{"id":2883,"date":"2015-05-05T15:13:32","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T14:13:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2883"},"modified":"2015-05-05T15:13:32","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T14:13:32","slug":"spring-arrivals-druridge-bay-safari-30042015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/northumberland\/druridge\/spring-arrivals-druridge-bay-safari-30042015","title":{"rendered":"Spring arrivals; Druridge Bay Safari 30\/04\/2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been a cold windy spring, and a few of our summer visitors seemed a bit tardy; we found our first Sand Martin<\/strong><\/em> and Chiffchaff<\/strong><\/em> later than we would have expected, but the day has been coming when things would start to happen…<\/p>\n

I collected Jan and Peter from Church Point and we set out to spend the day exploring Druridge Bay<\/a>.\u00a0 It was, unsurprisingly, cold and very windy again but that didn’t impact on our day birdwatching.\u00a0 Skylarks<\/strong><\/em> soared and sang, Marsh Harriers<\/strong><\/em> drifted over reedbeds and fields close to the coast and an impressive range of waders performed obligingly; Oystercatcher, Curlew, Ringed Plover, Avocet, Turnstone, Dunlin, Sanderling<\/strong><\/em> and Black-tailed Godwit<\/strong><\/em> – the latter three species resplendent in breeding plumage – demonstrated why this is such a popular group of species with birdwatchers.\u00a0 The godwit<\/strong><\/em> in particular stood out; clothed in chestnut and a vision of elegance to rival the Little Egret<\/strong><\/em> that was stalking along the water’s edge nearby.\u00a0 Moorhen<\/strong><\/em> and Coot<\/strong><\/em> crept furtively along the edge of reedbeds, Stonechat<\/strong><\/em> and Meadow Pipit<\/strong><\/em> flicked their tails nervously at the tops of bushes in the dunes and an eye-catching fly-catching adult Little Gull<\/strong><\/em> was easily picked out from amongst Black-headed Gulls<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 Seawatching over lunchtime is a regular feature of our Druridge Bay trips and Eider, Gannet, Manx Shearwater<\/strong><\/em> and Common Guillemot<\/strong><\/em> could all be seen offshore as Fulmars<\/strong><\/em> soared and arced along the clifftops a few metres way from us. Wheatears<\/strong><\/em> and a Whinchat<\/strong><\/em> flitted from tussock to tussock, strikingly beautiful as they always are at this time of the year, and then a sign that the summer is nearly here; hundreds of Sand Martins<\/strong><\/em> were flycatching above every pool on the coast as a group of six House Martins<\/strong><\/em> flew in, battling against the strengthening breeze with the imperative to head north driving them on.\u00a0 Then, a Swift<\/strong><\/em>, and another, then six more.\u00a0 Eight of these scythe-winged masters of the air flew by us, rocking from side-to-side into the wind as they headed to join the feast above the water.<\/p>\n

I love those days when we concentrate on looking for a single species, but a day birdwatching with clients and just enjoying, and marvelling, at everything that comes along is pretty much as good as it gets for a birdwatching guide \ud83d\ude42 As Jan and Peter headed across to Bellingham, and I took the shorter journey back to the office, I was wondering if perhaps the summer weather was on the way…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s been a cold windy spring, and a few of our summer visitors seemed a bit tardy; we found our first Sand Martin and Chiffchaff later than we would have expected, but the day has been coming when things would start to happen… I collected Jan and Peter from Church Point and we set out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[40,242,270,172,288,149,122,185,186,232,123,243,93,364,397,207,198,218,80,318,189,269,191,215,233,235,262],"class_list":["post-2883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-druridge","tag-avocet","tag-black-tailed-godwit","tag-coot","tag-curlew","tag-dunlin","tag-eider","tag-fulmar","tag-gannet","tag-guillemot","tag-house-martin","tag-lapwing","tag-little-egret","tag-little-gull","tag-manx-shearwater","tag-marsh-harrier","tag-meadow-pipit","tag-moorhen","tag-sand-martin","tag-sanderling","tag-scaup","tag-shelduck","tag-shoveler","tag-skylark","tag-stonechat","tag-swift","tag-wheatear","tag-whinchat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2883","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=2883"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2885,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2883\/revisions\/2885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}