Northern Experience Wildlife Tours

Tag: Roe Deer

  • Kielder; birdwatching on the edge of Northumberland

    Thursday evening was the AGM of the Northumberland & Tyneside Bird Club, and the speaker following the AGM proceedings was our good friend Martin Davison.  Ornithologist is an often overused (and misused) word, but Martin is a real ornithologist, gathering data through hours and hours in the field and involved in several research projects.  His talk was entertaining, informative and covered much of the work he has been involved in for 30 years in Kielder and the Border Forests.  There were some stunning images in his presentation, and the sort of facts and observations that can only be determined by carrying out a prodigious amount of fieldwork.

    Kielder itself is an unusual, even other-worldly, place; mile after mile of rolling hills, steep crags and boggy pools, and lots, and lots, of trees.  Our Kielder Safaris have produced some memorable moments; a pair of Mandarins mating, a Common Buzzard catching and devouring a vole, Roe Deer wandering across the remote forest tracks just ahead of our Land Rover and the ‘phantoms of the forest’, Northern Goshawk, beating their way along the edge of spruce plantations.  We’ll be back in Kielder from April, and our dates for 2011 will be on our calendar in the next couple of weeks, so give us a call on 01670 827465 to join one of our trips to this little visited area of Northumberland.

  • Whistle while you work

    Yesterday was one of what are rapidly becoming our favourite trips; afternoon/evening safaris.  I collected Claire and Stuart from their holiday cottage near Brinkburn Priory and we headed towards the coast.

    Our regular Little Owl watched us imperiously, before turning tail and scuttling out of sight as a dog walker came along the track.  The coastal pools along Druridge Bay are hosting an ever increasing number of waders; Dunlin, Turnstone, Redshank, Knot, Ruff, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Common Sandpiper and Curlew were all roosting, a Spotted Redshank called but remained frustratingly out of sight behind a reedbed, and Greenshank and Whimbrel both responded to imitations of their calls.  Then, that most majestic of waders graced the air in front of us, although only briefly; a Black-tailed Godwit flew low over the roost, everything panicked, and a Peregrine carved through the flock before heading out over the sea and then away high to the north.  Little Grebes and Grey Herons were both well appreciated, then it was time to check some of southeast Northumberland’s finest mammal sites.

    Red Squirrels always go down well with our clients, and the one we watched feeding was no exception.  A juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker was equally obliging and we watched it for a while before moving on to our favourite site for Badger watching.  Probably the biggest Badger we’ve seen so far trotted across the hillside opposite us and a much smaller animal (maybe a young cub) made it’s way through the undergrowth just over the stream from our position.  As darkness approached we found ourselves on a hilltop with a Tawny Owl calling ‘ke-wick’ from the woodland below us.  After whistling at waders during the afternoon I imitated the quavering hoot of a male Tawny Owl and waited.  The bird called from closer.  I called again, and it came closer still.  Eventually it flew up into a bare tree, silhouetted against the final glow of daylight in the sky, only 20m away from us.  I switched to copying the bird’s ‘ke-wick’ call and it turned to face us directly, ready to challenge this impertinent intruder.  I remained silent, not provoking any further response, and the bird flew to a nearby tree, screeching defiantly as we made our way back down the hillside.  Common Pipistrelles and Daubenton’s Bats were picked up on the bat detector and seen as they flitted back and forth.  The final wildlife of the evening though was close to the cottage at Brinkburn, and was another piece of Northumberland magic; a doe Roe Deer and her fawn ran along the road in front of us.

    As Autumn approaches evening safaris mean finishing at a quite amenable hour, so give us a call on 01670 827465 to find out how you can share in these memorable experiences with us.

  • Wildlife and birdwatching on the Northumberland coast 08/08/2010

    Sunday’s Northumberland coast safari started very close to home, with Germaine and Greg having stayed at The Swan on Saturday evening.  We started with our usual riverside walk, looking at an artificial holt and talking about the ecology of the Otter.  Our first really good sighting of the day was a Red Squirrel, which chattered angrily at a photographer who was sitting beneath the tree that it was descending.  Woodland birdwatching can be sometimes be very quiet, but with a large mixed flock of tits and Goldcrests, as well as Treecreepers and a very aggressive Nuthatch around the same glade there was plenty to see.  Out on to the coast south of Druridge Bay and, in the warm sunshine, our favourite Little Owl was posing for the camera.  The sunshine was also encouraging insect activity and we quickly added to the day list; Common Darter, Blue-tailed Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Meadow Brown, Small Copper, Shaded Broad-bar, Lesser Marsh Grasshopper, Common Blue Butterfly, Green-veined and Small White were all found along one small stretch of footpath.  Grey Herons were stalking along the pond edges and one got into a gruesome wrestling match with a large Eel.  All of the ducks scattered, clearly there was something in the reeds that they were unhappy about, but what it was didn’t reveal itself.  Further north, we came across three Little Egrets (surely the next addition to Northumberland’s breeding birds – if they haven’t already…), a Common Lizard that was sunning itself and, thanks to Germaine’s sharp eyes, a pair of Roe Deer.  A really good day, with a real mixed bag of wildlife and clients who made it all the more enjoyable.  And to think…Sunday used to be homework-marking day 😉

