{"id":1657,"date":"2012-06-08T15:59:15","date_gmt":"2012-06-08T14:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1657"},"modified":"2012-06-08T16:00:07","modified_gmt":"2012-06-08T15:00:07","slug":"returning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/birdwatching\/returning","title":{"rendered":"Returning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Returning clients have been a bit of a theme this year, and I was really\u00a0looking forward\u00a0on Wednesday to be collecting Carolyn and Brian for a day of birdwatching in and around Kielder<\/a>.\u00a0 The weather was looking less than promising but, as I collected them from their holiday cottage in Cresswell with it’s stunning view out over the North Sea\u00a0and Druridge Bay, we agreed that we’d make the best of the weather, whatever it was doing.<\/p>\n

On the edge of the border forests a Roe Deer<\/strong><\/em> watched us with great interest and a\u00a0Common Buzzard<\/strong><\/em> was perched at the top of a spruce tree that seemed barely able to support it’s weight.\u00a0 As if that perch wasn’t precarious enough, the bird was hanging it’s wings out like a Cormorant, <\/strong><\/em>presumably trying to dry them during a lull in the rain.<\/p>\n

As with many of our trips there was a species that was particularly sought after.\u00a0 On this occasion it was our old favourite, the Dipper<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 With several bits of excellent river, that could be viewed from the car if the showers returned, it wasn’t too long before we found one, then another.\u00a0 With Sand Martins<\/em><\/strong> zipping in and out of nest holes, Common Sandpipers, Reed Buntings, Stonechats, Whinchats, Pied Wagtails, Oystercatchers, <\/em><\/strong>and\u00a0Goosanders<\/em><\/strong> (another lifer for Carolyn and Brian) the\u00a0rivers were a real hive of activity.\u00a0 Curlew<\/em><\/strong> were flying up the valley and we headed across the border.\u00a0 Red Grouse<\/strong><\/em> were a third lifer for the day, some majestic Wild Goats<\/strong><\/em> watched imperiously as we had a post-lunch walk, and a Peregrine<\/em><\/strong> was perched on a rock on the moorland high above us.\u00a0 It launched from it’s vantage point and flew directly over our heads before dropping to the ground and furtively creeping around before disappearing into a nearby gulley.<\/p>\n

As we made our way back east, we found ourselves in a patch of sunshine with a handsome male Siskin<\/strong><\/em> and a Spotted Flycatcher<\/strong><\/em> just ahead of us, and we continued our journey back to Cresswell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Returning clients have been a bit of a theme this year, and I was really\u00a0looking forward\u00a0on Wednesday to be collecting Carolyn and Brian for a day of birdwatching in and around Kielder.\u00a0 The weather was looking less than promising but, as I collected them from their holiday cottage in Cresswell with it’s stunning view out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,15,5],"tags":[148,214,172,257,378,210,55,536,208,127,66,89,285,215,262,495],"class_list":["post-1657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birdwatching","category-kielder","category-northumberland","tag-common-buzzard","tag-common-sandpiper","tag-curlew","tag-dipper","tag-goosander","tag-oystercatcher","tag-peregrine","tag-pied-wagtail","tag-red-grouse","tag-reed-bunting","tag-roe-deer","tag-siskin","tag-spotted-flycatcher","tag-stonechat","tag-whinchat","tag-wild-goat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1657","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=1657"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1659,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1657\/revisions\/1659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}