With our first Kielder Safari of the year on Tuesday 24th, we went up into the border forest yesterday to check out some of our favourite sites. Stunning Mandarins were sitting on rocks in the North Tyne, Oystercatchers were probing the soft earth and nearly every suitable field that we passed had several pairs of Lapwings displaying above it. A few Buzzards were soaring lazily over isolated plantations and Kestrels and Sparrowhawks were doing their best to terrify small birds and mammals. After a brief visit to the raptor watchpoint we decided to head through Kielder village and up towards the border. However, as soon as we were north of the village a thick mist descended so we retraced our route until we once again had blue skies and sunshine above us. Buzzards were flying back and forth and then a raptor appeared high overhead. Even without lifting our binoculars this one was straightforward to identify; Goshawk, the ‘Phantom of the Forest’ is very, very different to it’s smaller relative the Sparrowhawk. With a few deep, powerful wingbeats it was away and into the trees on the far side of the reservoir. Always exciting and a much sought-after bird.<\/p>\n
Today was something completely different; a Druridge Bay mini-safari for 5 charming ladies from Blyth. We started along the River Blyth as we usually do, and enjoyed excellent, prolonged views of at least one Red Squirrel. Nuthatches were calling noisily from the trees around us and eventually settled in front of us so that everyone could appreciate them at their leisure. Even a Jay put in a brief appearance. Up to Newbiggin and one of my favourite birds, a ghostly white adult Mediterranean Gull, allowed comparison with the Black-headed Gulls, most of which are now sporting the black (or rather brown) head that gives the species it’s name. Wigeon, Teal and Red-breasted Mergansers were all looking resplendent on the coastal pools and a herd of Whooper Swans were a clear reminder that we’re only just coming out of the winter. A group of 8 Herons were steadfastly peering into a shallow pool, despite being buffeted by the strengthening wind, which was lifting the water surface into some impressive waves. Ironically, the sea itself looked calm by comparison.<\/p>\n
In a county of contrasts, one thing remains constant throughout – it’s a remarkable place for wildlife.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With our first Kielder Safari of the year on Tuesday 24th, we went up into the border forest yesterday to check out some of our favourite sites. Stunning Mandarins were sitting on rocks in the North Tyne, Oystercatchers were probing the soft earth and nearly every suitable field that we passed had several pairs of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}