  • A real challenge

    In the 17 years that I’ve lived here, I’ve always believed that Northumberland is one of the finest counties for birdwatching in the whole of the UK.  That belief played a big part in reaching the decision to launch NEWT, and it’s why we’re such an enthusiastic member of the Birdwatching Northumberland Consortium.  We’ll be at the Bird Fair in August (Marquee 1, Stand 53/54) so come along to meet us and find out just how good Northumberland is.

    This morning, though, my attention is on mammals.  We don’t do too badly for them either; Badger, Red Fox, Grey Seal, Red Squirrel, Roe Deer, Weasel, Stoat and Brown Hare all feature regularly on our safaris and, on our Northern Experience Pelagics, there’s the possibility of Minke Whale, White-beaked Dolphin, Harbour Porpoise and other cetaceans.  We’ve had some random sightings as well; a Bank Vole that sat munching on a leaf just a few feet away from us and a Mole that walked into a hide we were sitting in were both bizarre (especially the Mole; I hadn’t seen a live one for a long, long time).

    With the exciting news earlier this week of the first confirmed evidence in 16 years of Pine Marten in Northumberland, we’ve got a new challenge 🙂  We’ve spent some time in the last couple of years checking likely sites and following up reports that we’ve received.  Some of those have been very tantalising, and the species may be more widespread than people imagine.  Otters and Badgers are fairly difficult, but we’ve developed an excellent track record with those two species.  Pine Marten is going to be an altogether different proposition, but we relish a challenge.

  • The dawning of the “season”

    After a cold, wet day surveying one of our inland tetrads for the Bird Atlas, we had a very early start on Sunday for our Dawn Chorus walk at Lee Moor Farm.  Ian was, as always, an entertaining host for the event and we walked around the farm, enjoying the songs of Willow Warbler, Song Thrush and Sedge Warbler, excellent views of Brown Hare and Roe Deer and then a delicious breakfast.  Our next event at Lee Moor is a bat walk, moth trapping demonstration and BBQ on Saturday May 15th.

    Monday saw us out on Atlas work again, this time much closer to home as we are covering the tetrads that are immediately north and south of our house.  The highlight was a reeling Grasshopper Warbler, and the closest Tree Sparrows to home that we’ve found so far.

    Yesterday was our first Farne Islands Safari of the year.  With excellent views of Sandwich, Common and Arctic terns, Eiders, Guillemots, Razorbills, Puffins, Shags, Gannets, a very obliging Wheatear and Grey Seals it was everything we would expect the Farnes to be.  There’s a good reason that the islands will be the venue for days out with 3 of our photography clients over the next few weeks.

    Now, it’s Wednesday morning and I’m just packing the Landy ready for a migrant hunt on Lindisfarne with 2 of our returning clients.  Wish us luck 🙂

  • Another exclusive…or two

    Friday saw us in the Cheviot Valleys, enjoying probably the best weather so far this year, leading another Prestige Tour.  With a client fascinated by geology and botany it was an excellent day out, with the abiding memories being the chuckling of Red Grouse in the Harthope Valley and a yaffling Green Woodpecker at Alwinton, that culminated with a meal at the Angler’s Arms at Weldon Bridge.

    Yesterday we had a Kielder Prestige Tour that that had been arranged as a 70th birthday present.  Collecting our clients from Belford we headed southwest.  After a fine drive in the beautiful weather, we reached Bellingham and left the public roads behind for an hour as we journeyed through the forest.  A pair of Red Grouse on a moorland edge provided excellent views, Roe Deer crossed the track in front of us and Common Buzzards flew close by across clearfell areas.  Back in civilisation we stopped for a comfort break and found our first Common Crossbills of the day.  Small groups were flying overhead, giving their distinctive calls, and a few were perched at the top of nearby trees dismantling cones with ease.  Huge numbers of Chaffinches were around the feeding station at Leaplish and, as the day progressed we had excellent views of Siskins, Goldeneye, and an incubating Oystercatcher, as well as one of the Osprey pair that have returned to Kielder this year.

