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Now, that’s a sign of Spring
With the wind still whistling around our ears last Thursday, I arrived at Church Point to collect Paul and Alex for a mini-safari around Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland. Red-breasted Mergansers flew by at our first stop, as Alex’s sharp eyes picked out a Roe Deer, eying us nervously from the opposite bank of the…
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Autumn chill
Friday was a trip that I’d been looking forward to for quite some time. Emily had been on the bird ID course that I ran as part of North Pennines WildWatch and had then booked herself and her dad, Steve, onto an Otter Safari. I arrived at Church Point to collect them, and we set…
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On passage
A second consecutive Druridge Bay mini-safari was our activity on Friday morning and I arrived at Church Point to meet Gavin, Mark, Cindy and Esther for morning’s birdwatching around the NEWT ‘local patch’. My main concern was how the previous afternoon’s torrential downpour would have affected ground conditions at the sites we visit. As it…
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The rain before the storm
Thursday morning was a Druridge Bay mini-safari and, when I arrived at Church Point, Michelle and Andy, and Jane, were already there. We set off for a morning of birdwatching on the southeast Northumberland coast in cool, overcast conditions…but by the time we reached Cresswell the rain had started and visibility was closing in rapidly. Birdwatching in…
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Lightning strikes twice
Trips with existing clients are always a pleasure, not only because it’s very gratifying to get a booking from someone we’ve taken out before, but also because we already have shared memories. I had 3 things vivid in my mind from when I took Pete and Janet out in September 2008 – it rained, we saw 11…
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Enthusiasm
Our Druridge mini-Safari with Karl and Linda featured some of those species that are at or near their northern limit in Britain; Avocets, a recent colonist of Northumberland, and Marsh Harriers, here for a few years longer, are always much appreciated and Newbiggin’s Mediterranean Gulls are an excellent example of a group of birds that…
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Out to sea
After a week in which I carried out 2 offshore surveys for the Northeast Cetacean Project, and attended a meeting of the PAW Marine Wildlife Enforcement Working Group, it was fitting to end with an 8hr pelagic off the coast of southeast Northumberland and Druridge Bay. Birdwatching from a boat off our coastline has to be…
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Bird Watching Magazine Reader Holiday Day 3: 09/07/2011
On Saturday morning our destination was Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland and another poor weather forecast ( a bit of a running theme during the holiday…) suggested that we may well get wet. An addition to the mammal list for the trip raced across the road ahead of us; a Stoat – an endearing predator…