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Feeding time
I’ve never been good at sitting in the office and concentrating on one task for any length of time. Having an office window that looks out over the 76ha of mixed woodland of Choppington Woods LNR is a real blessing, allowing me to mix work and birdwatching. When I need to stretch my legs, a…
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Early morning – Choppington Woods
Early morning, and the ground underfoot varies from frozen crunchy to treacherously boggy. The sky overhead is a deep blue, the first rays of sunlight yet to bathe the fields, hedgerows and woodland in that magical golden glow. Clattering wings herald the departure of nearly 1000 Woodpigeons from their overnight roost, and a Blackbird rustles…
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Valley of tranquility
Although our Cheviot Valleys and North Pennines safaris are concentrated in the springtime, we run a few trips to those inland areas in the late summer and early autumn. The final day of August was a trip to the Cheviots, and it could hardly have been better; the weather was wonderful, there were hardly any…
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Birdwatching; Northumberland in the rain
I’ve always maintained that, whatever the weather (with the possible exception of a howling gale), it’s always possible to have a really good day birdwatching in Northumberland. Yesterday’s forecast didn’t promise too much in the way of good weather though and, as it turned out, we had to contend with drizzly rain for the whole…
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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,…
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A forest foray
After a Druridge mini-safari on Tuesday, which included a visit to the Common Crane near Eshott, yesterday was something completely different with a Kielder Safari. After collecting Ruth and Diana from Stannington we took the scenic route up through Knowesgate to Bellingham, in the wilds of west Northumberland. That’s the point where we deviate from…
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Big Garden Birdwatch
We had a leisurely hour of birdwatching yesterday morning. With all of the feeders stocked with top class bird food from Poltross, and a bacon and egg butty and a mug of coffee in hand, we settled down into our respective positions on either side of the kitchen. With commentary on the dismantling of Andy…
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A bit of this…
The last few days have been fairly quiet, although quite varied. On Thursday I was at the North Northumberland Tourism Association AGM at Paxton House. On arrival the car park was close to full, with just a couple of spaces not occupied. I reversed my Mondeo into one of them, thinking that the snow sounded…
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Snowbound
OK, not quite, but since December 31st we’ve had about a foot of snow in total. I cancelled our Otter Safari on Tuesday for safety reasons. That decision proved to be the right one as we had heavy snowfall on Tuesday afternoon, making the roads even more hazardous than they already were. I drove to Wallsend…
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Natural therapy
This morning dawned clear and bright and my original plan had been to take the camera and head up the coast to shoot some of our stunning landscapes at sunrise and then use the available light and switch to a 500mm lens for some wildlife shots. As it was I reluctantly decided against that option,…