    The journey back retraced our route from the morning, with one exception.  The birthday boy suggested a short-cut to Chatton, and that proved to be very fortuitous.  Just before Chatton village, myself and Vic, who were in the front of the Landrover, noticed a large bird in a flooded field.  As we stopped…there was a White Stork!  It’s legs were hidden by the bankside vegetation, so we couldn’t see if it had the most obvious sign of captivity; colour rings on it’s legs.  As it stalked along the bank, flushing a pair of Oystercatchers, those legs were gradually revealed to be bare of any adornment.  Howard managed to take some photos, but the bird was very wary and quickly began to head away from us.  With White Storks, there’s always the taint of ‘escapee from captivity’ but this would be a good time for an overshooting bird returning from it’s wintering quarters in tropical Africa and, regardless of it’s origin, this was one stunning bird.  An unpredictably exciting end to the day out.

    White Stork, Chatton, Northumberland 17/04/2010
    White Stork, Chatton, Northumberland 17/04/2010

  • Patience and persistence

    Tuesday’s North Pennines Prestige tour was a complete contrast to Wednesday’s Otter Safari.  The weather was much nicer than on Tuesday as I collected Mark and Clare from Alnwick.  Our Otter Safaris, although structured to maximise our clients’ chances of getting good views of Otters, always produce lots of other wildlife as well.  This one was no exception, with excellent views of Red Squirrel, Roe Deer, Brown Hare and Little Owl, amongst all of the usual suspects.  Unusually, we were struggling to find an otter, so I had one last throw of the dice…however, the nice weather had brought out lots of holidaymakers and they appeared to be concentrated around that last chance 🙁  Clare, after watching a ‘sleek, shiny lump’ hidden in a small channel in the reeds, that she decided couldn’t be an otter, was concerned that the lump had now vanished!  Then, the behaviour we’d been watching for;  Teal and Mallard began to leave the safety of the reeds and head out into the open water.  More importantly, they were doing this in sequence along the edge of the pool.  Sure enough, there was the sleek, dark shape of an otter working it’s way through the reedbed 🙂  Not the best views, but Mark did see it lift it’s head, just before a group of holidaymakers appeared in front of the hide!  One last view as it bounded along a furrow in the field behind the pool, and then the ducks all settled back down.  They really are an excellent indicator; they know when a predator is close, and they know when it’s far enough away to stop worrying.  The conclusion to two of the most enjoyable days we’ve had with clients since our first safari.

  • (Black)game on

    With Spring drawing ever closer, and our North Pennines Safaris starting in just over a month, we decided to spend Sunday checking all of our regular Black Grouse sites.  Although the winter may have been expected to do some real damage to the population, we managed to find 24 Blackcocks and 9 Greyhens, split between 4 sites.  Birdwatching in the North Pennines, whether in Northumberland, County Durham or Cumbria, is always a pleasure and accompanied by a sense of wilderness.

    A Common Buzzard perched by the roadside allowed just a second to capture this image before it was off and away over the trees.

    Common Buzzard, Allendale, Northumberland 14/02/10
    Common Buzzard, Allendale, Northumberland 14/02/10

    On the way to Upper Teesdale we found a ‘new’ site for Black Grouse, one which should, with patience, produce some excellent photo opportunities.  Across at a traditional lek site, one enthusiastic male was letting fly all on his own, while 7 Greyhens watched him, presumably with a mixture of boredom and pity.

    Do you come here often?
    Do you come here often?
    Does persistence pay off?
    I told you already, I'm not interested.

    As the weather deteriorated and visibility decreased, we stopped to check another site which has held 3 or 4 birds in the last couple of years.  As we drove along the road a Blackcock flew across in front of us and vanished behind a drystone wall.  We approached slowly, and incredibly there were no less than 8 2nd year Blackcocks, all feeding quietly within a few metres of us.  The lack of sunlight detracts from the image, but it’s an addition to our Blackgame photography locations.

    Blackcock, Allendale, Northumberland 14/02/10
    Blackcock, Allendale, Northumberland 14/02/10

     As the rain intensified, we spotted a pair of Roe Deer in a field near Cramlington.  Venturing into the realms of ISO 3200 allowed a record shot before we returned home.

