{"id":2713,"date":"2015-01-23T09:57:02","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T08:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2713"},"modified":"2015-02-02T08:46:27","modified_gmt":"2015-02-02T07:46:27","slug":"new-year-quality-wildlife-otter-safari-22012015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/birdwatching\/new-year-quality-wildlife-otter-safari-22012015","title":{"rendered":"New Year, quality wildlife; Otter Safari 22\/01\/2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

During quiet periods of the year, we keep going out and checking excellent wildlife sites all around Northumberland.\u00a0 Although we can never predict exactly what we’ll see, and where, those days out on our own are the basis of successful days out with clients…<\/p>\n

I arrived at Church Point to collect Gordon and Michelle and we set off in search of Otters<\/a>.\u00a0 I love the pressure of a client being obsessed with Otters but never having seen one in the wild, it keeps me focused \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 Soon we were watching a distant Otter<\/strong><\/em> as it fed in mirror calm water!\u00a0 A slow, steady approach took us much closer and then another two Otters<\/strong><\/em> appeared, eventually coming so close that we could hear a splash, each time they dived in search of fish, and the crunching, munching sound of them devouring their catch \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 We’ve been watching this group of Otters<\/strong><\/em> since mid-December, so we’ve got a few images of them…<\/p>\n

\"Eurasian<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Eurasian<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Eurasian<\/a><\/p>\n

After 90 minutes they’d moved on and so did we.\u00a0 Our next wildlife star of the day was another one that we’ve been watching and photographing over the last few weeks – a Little Owl<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Liite<\/a><\/p>\n

As the afternoon passed, and the cold damp air held us in it’s icy grip, more stunning wildlife put on a show that demonstrated just how good Northumberland is during the winter.\u00a0 An array of wildfowl in breeding finery is a highlight of the winter months; Teal, Wigeon, Gadwall, Mallard, Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, Eider<\/strong><\/em> and a Long-tailed Duck<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 A Barn Owl<\/strong><\/em>, ghostly white, bringing death on silent wings to unsuspecting mice and voles is always a crowd pleaser while Kestrels, Buzzards<\/strong><\/em> and a brief view of a Hen Harrier<\/strong><\/em> were the reward for a session of raptor watching as dusk approached.\u00a0 Another ghostly white winter speciality put in a typically fleeting appearance – a Stoat<\/strong><\/em> in ermine \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 Possibly my favourite land mammal, here’s an image of one from last winter.<\/p>\n

\"Stoat,Mustela<\/a><\/p>\n

Finally, as the light faded to the point where it was getting difficult to see anything and flocks of Pink-Footed<\/strong><\/em> and Greylag Geese<\/strong><\/em> peppered the sky, one of our most elusive birds wandered out into the open and entertained us.\u00a0 Probing and prodding at the marshy ground between two reedbeds, the Water Rail<\/strong><\/em> gave obligingly prolonged views.\u00a0 Surprisingly small, remarkably beautiful, and a great way to end the day with clients who’ve persuaded me (almost…) that there are destinations so spectacular that I really need to get on a ‘plane at some point next year…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During quiet periods of the year, we keep going out and checking excellent wildlife sites all around Northumberland.\u00a0 Although we can never predict exactly what we’ll see, and where, those days out on our own are the basis of successful days out with clients… I arrived at Church Point to collect Gordon and Michelle and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[97,149,170,168,190,72,68,171,837,129,188,183,169,237,181],"class_list":["post-2713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birdwatching","tag-barn-owl","tag-eider","tag-gadwall","tag-goldeneye","tag-greylag-goose","tag-little-owl","tag-long-tailed-duck","tag-mallard","tag-otter","tag-pink-footed-goose","tag-red-breasted-merganser","tag-stoat","tag-teal","tag-water-rail","tag-wigeon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2713","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=2713"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2729,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2713\/revisions\/2729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}