Friday 26 February 2021

having a whale of a time

 26th Feb 2021, Howick, 7am

Got here in time for sunrise (but it's getting early these days!)



I was chuffed to see a flash of green as the sun first broke the horizon.  This is a rare phenomenon caused by the atmosphere.  I've never seen it in all my years of sunrise watching in Northumberland.  There's no photo I'm afraid.




I think these are twite.  They posted themselves very neatly on the tree.  There were goldfinches, yellowhammer, stonechats, linnets... all sorts of songbirds flitting about as well as curlew calling from the beach and a silent barn owl getting a late breakfast in the long grass.


Some views from the drone.




On our way back to the car I was keeping an eye open for porpoises when I saw a waterspout a few hundred metres out - A whale!  I got this one low quality image as he kept surfacing every few minutes (which means he was diving quite shallow).  I later met an expert who confirmed it was a humpback whale which is currently hanging about the Northumberland coast.



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