{"id":1618,"date":"2012-05-11T11:12:14","date_gmt":"2012-05-11T10:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1618"},"modified":"2012-05-11T11:15:55","modified_gmt":"2012-05-11T10:15:55","slug":"lightning-strikes-twice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/birdwatching\/lightning-strikes-twice","title":{"rendered":"Lightning strikes twice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trips with existing clients are always a pleasure, not only because it’s very gratifying to get a booking from someone we’ve taken out before, but also because we already have\u00a0shared memories.\u00a0 I had\u00a03 things vivid in my mind from when I took Pete and Janet out in September 2008 – it rained, we saw 11 adult Mediterranean Gulls<\/strong><\/em> on the beach at Newbiggin and Janet found an Otter<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

I collected Pete and Janet from their holiday cottage in Embleton, and we headed across to Sharperton to collect David and Mary.\u00a0 They’re all members of the same Natural History Society, who were our first group booking, back in 2009, and we always enjoy\u00a0catching up with them, and the other members of their group, at the Bird Fair <\/a>each August.\u00a0\u00a0Tuesday\u00a0was a bespoke trip, combining Harwood <\/a>and Druridge Bay<\/a>, and the weather forecast suggested that it wouldn’t rain…<\/p>\n

As we approached Harwood a Roe Deer<\/strong><\/em> crossed the track, walked into the trees and then stopped to watch us.\u00a0 This was the first of 11 that we saw on our journey through the forest (well, it was about 11, and if I say 11, it’ll help the punchline to this post!).<\/p>\n

Harwood again produced memorable sightings; Roe Deer<\/strong><\/em>, Tree Pipit<\/strong><\/em>, at least 3 Cuckoos<\/strong><\/em>, Siskins<\/strong><\/em>, plenty of Crossbills<\/strong><\/em>, more Roe Deer<\/strong><\/em> and a mouth-wateringly attractive male Common Redstart<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 A list of species can never\u00a0really do justice to just how good encounters with wildlife can be though; as 2 Roe Deer<\/strong><\/em> bounded across the clearfell area beside the track,\u00a02 Cuckoos<\/strong><\/em> were engaged in a frantic chase, calling frequently and mobbed by Meadow Pipits<\/strong><\/em> every time they left the safety of the trees, while the male Redstart<\/strong><\/em> flicked along the edge of a nearby plantation, red tail shivering as he perched on a tree stump, black face contrasting with his white forehead and supercilium, the subtle grey of his crown and mantle and the orangy-red of his breast.<\/p>\n

As we tucked in to our picnic lunch, overlooking a very calm North Sea, the first drops of icy rain began to patter down.\u00a0 Then,\u00a0a comment\u00a0from Janet to set the pulse racing “I’m sure I just saw a fin”.\u00a0 With such calm water the sudden appearance of black shapes at the surface stood out, and Janet had found yet another exciting mammal on a NEWT safari.\u00a0 This time it wasn’t the sleek, sinuous predator of our lakes and rivers, but another sleek, sinuous predator. We watched for several minutes as the pod of Bottlenose Dolphins<\/strong><\/em> moved slowly south.\u00a0 At least 6 animals, including a very small calf, they surfaced lazily every 30seconds or thereabouts as I texted observers further south to let them know what was coming.<\/p>\n

Avocet<\/strong><\/em>, Garganey<\/strong><\/em> (2 handsome drakes), Common Sandpiper<\/strong><\/em>, Dunlin<\/strong><\/em>, Black-tailed Godwit<\/strong><\/em>, Whimbrel, <\/strong><\/em>clouds of Swifts<\/strong><\/em>, Swallows<\/strong><\/em> and martins,<\/strong><\/em> and weather best described as changeable, all contributed\u00a0to an excellent afternoon around Druridge before I completed\u00a0our circular route, dropping Pete and Janet, and then David and Mary.\u00a0 See you at the BirdFair \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

So, it rained, we saw 11(ish) Roe Deer<\/strong><\/em> in Harwood and Janet found some Bottlenose Dolphins<\/strong><\/em>…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trips with existing clients are always a pleasure, not only because it’s very gratifying to get a booking from someone we’ve taken out before, but also because we already have\u00a0shared memories.\u00a0 I had\u00a03 things vivid in my mind from when I took Pete and Janet out in September 2008 – it rained, we saw 11 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9,184,5],"tags":[40,242,330,148,165,214,264,288,212,488,193,837,259,66,89,258,235,231],"class_list":["post-1618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birdwatching","category-druridge","category-harwood","category-northumberland","tag-avocet","tag-black-tailed-godwit","tag-bottlenose-dolphin","tag-common-buzzard","tag-common-crossbill","tag-common-sandpiper","tag-cuckoo","tag-dunlin","tag-garganey","tag-great-crested-grebe","tag-mediterranean-gull","tag-otter","tag-redstart","tag-roe-deer","tag-siskin","tag-tree-pipit","tag-wheatear","tag-whimbrel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1618","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=1618"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1622,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1618\/revisions\/1622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}