Northern Experience Wildlife Tours

Tag: Little Tern

  • One good tern

    Thursday was another day for returning clients, as I collected Louise from her holiday accommodation at Brockmill farmhouse for a bespoke photography trip to the Farne Islands.  We began, as most of our Farne Islands trips do, with a visit to a mainland tern colony.  As happens so often, the Little Tern colony had been washed out by a very high tide – with all 42 pairs having abandoned their nests.  The 250 pairs of Arctic Terns was also a long way below the number that had been there, with the tides having washed away the majority of that colony as well.  Lots of the Arctic Terns were displaying, so they may well manage to re-lay.

    The Farne Islands, once we arrived on Inner Farne following our journey on Glad Tidings, were as spectacular as ever.  Guillemots, Puffins, Razorbills, Shags, Kittiwakes and the terns offered up many photographic opportunities and it was great to enjoy all of that with a client whose views on photo agencies, camera equipment and manufacturers are always entertaining.  As we stood above lighthouse cliff on Inner Farne, the weather began to change – and not for the better…

  • Seabird Spectacular

    Our Seabird Spectacular package holiday managed to coincide with some increasingly heavy seas and strong northerly winds.  Getting on a boat would have been somewhat inadvisable , but we still managed to get good views of all the target species for the holiday, including Roseate Tern, Little Tern and Puffin. Perhaps we should have renamed the holiday Mammal Magic as Noctule, Pipistrelle, Red Fox, Rabbit, Grey Seal, Weasel, Stoat,  and Otter were all seen during the 2 days 🙂  With excellent accommodation and food at The Swan throughout the holiday, it was a great way to spend a weekend in late July.  We’ll be running Seabird Spectacular again in 2012 (11th-14th June) so give us a call now on 01670 827465 for more details or to book your place.

  • Bird Watching Magazine Reader Holiday Day 2: 08/07/2011

    Friday morning dawned dry and bright; again not exactly as predicted by the weather forecast!  After breakfast we headed south to Newton by the Sea, and the tern colony at the Long Nanny estuary.  The walk through the dunes was enlivened by a myriad of Common Blue, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper and Dark Green Fritillaries as well as 2 strikingly attractive moths; Cinnabar and Narrow-bordered Five Spot Burnet, and Harebell, Pyramidal Orchid and Bloody Cranesbill.

    After the tern colony, with its ~1000 pairs of Arctic Terns and 40 pairs of Little Terns we headed north through Seahouses and towards Holy Island.  As we passed Budle Bay, Geoff spotted a Little Egret, still a relatively scarce species up here, and we stopped for a while to search the mudflats.  As well as wading birds, we found 3 Goosander.   A further stop before Holy Island provided an ideal picnic spot and the theme of passage waders continued with Golden and Grey Plover, Knot, and Curlew.  A walk around the iconic location of Holy Island produced Grey Seals, Red-breasted Merganser and breathtaking views from The Heugh.  We were scanning the mudflats around the mouth of the South Low when a nearby Oystercatcher began calling in alarm.  The cause of that alarm appeared just a few seconds later and we watched the Peregrine Falcon as it raced low across the mud before perching obligingly.

    Against the backdrop of another iconic location, Bamburgh Castle, we scanned the Eider flock just offshore.  A lone drake Common Scoter was proving difficult to pin down, but the arrival of a flock of 60 scoters allowed everyone to enjoy good views and appreciate the variation in the bill pattern of the drakes.  Just before returning to Seahouses, we stopped to scan Monk’s House Pool; a Pintail was picked out by Roy, and 2 Common Sandpipers were walking along the edge of the pond.  8 Golden Plover flew by and a male Stonechat perched close by on a fence post.

    An after-dinner excursion produced 2 Brown Hares, a Roe Deer and her fawn in the gloom, and the first rain of the trip…

  • An eventful evening

    Thursday was my 3rd consecutive late finish.

    Before setting off for a ‘Red Squirrel and Badger Safari’ I had a few admin things to get done including some more planning for the Birdwatching Northumberland stand at this year’s British Bird Fair (I’ve got 2 lecture slots at the Bird Fair this year!).

    After collecting our picnic from The Swan, I headed to Church Point to collect Vince and Karin for their second safari day this week.  Some unexpected birdwatching highlights included a Little Tern and a Cuckoo.  A group of Tufted Ducks staring at a reedbed, and a clearly annoyed Mute Swan staring at the same reedbed and hissing, suggested that we were close to an Otter but in the blazing sunshine it stayed in the shade of the reeds and out of sight.

    The first of the day’s targets was achieved with possibly the reddest Red Squirrel I’ve ever seen, simply stunning as it ran along the sun-dappled canopy, and then it was time to position ourselves close to our favourite Badger sett.  Would the badgers come close?  would they only appear when it was too dark to really appreciate what magnificent animals they are? all worries were eased when, in broad daylight, our first Badger of the evening came trotting along only 5m away, apparently oblivious to our presence.  Another 3 Badgers followed, as well as 3 Red Foxes, and Tawny Owls were calling from the trees around us.

    Of all of our tours, our evening mammal trips perhaps have the greatest unpredictability and the most remarkable ‘atmosphere’ of them all.  It’s still my favourite time of the day 🙂