Tag: Golden Plover

  • Marching on

    As the start of the main season approaches, it’s been a busy few weeks for NEWT.  I attended the latest Netgain meeting, as this important part of the North Sea Marine Conservation Zones project nears its conclusion, plans are developing for the Birdwatching Northumberland stand at this year’s British Birdwatching Fair, Tourism fairs/leaflet distribution days gave us a…

  • The hills are alive…

    …with the sound of Meadow Pipits. Yesterday morning I decided to set out from home nice and early, so that I could spend a few hours in the North Pennines before exhibiting at the Tourism Fair in Hexham. Birdwatching in Northumberland’s southwestern reaches is (almost always) about quality rather than quantity.  Although it may seem…

  • Pressing the right buttons

    Saturday evening saw me in the far southwest of Northumberland, with a potentially tricky assignment…’in 2 hours, show a visiting journalist, and her husband, the best birdwatching in the North Pennines‘. So, we stealthily approached four of our favourite Black Grouse sites, enjoying unbelievably close views of 9 Blackcocks,  travelled across bleak, exposed, moorland roads, marvelling at the luminosity of…

  • Getting ready

    We just had an all too infrequent ocurrence; both of us at home and able to go out and about together for a whole weekend 🙂 On Saturday we decided to concentrate on our local area.  Southeast Northumberland offers some excellent wildlife and birdwatching opportunities and, with bookings for the rest of this year coming thick…

  • Stormy weather

    November is generally a quiet month for NEWT; the half-term rush in late October has come and gone, thoughts are turning to Christmas…and the weather can be a bit suspect.  We had a Safari Day around Druridge Bay and Southeast Northumberland at the end of last week that could have succumbed to the elements but, as…

  • White is the new Black

    We had back-to back birdwatching trips earlier this week, covering two of our favourite areas. On Tuesday afternoon I collected Keith and Jen from home in Monkseaton and we headed northwards up the Northumberland coast.  Our destination was the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, one of the birding hot-spots of the entire country.  The strong winds were…

  • Remote birdwatching on Northumberland’s borders

    The North Pennines may not have the highest species density of any of the areas that we visit but, in terms of peace, tranquility and solitude, it takes some beating. On Friday morning I drove to Corbridge to collect Lesley and David, two of our Prestige clients, for a day of birdwatching around Northumberland’s remote border. …

  • A Rosy outlook

    Saturday saw a change in our normal Safari routine, and an early afternoon start.  I collected Gareth and Ruth from the Red Lion at Alnmouth and we drove south.  The hot, sunny weather had brought out hundreds of people to Plessey Woods but we still found a peaceful, undisturbed glade where we could listen to…

  • Nothing to grouse about

    Today was the first of two Prestige Tours organised as a 40th birthday surprise.  With our destination being the North Pennines, the tour where we cross the border from Northumberland into Upper Teesdale, the mist, drizzle and general murk first thing this morning didn’t look too promising.  Sometimes, though, the less promising days prove to…

  • Not bad for mid-Feb

    Yesterday I led our first Safari Day of this week, to Lindisfarne and the North Northumberland coast.  Although I really enjoy trips where the main quarry is Red Squirrel/Badger/Otter/Fox/Roe Deer my lifelong love affair has been with birdwatching.  Northumberland is a top-quality destination for a winter birdwatching trip; just ask any of the writers/photographers who we’ve…