Northern Experience Wildlife Tours

Tag: Grey Heron

  • Dread; Otter Safari 15/10/2015

    The great thing or the worst thing (depending on your point of view…) with watching wildlife is the sheer unpredictability of it.  There’s always something to watch though, and if you watch for long enough it just gets even less predictable…

    I collected Neil and Julia from Newbiggin and we headed towards Druridge Bay for an afternoon and evening searching for Otters.  Anybody who reads our blog regularly will know that Northumberland is a great place to look for Otters, but it usually involves some effort and patience.  45mins into the afternoon and Black-headed and Common Gulls rose in a ‘dread’ then started circling.  The only logical place to look was directly under them…and there was an Otter 🙂  We watched it for nearly an hour, until it eventually caught a huge Eel and vanished into the reeds.  During that hour there was a mass exodus of Wigeon, Teal, Mallard, Shoveler, Little Grebe and Gadwall from one reedbed…and a Fox peered out from the reeds before coming out into the open.

    The rest of the afternoon was a study of fascinating wildlife; Dippers were fighting with the victor eventually bursting into song, although not before it had been seen off itself by a Kingfisher, Hawthorns were dripping with Goldcrest, a Hebe bush was a mass of Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell and Red Admiral Butterflies and Buff-tailed Bumblebees, a second Kingfisher flew by before perching obligingly on a fence post, Grey Herons were stalking patiently in shallow water, a Little Egret perched high in a tree, a Little Owl fixed us with a withering stare and the afternooon headed towards sunset.  In beautiful orange light from the setting sun, Lapwing, Golden Plover, Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit, Turnstone, Redshank and Oystercatcher roosted as Dunlin busied themselves along the water’s edge, Snipe probed in the mud next to a reedbed and a Water Rail emerged from the gloom of the reeds into the gloom of dusk before slipping back out of sight.

  • Embrace the weather; Druridge Bay Bespoke Birdwatching 07/10/2015

    Crisp clear winter nights for stargazing, calm conditions for our North Sea Pelagic trips and warm summer nights for Otter Safaris are all fantastic, but what really gets my heart racing is mist, drizzle and winds from the east in October…

    I collected Tony from his b&b in Newbiggin for the first of three days of bespoke birdwatching, and we started just down the road at Church Point.  Walking north along the clifftop we were soon watching Rock Pipits, Wheatears, Dunlin, Purple Sandpiper, Curlew, Ringed Plover, Redshank, Sanderling, Gannet, Eider and a remarkably confiding Golden Plover.  I’d just suggested that we’d find a Snow Bunting ‘in the next 50 metres’ when one shuffled out from the sparse ground cover just in front of us 🙂  Staring at bushes and trees produced Blackcap, Robin, Dunnock, lots of Reed Bunting, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Ring Ouzel, three Yellow-browed Warblers, a Kestrel that was causing regular alarm, flocks of Golden Plover high overhead and an enjoyable chat with Alan.

    Lunchtime brought the rain that had been forecast and the afternoon in Druridge Bay produced Little Egret, Grey Heron, Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Ring Ouzel, Redwing, flocks of Goldfinch and Linnet, a juvenile Marsh Harrier and an Otter that Tony spotted as it made it’s way along the edge of a reedbed.  And the rain continued…just what I was hoping for ahead of day two for Tony; a trip to Holy Island 🙂

  • Signals; Otter Safari 04/10/2015

    I collected Lizzie and Tom from Church Point and we set out to explore Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland in search of Otters.

    We’ve been mainly concentrating on three sites this year; Site A was great early in the year, and we’d had an Otter there in mid-September, Site B opened our 2016 Otter account on New Year’s Day and has been producing Otter sightings for the last few weeks and Site C has been great, and really, really great this year 🙂  Sites A and B produced skeins of migrating Pink-footed Geese, and agitated Mallards, Gadwall, Little Grebe, Tufted Duck, Teal, Wigeon, Grey Heron and Little Egret but no sign of the cause of their agitation.  As daylight started to fade, we headed to Site C.  Roosting Lapwings suddenly flushed in panic, forming a twisting, turning, amorphous mass worthy of a Starling murmuration.  Greylag and Canada Geese began descending noisily towards the water as Grey Herons stalked the margins and engaged in angry disputes over the best feeding spots.  Only two Greylag and one Canada Goose landed though, the rest vanished into the gloom.  Then the assembled wildfowl all stretched their heads up; always an encouraging sign.  Concentrate on the one part of the pool that seems to be bird-free…and there’s an Otter 🙂  Swimming across in front of us, sinuous and stealthy, it graced us with it’s presence before vanishing into a reedbed that was soon ringing with the calls of Water Rail and Moorhen.  The focused gaze of a Grey Heron gave a clue as to the Otter’s whereabouts in the reeds as daylight faded to darkness.