    Roe Doe and Roebuck, Cramlington, Northumberland, 14/02/10
    Roe Doe and Roebuck, Cramlington, Northumberland, 14/02/10

  • Breaking the ice

    With Sarah back at work, we finally had some time to go out together on Saturday morning.  Watching a procession of cars skidding and sliding along the road outside our house, we decided to leave the Landy on the drive and go for a walk around Choppington Woods.  First though, there was an icicle that had been developing steadily over the last two weeks and should have made a good image.  Unfortunately it was above our bedroom window so required an uncomfortable, and potentially risky, manouvre.

    Rack of icicles above our window
    Rack of icicles above our window

    The start of the interesting icicle can be seen along the branch on the right of the image.  In total it was over 2 feet long, and dangling above Sarah’s car…

    Apparently, in some countries it's illegal to let icicles develop on your property
    Apparently, in some countries it's illegal to let icicles develop on your property

    The first golden light of the day began to selectively illuminate some of the trees around our garden, so I took a quick shot before we went to see if we could find the same light in the woods.

    Our patio, golden light and eleven bird feeders
    Our patio, golden light and eleven bird feeders

    Sarah has, for some time now, been the guinea-pig for the ‘how to take your camera off auto’ approach that we’re employing on our beginners photography courses this year.  It’s a good job we’re both so relaxed about things, as a teacher-student relationship between husband and wife has so many potential pitfalls 🙂

    We found that golden light that we were searching for and, as photographically beautiful light often does, it offered just a few seconds of opportunity.

    A fleeting chance
    A fleeting chance

    As we continued our walk, finding tracks of Red Fox, Roe Deer and Otter, Sarah decided to turn her hand to portraiture.  Now, I’m much happier behind the lens (and I’ve photographed quite a few weddings, and more baby portraits than I care to remember) but this wasn’t too bad an experience.

    As happy as a Polar Bear in snow...
    As happy as a Polar Bear in snow…

  • Sloe and steady

    After the completion of the thaw yesterday we woke this morning…to a fresh covering of snow 🙂 Now, I make no secret of the fact that I love wintry weather.  I’m invigorated by it, my photography is inspired when we’re in the grip of bone-chilling temperatures and a blanket of snow on the ground fills me with joy.  I struggle to understand the media apoplexy that greets snowfall each winter.  Well, that’s the usual response if that snowfall is anywhere other than Northumberland…

    I often wonder what the national media thinks lies between Leeds and Edinburgh?  Today was no exception.  The national weather forecast on the BBC was concerned with snowfall in the northeast of Scotland.  And that was it as far as snowfall was concerned…my only problem was that as we drove up the A1 just north of Morpeth there was a good couple of inches of freshly-fallen snow on the road and we were in a blizzard that brought near white-out conditions.  Sarah took this shot using my ‘phone.

    Nowhere other than Scotland eh?
    Nowhere other than Scotland eh?

    The lorry that you can see ahead of us spent most of his journey veering across the carriageway as he lost traction.  The cars I could see in our rear view mirror were having similar problems.  And us?  We were in a proper vehicle 🙂  No problems, just a steady drive to make sure we were a safe distance behind the lorry.  That’s the thing about wintry conditions, as long as people understand that things are different there probably isn’t a need for the panic and the mayhem.

    We arrived at Lee Moor, and the covering of snow on the ground wasn’t managing to lighten the gloomy conditions a great deal; 09:30 and the sky was as darker than it had been at 8am.  Our small group assembled and we set off around the farm trails.  The birdwatching was good; a big mixed flock of Yellowhammers, Reed Buntings and Tree Sparrows allowed a close approach, Kestrels and Buzzards passed overhead, a solitary Lapwing sat motionless in a snowy field and a covey of Grey Partridges flushed from a well-managed headland.  Throughout the frozen woodland Brown Hares were regularly encountered and voles appeared from, then disappeared back into, their snow-holes.  The covering of snow also made it easy to follow the tracks of Roe Deer and Red Fox.  Back at the farm, Ian provided a delicious lunch of home-made soup, warm bread and mince pies.  Then he produced a bottle of Sloe gin.  It was a shame Martin was driving as he had 2003, 2004 and 2009 vintages! Sarah enjoyed it…and reminded us that we had a bottle in our drinks cabinet at home…

    Lee Moor Farm
    Lee Moor Farm
    In the bleak midwinter
    In the bleak midwinter
    An 'interesting' footpath
    An 'interesting' footpath
    Ian Brown, a wooly hat and one of them old-fashioned film camera thingies
    Ian, a wooly hat and one of them old-fashioned film camera thingies

    That’s it for 2009.  Have an enjoyable Old Year’s Night and see you in 2010 🙂