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Every cloud has a silver(y) grey lining
Our final full-day pelagic for 2012 was on Saturday and, although I was really looking forward to it, it’s always a shame when we reach the end of our offshore season. With strong winds on Thursday, and charter boats cancelling trips on Friday, I still felt that we’d be able to sail. We gathered at…
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Heading north…
Living in southeast Northumberland, we’re spoiled by having easy access to some outstanding birdwatching areas. Holy Island, which we still think is at its best during the winter, is just an hour north up the A1… I collected Keith and Mary on Saturday morning and we crossed the causeway onto the island for a day…
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Raptors, raptors everywhere
Standing on the Heugh on Holy Island with Jill and Steve, we’re all scanning towards Guile Point. Cormorants, Shags, Red-breasted Mergansers and Eider are all bobbing about on the water, Pale-bellied and Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Bar-tailed Godwits, Grey Plover, Curlew and Oystercatchers are flying by, Common and Grey Seals are splashing in the surf as the tide…
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Winter Wonderland 28/11/11-01/12/11
Last week was our Winter Wonderland birdwatching holiday, although as I arrived at Saughy Rigg I wondered if Windy Wonderland would be a better name for it 😉 The original itinerary involved the Solway coast on Tuesday and the North Pennines on Wednesday, but a quick discussion with our guests on arrival meant that our coastal day…
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Rough…
The last 2 days were spent running 2 Prestige Tours for Peter and Alison, and the Northumberland coast delivered plenty of birdwatching gems. On Wednesday we were covering Holy Island and the Northumberland coast, and planned to spend the morning on Holy Island and then come off at lunchtime just before the tide covered the causeway (remember –…
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Arrivals
The autumn regularly produces excellent birdwatching experiences, and our Friday afternoon Lindisfarne mini-safari was no exception. I collected Pat and Ian from Glororum and we headed north towards Holy Island. With the tide falling, the newly exposed mud provided a veritable banquet for the massed waders and wildfowl. As far as the eye could see the…
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Stranded
I love Holy Island, but it can be a bit crowded sometimes… I collected Mike and Maggie from St Cuthbert’s House on Tuesday morning and we began birdwatching our way north. In the shadow of Bamburgh Castle we watched Bar-tailed Godwits, Knot, Turnstones, Purple Sandpipers, Eider and Gannets in a bitingly cold northwesterly wind. We…
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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…
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It’s Sunday, so it must be Lindisfarne
After enjoying an all too brief view of the ‘super Moon’ on Saturday as I drove eastwards across Northumberland on my way home from the North Pennines, we’d got something completely different in the booking diary for Sunday; guided birdwatching on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. Having Sarah along as an additional guide was a real bonus as…
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Appreciating what we have
During the winter months, our mini-safaris are concentrated on the coast and we always keep a close eye on the weather. Sometimes that doesn’t work out though, as the Northumberland coast frequently seems to have it’s own microclimate that doesn’t match either the forecast, or the weather, a few miles inland. When I arrived at…