstration experiments that illustrated how different colours are produced by varying the chemicals in the mix and managed, during one particularly spectacular demo, to set fire to a pile of homework and the surface of…

  • Hide and seek

    Sunday was a Prestige Otter Safari for Chris and Sophie.  It was Chris’ birthday and, as I collected them from Berwick in some pretty horrible conditions, I was hoping that we would drive south into better weather.  Sure enough, we did pass out from under the rain clouds, but the day stayed quite gloomy and…

  • When the sun goes down

    The dark nights seem to creep up on us very quickly, and it was already 3.30pm when I collected Ruth and David for a mini-safari on the Northumberland coast.  It was an entertaining afternoon with clients, who came to university in Newcastle at about the same time as myself and Sarah and decided to not…

  • Evening trinity

    Monday’s Otter Safari featured a quite surreal evening, as mist developed over the pools, close to the Northumberland coast, really playing tricks on the eyes.  As Coots scattered and Mallards and Mute Swans all stared in the same direction, our quarry remained hidden from view.  Roe Deer were bounding around the poolside vegetation, and a magnificent Long-eared…