December in Northumberland (1 Viewer)

[shepster]

Hi, I'm coming up to Northumberland for a couple of days later this week. Does anyone have suggestions for good December sites for birding and bird photography? Thanks.

 

[lazza]

It depends on what you want to see. There are a lot of coastal sites which hold good numbers of waders and wildfowl, from St Mary's Lighthouse in the south up to Lindisfarne/Holy Island in the north. Visiting all the reserves along Druridge Bay (from Cresswell Pond in the south, up to Hauxley in the north) will give you a good variety of birds and various landscapes, with dunes, pools, cliffs, estuaries and the sea all likely to provide something interesting to watch. Or you could easily spend a day on Holy Island watching the huge number of winter visitors on the mud-flats.

 

[Nutcracker]

Very limited daylight for decent photography! If it's cloudy, it doesn't really get light up here in December in the Grim North :-O


That apart, I'd recommend Holy Island / Fenham Flats for good birding. For more 'intimate' bird photography, the hides at Gosforth Park (buy a permit from the Natural History Society of Northumbria at the Hancock Museum) can get you excellent pics of Bittern and Kingfisher.

 

[shepster]

Thanks to you both.