Rising Sun and Back to Patch.

29^th Dec.  Sam and I arrived at the Rising Sun Country Park only to find the centre was closed until 3^rd January, so plans for lunch had to be forgotten.  A number of other people were disappointed too and one guy was ringing around a party of friends so as to change arrangements.  It’s most unlike North Tyneside Council to lose the chance of making a few quid!  Anyway the park was open and the dog walkers were making the most of it, so much so that we thought about making a breeds list for the day.

Two Treecreepers and parties of tits were encountered as we walked down to Swallow Pond.  The pond held numbers of Shoveller along with the usual birdlife.  We’d found a Kestrel early on, Greylag Geese flew overhead and Jays were heard in the plantation.  We usually find something of interest in the area of the farm, but there was little about today apart from Long Tailed Tits, although I mustn’t forget the covey of seven Grey Partridges which showed well.  A Grey Heron perched in the reed-bed at Dukes Pond.

We decided to return to patch today for a bite to eat rather than going to Gosforth Park Nature Reserve.  I’d not been down to the lake for a walk for over a month, so I enjoyed the relaxing walk today.  The area may well have a green flag these days but it was unkempt today, with sheets of Polystyrene threatening to flatten the reeds and filling one corner of the lake.  It looked as though this had blown off the building site and hopefully it won’t take long before the mess is cleared up.  Perhaps by those responsible for it all flying around in the first place!

We'll keep the green flag flying here!

Local Swanbusters have denied that there is a plot to replace Mute Swans with polystyrene blocks!

 

The lake still holds the pair of Little Grebes which have been around for quite some time, along with large numbers of Tufted Duck, Pochard and Mallard.  There were at least eight Goldeneyes present, far less than this time last year.  Most of the Canada Geese have departed and it is probably these birds that we saw near Gosforth Park last week.  Only three Goosanders were seen.  The walk to the village didn’t bring too much in the way of birds.

It had been good to be out in the fresh air and sunshine and I enjoyed the day. Our next trip out will be to welcome in a new year.