  • Waders and wildfowl; Northumberland coast Prestige Tour 02/10/2015

    October is a fantastic month to be out birdwatching on the Northumberland coast.  If we haven’t had the mist, drizzle and easterly winds to shower us with migrants, there’s always a wealth of wintering and passage waders and wildfowl to enjoy…

    I collected Alison, Jon, Sally and Andrew from Tughall and we set out for a day on the coast.  Alison and Jon had been out with us two years ago, on a day that featured a stuffed badger in the back of a police car! Heading north towards Lindisfarne we soon came across Greenshank, Redshank, Ruff, Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit and Little Egret by the roadside.  Then it was the turn of wildfowl to take centre stage; Teal, Wigeon, Shelduck and Greylag, Pink-footed, Barnacle and Pale-bellied Brent Geese.  Bar-tailed Godwit and Curlew were probing the mud along the shore line as a Red-throated Diver sat serenely just offshore and the moaning wails of Grey Seals drifted across the low-tide mud.  Back to Tughall for lunch and then we were away again, this time heading south towards Druridge Bay.  In sublime light, but with an ever strengthening breeze, a Little Egret seemed to glow as it’s breast feathers were fanned out into an impressive ruff by the wind.  Little Grebes just got on with being as cute as ever, Grey Herons stalked along the water’s edge, occasionally breaking off to dispute feeding locations and Gadwall, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon and Tufted Duck were all resplendent in the sunshine.  A great day out, and no dead wildlife was stroked, fondled or petted 🙂

  • Every cloud…; Otter Safari 30/09/2015

    The unpredictability of wildlife is part of the attraction.  You never know what you’ll see, whether the species you’re searching for will put in an appearance or something completely unexpected will show up.  I’d collected Judith and Robin from their holiday cottage in Embleton and we were in and around Druridge Bay for the afternoon.  It started well with a spectacular splash of colour as Judith spotted a Kingfisher while Common Redshank, Spotted Redshank and Curlew probed the gooey estuarine mud.  Gadwall, Mallard, Little Grebe, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Snipe, Dunlin and Greenshank all looked stunning in quite beautiful light and we settled into position overlooking one of our regular Otter spots, unaware of just how extraordinary the evening was going to be…

    Mirror-calm water, roosting Lapwing and Teal, an ever growing murmuration of Starlings and noisy Greylag Geese arriving to roost would be the ideal backdrop for an Otter.  Suddenly, unexpectedly, the murmuration plunged towards the reeds and birds funneled out of the swirling twisting mass down into the safety of the roost.  Starlings continued to arrive; ones, twos and groups of up to 50 had missed the display so just headed straight into the reeds.  Then the sussurating buzz stilled, and the birds left the reedbed en masse, joined in the air by Lapwings, as a Sparrowhawk flew low over their heads.  As they dropped back to the reeds, the far corner of the pool was shrouded in mist and the chilly tendrils of a sea fret were creeping over the dunes.  Soon the mist had enveloped everything around us, although it was barely reaching above head height.  The pinks and yellows of a 360 degree sunset added another touch of extraordinary to proceedings as the gloom was split by a noise not dissimilar to a car engine starting.  That was the Starlings again, leaving the reeds and suddenly bursting up out of the mist in front of us, a twisting writhing mass of birds trying to escape yet another fly-through by a Sparrowhawk.  Again they returned to the reeds, as a Barn Owl flew by above the mist, silhouetted against the sunset, and skein after skein of yapping Pink-footed Geese arrived for the night, dropping from the deep blue sky into the mist above the water.  After two unwelcome visits from the Sparrowhawk, the Starlings moved under cover of the mist into the reeds right in front of us,  For nearly five minutes, birds were streaming into their new roost site, as the whistles of Wigeon pierced the gloom and Teal and Lapwing departed for the night.

