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Message: <blockquote data-quote="brianfm" data-source="post: 1390553" data-attributes="member: 11997">23rd Jan.  A rather damp and dismal early morning soon changed to bring brightness to the rather cold day.  I was to walk the route  I have planned for a group walk.  The walk will be in spring and I’m hoping that as well as birds to include spring flowers and a bit of history in what is a very picturesque and historical area within the parks near the centre of the city.I began in Heaton which was once a manor outside the city, but is now just part of a very large built up area.  It was a mining area and I have just read about a pit disaster in the early nineteenth century where a number of men and boys were trapped in an air pocket after a pit caved in.  They may have thought that they were lucky, but because of flooding it took, I think, ninety days to reach them.  They had all starved to death, but not before they had eaten the pit ponies, their wax candles and even the bark on the wooden pit props!  I best move onto the birds.  I have found the parks a good birding area and there was much drumming in the woodland today from Great Spotted Woodpeckers of which I found 2 pairs.  Other birds found included Great, Coal, Blue and Long Tailed Tit and also Nuthatch and Treecreeper.  On the return part of this circular walk I found Grey Wagtail on a rather unkempt stretch of the burn which was obviously used as a playground by the local youngsters.  I shall look for Dipper here to when I return in spring.Heaton was an area visited by Kings in the far and distant past and I found the well of King John and also the camera of Adam of Jesmond who was a local sheriff in the thirteenth century.  King John had stayed at the camera which was a two story building (only one end survives) which would have been surrounded by out buildings, barns and brewery.  I’m afraid the graffiti artists had been at work on the well.  I passed the shoe tree again which is a large Sycamore Acer psedoplatanus and I learnt that it is featured in Julia Darlings book, the Taxi Drivers Daughter.  The shoe tree is believed to have been started by youngsters celebrating their exam results some years ago.I also bumped into a local character that seems to wander the area a great deal.  He was most interesting to talk to and I guess was in his mid to late twenties.  He has some interesting ideas about access to land, some of which I share, and he was not at all happy about the privacy of the Natural History Society Reserve which he visits anyway.;-)  I told him I was a member of the Natural History Society and about the vandalism that takes place in there.  He understood, but didn’t change his view.  Anyway he told me about some very old pathways which lead from the local country park down towards the Tyne which I plan to explore in the future.  The guy told me that he often picks up rubbish as he takes his walks.  I enjoyed our chat.We eventually reached the dene.  Now I reckon in spring this will have much to offer in the way of spring flowers and birds such as Kingfisher, Dipper and Grey Wagtails, but I must confess on my recent visits I have found birdlife quite sparse apart from Wood Pigeons and Magpies!  I find the less well looked after areas of the parks far better for birds in general, and of course in the dene there are many alien species of tree and other plants so I assume that this must have an effect upon wildlife.  However, as usual the walk was interesting.  I did find Mallard and Moorhen on the burn, the odd Wren and Robin and on return heard a Nuthatch calling which I quickly tracked down.I was also taking some notice of the trees, of which I have little knowledge.  I did pick up on some very interesting large Spanish Chestnut Castanea sativa (thought to be introduced by the Romans) , Yew Taxus baccata, London Plain Platanus x hispanica, Silver Birch Betula pundula and with the later help if Baz and Bea on this forum, some very large and mature Ash Fraxinus excelsior.  There were also some interesting fungi when I returned through the parks.I also had a chat with another character whilst I ate my lunch.  Unfortunately he insisted on having his radio playing so I am none too sure about everything he said.  There were numbers of Mistle Thrush about today and the odd Chaffinch and Greenfinch.We then made our return and stopped off at the restraunt for a coffee and cake.  On leaving I made acquaintance with some youngsters up a tree.  They were up the tree not me!  I assume they were wagging from school.  The lad seemed quite a character, although friendly enough, and asked me for a ‘lend of a tab’.  Now I’m never quite sure how you lend someone a tab as once smoked your not going to get it back are you?  I decided not to put this point to the lad from his comments I assume he didn’t believe me that I don’t smoke.  I like characters like this who mean no harm what so ever and I think he might be moderately chuffed to think he had made it into my report.;-)There aren’t too many more birds to report apart from the corvids, Starlings and gulls, but it was an interesting walk that I enjoyed.  There were 29 bird species and a few interesting characters to record.  The Grey Wagtail was a new one for the year list that I found almost at the end of my walk.  On return through the park I looked through the trees to the view across Jesmond.  I focused in on St Georges Church in the distance.</blockquote>

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