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(Man-made) Wilderness
On Saturday I had the pleasure of guiding a visit to Kielder (I still can’t bring myself to write Kielder Water and Forest Park…) for a group of Landscape Architecture students from the University of Michigan. After collecting the group from Saughy Rigg (which will be the base for our ‘Autumn Colours’ photography holiday and ‘Winter…
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Birds in the mist
With a good breeze coming from the east and misty drizzle on the coast, conditions have been looking good for a fall of migrants since yesterday morning. Some of the most exciting birdwatching available on the Northumberland coast happens in conditions like these… As we left the house last night to walk down to The…
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The colours of autumn
The sun is shining and the temperature is just about perfect. Robins seem to be in every bush, the high-pitched calls from a group of Goldcrests are a reminder that we’re well into the autumn and the flight calls of Skylarks can be heard high overhead. The scent of windfall apples permeates the air around the patio, the final…
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Valley of tranquility
Although our Cheviot Valleys and North Pennines safaris are concentrated in the springtime, we run a few trips to those inland areas in the late summer and early autumn. The final day of August was a trip to the Cheviots, and it could hardly have been better; the weather was wonderful, there were hardly any…
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British Birdwatching Fair 2010
We’ve been away for a few days, as part of the Birdwatching Northumberland consortium at the British Birdwatching Fair 2010. Thursday started very early for Martin, with a North Pennines Prestige Tour for clients who were staying at Wallfoot in Carlisle. Managing to avoid the worst of the weather, avian highlights included Merlin, Goldcrest, Nuthatch,…
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Life through a (hand) lens
Monday was the second classroom session of the NHSN Lichens and Bryophytes course. On Sunday, while I was out with Sarah on a walk through three atlas tetrads in Harwood, we found some interesting colonies of Cladonias lichens on the upturned root edges of some windblown Spruce. As the lichens course is currently looking at Heath and…
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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…
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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…