Northern Experience Wildlife Tours

Tag: Otter

  • Panic; Otter Safari 24/10/2015

    There’s little that gets my heart racing as much as that moment when panic spreads through the wildlife that we’re watching…

    I collected Anne and Keith from Newbiggin and we headed along the coast for an afternoon and evening around Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland searching for Otters.  First stop was lunch, overlooking the North Sea, with Eiders rafting just offshore and distant Gannets diving into the waves.  Small groups of Starling were scattered throughout the afternoon and Wigeon, Teal, Mallard, Gadwall, Shoveler, Tufted Duck and Little Grebe were around the water’s edge as we concentrated the search for our favourite sinuous, stealthy predator.  One stretch of reeds suddenly had fewer ducks that it had a few minutes earlier.  No great panic, no obvious departure, but definitely not as many birds.  Scanning along the edge I caught a glimpse of a dark shape on the periphery of my vision.  A couple of minutes concentrating on that spot produced nothing more tangible so I returned to scanning the entire pool.  Ten minutes later and there was a definite departure of Mallard and Wigeon from that same reedbed.  I suggested that this could well be due to an Otter…and Keith lifted his binoculars and spotted one 🙂  We watched it feeding for fifteen minutes before it slipped mysteriously beneath the surface and didn’t reappear.  Mass panic among the ducks on the opposite edge of the pool wasn’t down to the Otter, but instead caused by a female Marsh Harrier drifting slowly north.

    As dusk approached, Grey Herons were stalking through the shallows, Common Snipe emerged from long vegetation to probe for worms along the water’s edge, a Water Rail was squealing from the depths of a reedbed and Lapwing took flight in a tight, twisting, turning panic as darkness closed in around us and raindrops peppered the surface of the pool.

  • Swanning around; Otter mini-Safari 20/10/2015

    We’ve spent a lot of time watching Otters, and probably just as much time watching the behaviour of other wildlife whenever our favourite sinuous stealthy predator is on the prowl.  You could be forgiven for thinking that we’d know exactly how birds would behave…

    I collected Rebecca and Russell from Church Point and we set off for a few hours exploring Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland on an Otter mini-Safari.  The chilly afternoon air was bathed in beautiful light, as Wigeon, Mallard, Gadwall, Teal and Shoveler dabbled and Little Grebe and Tufted Duck dived.  Lapwing skittishly took flight, Grey Heron and Little Egret stood motionless, Common Snipe squabbled and probed, a small murmuration of Starlings soon dropped into the warmth and security of the reeds and a Water Rail came out into the open to bathe.  As the light faded I was scanning the shadows at the base of a reedbed and passed by a family of Mute Swans.  There was sudden swirl of brown next to them, and my first thought was Little Grebe – after all the swans didn’t seem concerned, but there was a niggling doubt in my mind…and then the Otter resurfaced 🙂  For nearly 30 minutes it fed, often in amongst the swans, and rarely more than a few metres away from them.  I’ve seen swans hissing and growling at Otters, I’ve seen them angrily charge towards a feeding Otter when they’d got small cygnets, but this was the first time I’d seen them almost completely ignore one that was so close that it was swimming, and feeding, between them!  The Otter vanished into the reeds, and we headed back to the car with pipistrelle bats hawking around the trees in the half-light of dusk.

  • Vanishing act; Otter mini-Safari 18/10/2015

    All along the water’s edge, ducks, geese and swans were feeding contentedly, and that wasn’t what we were hoping for…

    I’d collected Zoe and Mal, and Laura and Michael, and we were exploring Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland in search of Otters.  The icy cold wind was cutting across the water, ruffling the feathers of Teal, Mallard, Wigeon, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Mute Swan, Canada Goose and Little Grebe and giving a quick blow dry to a Cormorant.  I’d been out with Sarah during the morning, checking our regular Otter sites, and had an extraordinary wildlife experience as an Otter cub came out of a holt and swam up and down close to the bank…to the obvious displeasure of it’s mum, who sat on a tree root and, as the cub swam by, grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and hauled it unceremoniously back to the holt 🙂  4hrs later and no sign of the Otters, proving once again just how unpredictable wildlife is, so after 90mins of patient scanning we headed off to another of our regular sites…

    As Water Rail squealed from the dark depths of the reeds, Grey Herons stalked patiently through the shallows, Lapwings roosted uncharacteristically quietly and a Black-tailed Godwit had several aborted attempts to join the roost, our quarry appeared.  Initially in the dark shadow of a distant reedbed, the Otter was on a feeding run – coming closer, and out of the dark shadows, it stayed in view for 30mins, eventually vanishing into the enveloping darkness of the reeds but not before it had entertained us by persistently porpoising back and forth 🙂

    We’ll be running Otter Safaris through the winter months, so give us a call on 01670 827465 to book your place on one of our regular searches for this stunning predator.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Batty; Cheviot valleys/Druridge Bay Bespoke Tour 08/06/2015

    Looking back through previous blog posts I was reminded that we’ve done a few days combining the best of the hills and the best of the coast, and I headed towards Old Bewick to collect Helen for an afternoon and evening exploring the Cheviot Valleys and Druridge Bay.

    As a Common Buzzard soared over the steep valley sides, Curlews launched from the heather, calling in alarm.  Dippers bobbed on mid stream rocks, a Nuthatch with young was busying itself along tree trunks and branches, Whinchats flicked nervously through the bracken, the air was split by the explosive trilling song of Lesser Redpoll and Spotted Flycatchers perched upright on fence posts before sallying forth after flies.

    Down on the coast we enjoyed the sight of Avocets mating, two Spoonbills feeding with their heads sweeping from side to side and bills submerged, a female Marsh Harrier causing alarm as it flew over the edge of a pond and Swallows singing and bringing feathers to line their nests.  Dusk brought a remarkable wildlife spectacle, with 30-40 bats hunting in front of us.  The bat detector revealed an astonishing wall of sound as Common Pipistrelle and Noctule swooped, tumbled and hunted insects…right above an Otter that was stalking Tufted Ducks 🙂

    The journey back to Old Bewick produced Barn Owl, and a Tawny Owl in the middle of the road sitting on a baby Rabbit!  Then it was time for me to head back towards southeast Northumberland…and Northumberland’s country lanes produced a late night plethora of wildlife; Red Fox, Brown Hare, Roe Deer, Barn Owl, another Tawny Owl sitting on a baby Rabbit, and three Badger cubs trotting alongside the edge of the road 🙂