  • Interpreting; Otter Safari 16/09/2015

    I’ve been finding and observing wildlife for well over 40 years, and if there’s one thing I’ve learnt it’s that other wildlife will (almost) always be better at it than I am…

    Day four for Clare and Peter was an Otter Safari, and we collected Chris and Mel, and David and Mike, from Church Point before starting our search of Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland.  I planned to follow our usual strategy at our first site, which is to move on if we haven’t found an Otter within the first hour.  55 minutes in and it wasn’t looking good; everybody else was watching an assortment of waders and wildfowl, and I was staring intently at an almost birdless stretch of water.  Then some movement; a flock of Tufted Duck drifted away from the bankside vegetation where they’d been dozing.  They turned, stared towards where they’d been disturbed from and then drifted back.  Another minute and they left again, this time in a tight flotilla.  By now I was confident that we were going to find our quarry in the first 90 minutes of the trip.  Sure enough, an Otter soon surfaced a few metres away from the ducks and we watched it feeding for 45 minutes before we lost it from view behind bankside vegetation 🙂

    The rest of the afternoon was a tableaux of angry birds.  First a Greenshank took a vigorously intolerant approach towards a juvenile Ruff in a ‘scope filling squabble. As daylight faded into the magical light of dusk and a Common Snipe, glorious in low golden sunlight, gave uncharacteristically obliging views close to male and female Ruff and a healthy sprinkling of Little Grebe, the Grey Heron took centre stage.  Gangly, scruffy, ungainly juvenile Herons, tussling over the best feeding spots, ventured from the reed edge as light levels rendered them elegant; stalking the shallows, squawking and croaking in flight, each maintaining their own individual feeding territory as detail faded to silhouette and a flock of Curlew, heralding their arrival with piercing cries, circled before thinking better of it and vanishing into the gloom.

  • When the wind blows; Whales, waders and wildfowl 4-7/09/2015

    Last weekend was our ‘Whales, waders and wildfowl’ mini-break, with an extension to include our Farne Deeps pelagic.

    Day -1 (Friday 04/09/15).  A late cancellation left Sandra and Linda as the only guests on the holiday, and with conditions unsuitable for being offshore, we headed to the far north of the county.  Fulmars and Gannets were battling into the stiff breeze and Eiders were riding the deep troughs and towering crests of the waves that were pounding the shoreline.  Bar-tailed Godwit busied themselves along the water’s edge and the eerie moaning of Grey Seal and haunting cries of Curlew, carried on the rushing wind, enveloped us in the atmosphere of Holy Island in the early autumn.  By mid-afternoon, the wind had died down and the sea was calming – had the forecasters got it wrong…

    Day 1 (Saturday 05/09/15).  04:00 and I wake up to the sound of a strengthening northerly 🙂  Throughout the day, we were close to the sea and could see the amount of swell close to the shore.  Linnets, Goldfinches, Meadow Pipits and Greenfinches were tossed like leaves on the breeze as they ventured from the cover of bushes along the dunes, a stunning male Stonechat looked equally uncomfortable and Lapwing, Redshank, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Dunlin and Black-tailed Godwit were roosting facing into the wind as Grey Herons sat motionless and a Little Egret still radiated elegance as it’s feathers were disarranged by the now rather stiff wind.  Always impressive, a male Marsh Harrier flew by before vanishing over a distant ridge, and the day finished with Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall, Mallard, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit and 30 Little Grebes.

    Day 2 (Sunday 06/09/15).  No breeze, bright warm sunshine 🙂  An extraordinary contrast to the preceding days, and with close views of Cormorant and Eider as they dived in calm water.  The Cormorants spent a lot of time standing with wings spread in heraldic pose, drying them before heading back into the water, always an impressive sight.  Wigeon, Gadwall, Mallard, Teal, Tufted Duck, Little Grebe and Mute Swan were swimming lazily around in the afternoon sunshine and a huge flock of gulls, roosting, bathing and following the plough, exploded into the air like a burst eiderdown as a Common Buzzard drifted over.  Dinner at the excellent Ashianna in Bedlington ended the holiday after three great days with Sandra and Linda 🙂

    Our next holiday is Winter Wonderland in early December, so give us a call on 01670 827465 to find out more and to book your place now 🙂

  • Creepy crawlies;Druridge Bay mini-safari 15/08/2015

    The easiest wildlife to engage with is often the small stuff that we might walk by on our way to search for something bigger…

    I collected Flora, Pete, Katie (‘the Awesome’!), Joe and Madeleine from Church Point and we set out for a morning exploring around Druridge Pools.  Once I’d armed everyone with sample pots, hand lenses and magnifiers, Ragwort was scrutinised closely for Cinnabar moth caterpillars and they were soon tracked down and subjected to close inspection.  Spiders, slugs, snails, bees, hoverflies and a Small Copper butterfly were also potted and looked at in detail.  Much further along the size spectrum, Black-tailed Godwits and Grey Herons offered ‘scope-filling views and empty Swallow nests were easily accessible.  Common Darters stayed just beyond our reach, and soon a whole morning had passed and it was time to head back to Newbiggin.

