Druridge....2 minutes of fame

After receiving email from 'concerned' members of the public about dead puffins on the beach, BBC contacted me yesterday to do an interview about them. So, having been up since dawn, ringing reedy stuff with Ian at E. Chev, I headed down to Druridge to meet the man from the Beeb.....chief reporter no less!

We were down on the beach a good while the cameraman got his shots, which gave me time to scan the sea - six red-breasted mergansers have appeared since last night.

You can watch my efforts at http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/realmedia/looknorthnecumbria/bb/looknorth_16x9_bb.asx

whizz forward to 06:25 to get to the story

We talked about bycatch and driftnet fishing a lot, but sadly none of that made it onto the final cut, I guess there isn't much of a story, puffins die as result of completely legal fishing which isn't affecting the population....


MSK and ADMc had both told me recently that they had seen little owl on Druridge Lane, just outside the patch, well, today I saw one at last. Sadly though, not as I would have wished, it was squashed, on the road..

It was certainly worth the early morning, Ian and I caught over 30 birds at E. Chev, mostly juvenile reed and sedge warblers as well as this nice juvvy reed bunting