{"id":1509,"date":"2012-03-31T10:05:51","date_gmt":"2012-03-31T10:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1509"},"modified":"2012-03-31T05:49:57","modified_gmt":"2012-03-31T05:49:57","slug":"birding-with-a-touch-of-luxury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/birdwatching\/birding-with-a-touch-of-luxury","title":{"rendered":"Birding with a touch of luxury"},"content":{"rendered":"

Delivering a birding package for the first time with a new partner\u00a0is always a mixture of excitement and worry; will the experience we deliver to our clients blend well with the standards of service, accommodation and food that are provided?\u00a0 Our exclusive Doxford Hall<\/a> birding break on Thursday and Friday didn’t hold too many worries though – I’ve attended conferences and other events there before and, having known David Hunter since he was at Matfen Hall, I knew that the entire Doxford experience would be a memorable one for all the right reasons.<\/p>\n

I arrived first thing Thursday morning to collect Paul and Sue, who had won their exclusive birding break in a competition that ourselves and Doxford Hall\u00a0ran recently\u00a0in Birdwatch magazine.\u00a0 Our original plan of Druridge Bay<\/a> on Thursday, Lindisfarne<\/a> on Friday, had been altered following a ‘phone call during the week from Sue – there was one species they particularly wanted to see, and our recent blog posts had revealed that now might be a good time…so, after a day of hectic communication with the Forestry Commission to arrange access through Kielder<\/a>, and check where along our route there would be any forestry activity, our first trip headed inland.\u00a0 We started at Harwood<\/a>\u00a0in near-perfect weather conditions; warm, sunny and with a good breeze.\u00a0 Common Buzzards<\/strong><\/em>, Common Crossbills<\/strong><\/em>, Siskins<\/strong><\/em> and a very vocal Raven <\/strong><\/em>were all seen but no Goshawk<\/strong><\/em> so we continued west.\u00a0 Once we were in Kielder another Raven<\/strong><\/em> entertained us, tumbling and cronking over a remote farmhouse in the warm afternoon sunshine before soaring heavenwards and then dropping back out of the sky alongside its mate.\u00a0 We stopped to scan over another plantation, where I’ve watched Goshawks<\/strong><\/em> previously, and I soon spotted a bird just above the trees. He quickly got into a thermal and rose until we lost sight of him.\u00a0 I suggested that we just needed to wait for a Common Buzzard<\/strong><\/em> to drift over the Gos’ territory, and we began a patient vigil.\u00a0 Eventually a Common Buzzard<\/strong><\/em> did appear, we all lifted our binoculars to focus on it…and a distant speck in the binoculars above the buzzard\u00a0grew rapidly larger as the Goshawk<\/strong><\/em> dropped out of the sky.\u00a0 The intruder thought better of hanging around and quickly folded it’s wings back and crossed the valley like an arrow.\u00a0 Having shepherded the buzzard away, the\u00a0Phantom of the Forest\u00a0rose quickly again to resume his sentinel watch.\u00a0 More Common Crossbills<\/strong><\/em> and Common Buzzards<\/strong><\/em> followed as we travelled down the valley back towards civilisation, and 2 pairs of Mandarin<\/strong><\/em> brought a touch of stunning colour to the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Dinner at Doxford Hall on Thursday evening was exceptional (outstanding food and outstanding levels of service throughout the 2 days), and having clients with such an enthusiasm for birding, and fantastic sense of humour, made it even better.\u00a0 After dinner conversation did reveal that there was an obvious gap in their life-lists though…<\/p>\n

Friday’s plan was simple; head to the coast and then bird our way down it to finish in Druridge Bay<\/a> late afternoon.\u00a0 We started at\u00a0Harkess Rocks, in the shadow of Bamburgh Castle<\/strong>, with a very nice flock of 79 Purple Sandpipers<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 In the heavy swell a flock of Common Scoters<\/strong><\/em> proved elusive, Common Eiders<\/strong><\/em> dived through the surf, small rafts of Common Guillemot<\/strong><\/em> and Razorbill<\/strong><\/em> bobbed about, Gannets<\/strong><\/em> soared effortlessly, Sandwich\u00a0Terns<\/strong><\/em> were feeding just offshore\u00a0and Long-tailed Ducks<\/strong><\/em> and Red-breasted Mergansers<\/strong><\/em> in breeding finery were a reminder that our winter visitors are about to pack their bags and head north.\u00a0 Red-throated Divers<\/strong><\/em>, including one bird with a very red tinge to it’s throat, were typically elusive, diving just as we got onto them.\u00a0 I’d got another species in mind though and, when I found one, it was sitting obligingly next to a Red-throated Diver<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 Soon, Paul and Sue were admiring the elegant structure, neat contrasty plumage and white flank patch of their first Black-throated Diver.<\/strong><\/em> 2 days, 2 lifers \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

We headed south and, after watching an adult Mediterranean Gull<\/strong><\/em>, and two 2nd calendar year birds,\u00a0winter and spring came together with flocks of Greylag<\/strong><\/em> and Pink-footed Geese<\/strong><\/em>, and a Short-eared Owl<\/strong><\/em>, being characteristic of the last 5 months of our coastal trips, Green Sandpiper<\/strong><\/em> and Whimbrel<\/strong><\/em> on passage and a male Marsh Harrier<\/em><\/strong> drifting over a coastal reedbed.<\/p>\n

In beautiful afternoon light, with the sound of the roaring surf of the North Sea crashing into the east coast, the Short-eared Owl<\/strong><\/em> quartering a nearby reedbed and a pair of Great Crested Grebes <\/strong><\/em>displaying on the pool in front of us, a couple of comments by Sue –\u00a0two of many memorable ones\u00a0during the trip \ud83d\ude09 – summed things up nicely “chilled-out birding” and “we like the view from Martin’s office” \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Delivering a birding package for the first time with a new partner\u00a0is always a mixture of excitement and worry; will the experience we deliver to our clients blend well with the standards of service, accommodation and food that are provided?\u00a0 Our exclusive Doxford Hall birding break on Thursday and Friday didn’t hold too many worries […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[109,3,9,15,5],"tags":[150,148,165,221,540,67,122,185,164,333,186,68,203,397,193,539,176,226,188,69,223,456,89,231],"class_list":["post-1509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bamburgh-castle","category-birdwatching","category-druridge","category-kielder","category-northumberland","tag-black-throated-diver","tag-common-buzzard","tag-common-crossbill","tag-common-eider","tag-common-guillemot","tag-common-scoter","tag-fulmar","tag-gannet","tag-goshawk","tag-green-sandpiper","tag-guillemot","tag-long-tailed-duck","tag-mandarin","tag-marsh-harrier","tag-mediterranean-gull","tag-northumberland-birding-breaks","tag-purple-sandpiper","tag-razorbill","tag-red-breasted-merganser","tag-red-throated-diver","tag-sandwich-tern","tag-short-eared-owl","tag-siskin","tag-whimbrel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1509","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=1509"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1511,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1509\/revisions\/1511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}