It's gradually getting a bit warmer, in spite or because of gale force storms which have made conditions rather unpredictable. At least there has been no snow like there was last February to March.
Just over two weeks ago I took a bike ride to Matfen. There were a couple of clusters of bullfinches working the trees but not a great deal else.
The Friday afterwards, I visited Gosforth Nature Reserve for the first time in ages. Again the winds were approaching gale force and there was a remarkable lack of ducks and geese on the lake. From the second hide I did manage a couple of possibly flirtatious herons and thought I saw some lapwings flying by in the distance.
In fact the main thing I saw in this area was actually well outside the reserve - a little egret that I managed to focus on several hundred yards away on the Gosforth Subsidence Pond.
Little Egret
On circumnavigating the western end of the lake there were some very dark shapes to be picked out that looked to be shovellers but it was impossible to pick out the colouration.
Just beyond that point, my attention was drawn to an area of undergrowth by some fallen trees. I thought I could pick out the odd flash of red and I was wondering about brambling. Eventually I got a clear view of a redwing through the binoculars. When I tried to sneak nearer for a closer look, about forty or fifty of them went up where I would have guessed there to be about half a dozen. It was quite pleasing though, as they were the first redwings I've seen all winter.
This Monday, there was supposed to be a Naturewatch trip to Big Waters, which was cancelled due to bad weather. Noticing however that conditions were improving by lunchtime and that an Iceland Gull had been sighted there the day before, I decided to go along anyway.
Unfortunately the hides were locked but I was soon greeted by a flypast of a hundred or so lapwings, one or two of which showed signs of wanting to practice their mating display flight..
Most were sharing a nearby rock with some oystercatchers and every now and again, they would go up once more.
Lapwings
Further on there was another group of male and female bullfinches who might have been consorting but at the moment were more intent on demolishing a few buds.
Bullfinch
It's always tricky getting shots of them when they're foraging high in the bushes. Ironically, another male showed up in the trees at the bottom of my garden the day after and posed beautifully - but I was upstairs at the time and didn't have the camera to hand.
At the West end of the pond I spent some time peering at the feeders behind the hide and picked up brief a sighting of a siskin, the first I've seen in a long time. Unfortunately it didn't stay and didn't return.
On the lake there was a large squadron of greylags and another of canada geese, as well as a smaller group of wigeon, as on our last visit.
Last weekend during the storms I was convinced I'd seen a white butterfly flattering past my front hedge. The temperature was 11C but there is no evidence to suggest any whites appear in January so I guess it must have been a leaf. There have been no surprises on the feeders apart from a female nuthatch turning up on the suet nuggets. Nuthatches have not been seen here for a while.
One thing that did "turn up" was an explanation for the burrowings in my plant pots and for the fact I occasionally find an acorn or an oak sapling in them.
Grey Squirrel
Malcolm and I decided on a walk from Amble Dunes to East Chevington, which should have produced more interesting bird sightings. The main thing saw was this dead ray, which I think may be a cuckoo ray although rays are not exactly a speciality with me and the spots have faded.
Cuckoo Ray
I was expecting a lot of stonechats at least but all we actually got was a heron just south of Druridge, a couple of passing goldeneye as East Chevington Pond and some usual wader suspects as the tide went down on the way back.
However I was pleased to manage as much as nine miles with the aid of my long-neglected walking sticks and very much enjoyed the concluding ice cream at Amble!
A recent bike ride only produced some audible skylarks and a fleeting bullfinch.
Sometimes the answer lies nearer home and a quickish visit to Killingworth Lake to check out the ducks yesterday proved more successful. The main interest was reports of scaup and I did manage to see a few although it was hard to distinguish between the juveniles and the many young tufted ducks. It was also nice to see some pochard again and get a close-up of a male goldeneye.
Pochard
Goldeneye
Scaup
At Killingworth the gulls, ducks, geese and swans are often found close to the bank at the West end because of the number of people who feed them. Whether this is a good idea is another thing.
