Ospreys

Our recent Cyanotype workshop at Elsdon went down a treat, with attendees making several of their own prints. Let me know if you would be interested in a similar face to face event lasting several hours and we can organise more sessions elsewhere around Northumberland over the coming weeks and months.

Subjects to seek out this month:
Those of you who follow the Kielder Ospreys will know that there are 4 successful breeding pairs this year, several other resident adults and regular guests appearing. All this adds up to you having a great chance to see Osprey’s making the most of the long summer days by regularly hunting.
Ospreys think nothing of travelling large distances daily to feed and visit other Osprey sites, so it’s always worth keeping an eye out for them anytime you are by freshwater just in case. At first glance I think they can be easily mistaken for a seagull, but on closer inspection the typical raptor traits can be seen and I often notice the black and white markings even at a distance.
If you’re keen to make a special trip to see them don’t wait too long to make your plans, by the end of August most will have begun their return to Africa. The young birds are often the last to leave, remarkably making the long dangerous journey alone.
I try to visit Kielder fairly often on the long summer evenings to look out for them. I was delighted to see one dive in and collect a fish recently. Getting a photo of the spectacle is a work in progress for me, enjoy a giggle at how tiny it looks- and this has been heavily cropped so you could actually see it! At least it matches my equally hopeless shot of a gannet on the northumberland coast back in May.

Something equally beautiful and a lot easier to find and photograph at this time of year is the Heather. Emerging in earnest now this never lasts long so don’t procrastinate if you want to enjoy it. Like many others I adore the flush of purple this brings to our hills, I often find it difficult to do justice to but I always love the time spent trying.

Did you know:
In a standard year like this one (not a leap year) no other month starts on the same day of the week as August.
Many people remember from school that August (called Sextillus until 8BC) was renamed after Rome’s first emperor Augustus. It remains a popular moniker 2014 years later; in 2021 August was the 121st most popular boys name and 842nd most popular girls name in the US.