Spring In the Air

 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.

Wigeon