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Group birdwatching; Druridge Bay and Lindisfarne 21-22/05/19
We usually limit our tours to a maximum of 6 participants, and our increasingly popular bespoke tours to 2 participants, but over the last 11 years we’ve done a few tours for larger groups. 34 members of an RSPB group was on a different level though… With Sarah and Tom assisting we separated the group…
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Fantastic Mr Fox; Another walk in the woods 02/11/18
Under a leaden overcast sky the cold air wraps its damp tendrils around every exposed bit of my skin. Jays are making their way across open ground between the plantations with a stuttering flight, white rumps flashing in the gloom, and a Woodcock heads out as the unseen sun dips below the horizon. A last…
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A walk in the woods 01/11/18
It’s been a difficult couple of weeks in the NEWT household. We’d had a week away in and around Glencoe checking locations for a landscape photography holiday I’m leading over Christmas, then a couple of days after we got back home I wasn’t feeling well. Sarah took me to see our GP and they sent…
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From the office window
I’m easily distracted and always have been, but also quite obsessive. Maybe an odd combination, but it seems to work for me. With an office window that looks over several allotments and gardens, as well as the 76ha of mixed woodland that is Choppington Woods Local Nature Reserve, I’m quite keen on keeping a close…
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Big Garden Birdwatch 2013
Last weekend was the Big Garden Birdwatch and we followed tradition by sitting in our kitchen with a mug of coffee, and a bacon and tomato sandwich, having topped up all of the feeders the evening before. An hour later, we’d racked up a list of 21 species; Blackbird 3, Jackdaw 2, Collared Dove 2,…
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Happy New Year
Our first blog post of 2011 has been slightly delayed by some technical difficulties, but we’re up and running again 🙂 We decided that the first few days of the year would be spent birdwatching around southeast Northumberland. New Year’s Day saw us spending a couple of relaxed hours around Druridge Bay, producing 63 different…
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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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All is quiet
The world around us was cloaked in white as we walked home from The Swan early this morning. A Tawny Owl was calling from the woods, but there was little other sound – muffled as it was by the snow. By the time we woke up, there was a lot more snow than there had been when…
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A change in the weather
The feeders in our garden have been busier in the last couple of days than at any time during this winter. No less than 6 Blackbirds have taken up residence, 3 or 4 Robins are posturing and defending territories, a steady stream of Blue, Great and Coal Tits, along with our 2 regular Willow Tits, are emptying…