A little bit of movement in the garden after April Fool's Day was the result of rising temperatures as a dry spell went into its second week. It was a nice contrast to the wet and cool Spring last year, which affected many pollinators adversely.
On the 1st itself a peacock butterfly turned up and settled on the wooden 'path' near the decking but was easily disturbed. The following day I spotted a bumblebee queen I assumed would be of the buff-tailed variety but turned out to be a tree bumblebee queen, the other sort turning up very shortly afterwards, Then a beefly turned up and obligingly settled on a leaf.
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Also the beefly has been seen every time I've been in the garden, but there have been no sign of any mining bees which they predate on.
But the most successful session occurred on Sunday...
My son and I have often spoken about the need to see mandarin ducks. As they have been showing up in the Gateshead area we decided to have a go here.
The plan was to start at the hide near Thornley Woodlands Centre, where there were recent repeated sightings, so V&A drove over and we arrived just in time to see a family and several dogs being loaded into a car and were able to claim one of the limited parking spaces when they finally pulled out.
The hide didn't prove to be the answer but we did see a few other birds, and satisfyingly, the first orange tips I've seen this year.
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Okay, a chaffinch doesn't seem like a big deal but the fact is I very rarely see them in my garden.
After an hour or so we had a debate whether to head for Saltwell Park, where there had been one sighting or chance our arm a bit by taking a wander along the Derwent. We decided on the latter.
I had forgotten how long and steep the Riverside Trail down from Thornley Woods actually is, but eventually we made it down to Nine Arches Bridge, and started heading West.
But we had hardly gone two hundred yards when a couple of ducks were sighted scooting away from us and a couple of rowdy dogs. And sure enough my son, who is eagle-eyed when it comes to bird spotting, confirmed that we had achieved our objective - a male and a female mandarin duck.
However the ducks, having been spooked, decided to hide away in the bushes on the far bank before we could get any more than distant shots of them. It was then a case of stick or twist - whether to sit it out and wait for them to come out again or head further up river after a third duck we had noticed.
We sat it out and eventually the couple ventured back into the water, allowing us to get the photos we were after as they paddled up and down.
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| Mandarin Ducks |
The couple kept returning to an area just downstream where some driftwood and rubbish had accumulated on tree branches and the third bird, another male, turned up again leading to some confrontations as he tried to move in on the first male's territory.
Even better more orange tips and peacocks turned up while we ere waiting for action, for me the first photo opportunities this year..
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There was also a comma and I thought I saw a small tortoiseshell - an experience that was confirmed when we made a last stop at Far Pasture on the way back. I was interested to see the peacocks in particular settling on the ears of the reeds and we wondered why they did so. Probably they were just warming themselves.
I also got shots of some of the typical long-term residents at this location - gadwall and teal.
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All in all, a very satisfying expedition!
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