{"id":819,"date":"2010-12-09T14:26:23","date_gmt":"2010-12-09T14:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/?p=819"},"modified":"2011-06-19T07:57:55","modified_gmt":"2011-06-19T07:57:55","slug":"talking-birdwatching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/birdwatching\/talking-birdwatching","title":{"rendered":"Talking birdwatching"},"content":{"rendered":"

Woodcock<\/em><\/strong> are continuing to feature in our birdwatching at the moment.\u00a0 Martin saw two more yesterday; one flying ahead of the car as he drove through Ashington and another one flying over our house, as Lee from G&S Organics<\/a> was delivering our weekly groceries.<\/p>\n

Yesterday evening we were out and about again.\u00a0 This time it wasn’t a nocturnal birdwatching trip but a much more sociable occasion, meeting up with a friend for a meal and a few drinks.<\/p>\n

Nick was already in the pub, with a\u00a0pint of Guinness in hand, when we arrived.\u00a0 The conversation through the evening focused primarily on raptors; a real obsession for all three of us.\u00a0 He didn’t make it to this year’s North of England Raptor Conference so we filled him in on the highlights.\u00a0 As our discussions covered population ecology, persecution, identification and migration patterns, the time raced by and soon we were driving back through the snowy wastes of Northumberland.\u00a0 Unsurprisingly, most of our discussion had focussed on the Hen Harrier<\/em><\/strong>; probably the most persecuted\u00a0raptor in Britain.\u00a0 Our study area covers\u00a0twelve 10km squares in southwest Northumberland, notable for having no breeding Hen Harriers<\/em><\/strong>, although a vast amount of suitable habitat.\u00a0 There’s a lack of Peregrines<\/em><\/strong> as well, although at one site they can often be seen displaying in the early spring…<\/p>\n

On our\u00a0North Pennines<\/a> tours, the lack of raptors is often commented on by our clients.\u00a0 When\u00a0we explain the reasons, and back this up with our own observations and experiences from the harrier nest we monitored in North Tynedale, we’re generally met with looks of incredulity, horror or dismay.\u00a0 Who knows, maybe 2011 will be the year when the Hen Harrier<\/em><\/strong> starts to make a comeback on the moors of Northern England?\u00a0 Don’t hold your breath though…<\/p>\n

Now, after a morning which Martin spent being interviewed for the BBC Politics Show (which will be shown at 12:00 on Sunday 11th December), it’s time to process another batch of Gift Voucher <\/a>orders and finalise details for this Saturday’s boat trip <\/a>around the Farne Islands and Holy Island.\u00a0 Gift Vouchers are an ideal present, and our final boat trip of the year looks like being a really good one, so give us a call on 01670 827465 to book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Woodcock are continuing to feature in our birdwatching at the moment.\u00a0 Martin saw two more yesterday; one flying ahead of the car as he drove through Ashington and another one flying over our house, as Lee from G&S Organics was delivering our weekly groceries. Yesterday evening we were out and about again.\u00a0 This time it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,107,12],"tags":[429,823,427,6,839,849,55,425,426,428,71],"class_list":["post-819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birdwatching","category-family-and-friends","category-pennines","tag-bbc-politics-show","tag-birdwatching","tag-birdwatching-gift-vouchers","tag-farne-islands","tag-hen-harrier","tag-holy-island","tag-peregrine","tag-raptor-persecution","tag-southwest-northumberland","tag-wildlife-gift-vouchers","tag-woodcock"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1107,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819\/revisions\/1107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}