Sat the 5th April was marked in my diary as a day for some local patch birding, with the intention of showing a friend the area before moving onto Jesmond Dene, two or three miles away. The forecast was for showers so I put my water proof on top of my fleece and was concerned that I would be far too warm. I needn’t have worried as by the time I had reached the lake I was searching for my hat too, as it was so cold! The gloves stayed in my bag but only just! I knew the lake would be fairly quite at this time of year and that the Goosanders had all disappeared. We had a few species never the less. There were no anglers about, possibly too cold, but there were at least three Cormorants on the water. Other birds on the lake were Mute Swan, Canada Geese (three flying over our heads at one point), Mallard, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, Moorhen, Coot, Black Headed Gull and Herring Gull. We decided not to walk around the entire lake, but to make off across the fields to the village and the area surrounding. As well as the Daisies Bellis perennis and Dandelions Taraxacum officinale the field held a great deal of Common Field Speedwell Veronica persica. Magpies, Carrion Crows, Rooks and Jackdaws were all about.
By the time we had reached the Church grounds, which held some very nice Flowering Currant Ribes sanguineum in full bloom and seeming to be growing semi wild, it was raining heavily although I managed a photo of the patch of Gorse Ulex europaeus in flower. As we tried to shelter, not very successfully under the trees we watched Blue Tits, Great Tits and Greenfinch in the hedge before catching a good sighting of the Great Spotted Woodpecker flying from tree to tree in the church grounds. That was the first time I had seen the local Woodpecker this year. Once the sun came out again we walked through the village and walked down the narrow path towards the area where the Chiffchaff are, catching sight of a Coal Tit in a garden on the way. The Chiffchaff did not disappoint and as well as giving good sightings we could hear them singing from various sites. The pair of Dunnock was in the usual area and numerous Robins and Blackbirds were in song. I noticed all of the flowers of the Lesser Celandine Ranunculus ficaria which had been open a couple of days before were now all tightly closed as was the Coltsfoot Tussilago farfara.
As we walked further on, I explained that we were walking through the area where earlier in the year the winter thrushes had been and that soon there would be nesting Willow Warblers, Whitethroat and Blackcaps. We settled for Chiffchaffs today however on reaching the open area we did find to my surprise one Fieldfare and in fact had very good views in the sun of this very attractive thrush. My friend claims never to have deen a Fieldfare so well. There were large numbers of feeding Blackbirds as usual, Starlings in the trees and a singing Song Thrush. As we listened to the Song Thrush, a Pheasant flew over our heads. I looked for the Grey Partridges, once again without success. There were plenty of Woodpigeon about and a few Collared Doves, but no Stock Dove this time.
We then decided to make off for Jesmond Dene, but not before finding some (Spanish) Bluebells Hyacinthoides hispanica growing wild and taking a look at the Spring Squill Scilla verna again.
We were soon in Jesmond Dene and to be honest my primary reason for going was to take some photographs of this wonderfully wooded dene in Newcastle, although birds we added to our list included Dipper, Grey Wagtails (pos 2 pairs), Long Tailed Tit and Stock Dove. On this occasion we had no luck in finding the Kingfisher even though we walked almost the entire length of the Ouse Burn running through the Dene. It’s amazing how many people ask if you have seen the Kingfisher. It seemed to me that no one had seen it today. As we watched the Grey Wagtails from one of the many small bridges, a few people walked passed us with not the slightest interest in what we observing. I do feel at times like grabbing these people and pulling them over and saying ‘do you not think these birds are special?’ There seemed to be plenty of Wrens about today and the calls of Chaffinch and Chiffchaff were everywhere. We managed to avoid one heavy shower of rain as we sheltered for lunch, but were caught in a couple of heavy downpours of hail.
For me this type of local walk and birding have become as enjoyable as any I may do any where else in the world and Jesmond Dene does bring back fond memories of my childhood walks there. No new birds for the year list today and a couple of soakings, but no matter it could have been a lot worse and in fact, it was the following day when it snowed all day, but by then I was nice and warm and watching the football on the telly! Despite the weather there is no hiding the fact that spring is with us and there is a growing mass of emerging greenery to prove it, along with the birdsong. The day’s bird list came to 40.
A few photos of my local patch and Jesmond Dene, which I hope reflect spring, are added.
Take care