    Our family wildlife safaris are carefully tailored to keep all ages engaged and we’ve got lots of options including mini-beasting, badger-watching and bat detecting.  Give us a call on 01670 827465 to see what we can do for you 🙂

  • Eight year itch; Otter Safari 18/07/2015

    It’s always a pleasure when clients who haven’t met before get on so well with each other.  Of course they always have a shared interest in wildlife, and other shared interests feature regularly (camping, walking and cycling in particular), and long quests in search of an elusive species soon become a talking point…

    I arrived at Church Point for an afternoon/evening search for Otters, and quickly met up with John, then Lucy, Matt and Graham and finally Kate.  Conversation quickly turned to Otters, and the pressure was ramped up when Kate revealed that her attempts to see an Otter had stretched over several holidays…and eight years 🙂  Conditions weren’t promising – a howling wind that was tossing Starlings and Lapwings around and a male Marsh Harrier was battling into the breeze, almost at a standstill.  Whitecaps on a pond is never a situation that fills me with joy on an Otter safari, and we continued checking all of the likely locations.  Mediterranean Gull, Avocet, Knot, Black-tailed Godwit, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Common Sandpiper, Dunlin, Little Grebe and Yellow Wagtail were all added to the bird list for the day, Kate spotted a Red Fox creeping into the reeds, but there was still no sign of the sinuous predator.  Early evening, the conditions changed 🙂  The wind died off and the sea was suddenly very calm, so much so that we were able to enjoy watching Harbour Porpoises from our picnic spot.  Things were looking up…

    We settled into position at the site where I’d planned to spend the last couple of hours of daylight, enjoying a chat with Cain, then the day suddenly got really interesting.  First a Barn Owl, white death on silent wings, ghosted by just a few metres away from us.  I concentrated on an area of water with very few birds on it – often a good indication that there’s something the birds are unhappy about.  Scan left to right – two Little Grebes sleeping, scan right to left – two Little Grebes sleeping, scan left to right – three Little Grebes sleeping?  The third Little Grebe didn’t look quite right…which wasn’t a surprise as it was an Otter with just it’s nose sticking up through the blanket of weed on the water’s surface 🙂  A quick text to Cain and he joined us again, and the Otter entertained us for an hour.  Emotional at seeing her first Otter, Kate still grabbed her camera, pointed it down the eyepiece of our ‘scope and started filming it 🙂  The magic continued, as a Long-eared Owl flew around the edge of the bushes in front of us before perching on a fence post, baleful orange eyes staring at us.  Then a second Otter swam across in front of us, while the first one was still hunting in the darkening gloom and the eeirie cries of Curlew coming to roost cut through the chill evening air.

  • Is this June?; Otter Safari 18/06/15

    Arriving at Warkworth to collect Hugh and Sue, and Lou, it struck me that there was a bit of a chill in the wind…

    Avocets, Black-tailed Godwits and Great Crested Grebes radiated elegance, Wigeon, Gadwall, Mallard, Teal and Tufted Duck were either dabbling quietly or engaging in half-hearted courtship, Swallows chirped at us from their nests, Grey Herons stalked the shallows, Fulmars arced above the cliff edges, ‘rhythmic’ Reed Warblers and ‘scattergun’ Sedge Warblers delivered their songs from deep cover, with occasional forays to the reed tops, but the star of the evening made it’s entrance towards the conclusion of the act.

    Sue spotted it first; distantly, hunched on a fence post, in a breeze that was taking temperatures down to something we’d expect in the late winter.  Starlings, Sand Martins and Swallows were swirling around prior to going to roost as the Barn Owl turned its head and lifted into the air.  Quartering the reedbeds and rough grassland it focused its attention on the ground below.  Graceful, silent and deadly, the ‘White Owl’ is always an attention grabbing bird, and with good reason 🙂