{"id":1821,"date":"2012-11-30T08:36:46","date_gmt":"2012-11-30T07:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1821"},"modified":"2012-11-30T08:36:46","modified_gmt":"2012-11-30T07:36:46","slug":"winter-birdwatching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/birdwatching\/winter-birdwatching","title":{"rendered":"Winter birdwatching"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the cessation of the rain that plagued Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday dawned cold and breezy; almost ideal for a day out on the birdwatching paradise that is the Northumberland Coast in the Winter.<\/p>\n

As I collected Ele and Lisa from their holiday cottage in the shadow of Bamburgh Castle, the icy northerly wind cut through the multiple layers that I’d put on before leaving the house.\u00a0 We started our day’s birdwatching at Budle Bay, where the wind somehow seemed even icier, and Oystercatchers<\/strong><\/em>, Redshank<\/strong> <\/em>and Curlew<\/strong> <\/em>were probing the oozing mud as a distant Peregrine<\/strong> <\/em>flushed flocks of Lapwing<\/strong> <\/em>and Golden Plover<\/strong><\/em>. Eiders<\/strong> <\/em>were surfing the top of the impressive swell on the open coast and we headed south towards Druridge Bay<\/a>. Mediterranean Gulls<\/strong><\/em> drifted overhead, ghostly pale, as Oystercatchers<\/strong><\/em>, Curlew<\/strong><\/em>, Turnstone<\/strong><\/em>, Redshank<\/strong> <\/em>and Sanderling <\/strong><\/em>worked along the edge of the surf.\u00a0 Among all the immaculate ducks, two species really stood out; Goosander<\/strong> <\/em>sleek and menacing, and Red-breasted Merganser<\/strong><\/em> drakes all trying to out do each other in their attempts to attract the ladies. A flock of Pink-footed Geese<\/strong><\/em> fed in a nearby field<\/p>\n

As daylight faded a flock of Waxwings<\/strong> <\/em>were in the distant tree tops and two species that are always a pleasure to see put in an appearance.\u00a0 Short-eared Owl<\/strong> <\/em>and Barn Owl<\/strong><\/em> drifted along the edges of the reedbeds; death on silent wings.\u00a0 Here are a couple of pictures of them from earlier this year (in better light and a gentler breeze!).<\/p>\n

\"Short-eared<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Barn<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the cessation of the rain that plagued Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday dawned cold and breezy; almost ideal for a day out on the birdwatching paradise that is the Northumberland Coast in the Winter. As I collected Ele and Lisa from their holiday cottage in the shadow of Bamburgh Castle, the icy northerly wind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[109,3,9,5,141],"tags":[97,172,149,175,123,193,210,55,392,358,80,456,359,180],"class_list":["post-1821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bamburgh-castle","category-birdwatching","category-druridge","category-northumberland","category-northumberland-coast","tag-barn-owl","tag-curlew","tag-eider","tag-golden-plover","tag-lapwing","tag-mediterranean-gull","tag-oystercatcher","tag-peregrine","tag-pink-footed-geese","tag-redshank","tag-sanderling","tag-short-eared-owl","tag-turnstone","tag-waxwing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1821","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=1821"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1825,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1821\/revisions\/1825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}