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.
Mixed weather has again brought mixed fortunes on the nature front.
On Tuesday I did a tour of Mersehead Reserve in the hope mainly of seeing some lapwings displaying. There wasn't much around in the fields except a couple of flocks of remaining barnacles. There was more action on the ponds where tufted duck (maybe one scaup), shoveller, wigeon, pintail, whooper swan and shelduck were all apparent.
At the reserve building there had been a sign saying the first chiffchaff had been heard that day. I certainly heard one on the way to Meida Hide and managed to capture the song (though not the actual bird!) on this video in spite of competition from the background rookery.
I did manage to see one on the way to the seashore and think there were about three or four birds actively calling.
A couple of stonechats were playing on the fenceposts near the shore, the first time I've seen them there in several visits. But the most numerous bird on the second half of the walk was definitely the skylark, several of them plying the heavens with their songful ascents and sudden plunges that I still do not understand the meaning of. There were a few pipits and, yes, some lapwings too - but they weren't displaying.
The bike ride the following day was again affected by rain for half of the run, but there were a couple of red kites and a field full of about 50 greylags between Rhonehouse and Twynholm. I checked them over and could see no other species of goose among them.
