The day began cold & crisp with a lovely blue sky & luckily for the nine of us stayed like that. Clouds did begin bubbling up as we were leaving & some of them formed most interesting shapes.
A Red Kite flew very close to the mini bus on our outward journey so we all had great views of that.
We called in at the Nosterfield Quarry VC for a toilet stop & then made the short trip to Nosterfield LNR. The group headed east towards the furthest hide & though there were relatively few plants in flower the botanists found enough to markedly slow their progress ! Flowers seen included Sweet Violets (and the white sub species 'dumetorum'), Coltsfoot & Barren Strawberry. Trees in flower = Cherry Plum, Willows, Blackthorn & Elm. Several pink flags had been placed alongside Spurge-laurels to warn the working party of volunteers from harming them. The multi-coloured flags seen in the Orchid Field? were markers for an invasive type of Garden Ladys Mantle.
Lunch was taken in the main hide. You had to be brave to open the windows as the breeze was a chilling northerly & the hide faces north ! I left mine firmly shut. There were many birds on the main lake, the predominant ones being the BH Gulls, Geese & Lapwings. Others seen = Gadwall, Wigeon, Shelduck, Shoveler, Redshank, Curlews, Teal, Buzzard, a few Goldeneye, several Black-tailed Godwits & a single Snipe. We all later walked to the westernmost hide where we saw one BT Godwit in its emerging summer plumage.
The plan had been to head to the Quarry Reserve but we decided that we hadn't enough time for that so Alice suggested the river bank at West Tanfield. We walked to just past the Marmion Tower. On the river were Goosander and alongside the path were Snowdrops, Winter Aconite, Yellow Star of Bethlehem, Common Speedwell & Red Deadnettle. Sadly a great amount of dog dirt. Clearly not all dog walkers are abiding by the law !
The journey back took almost 2 hours as we hit peak traffic & the works at the Dyneley Arms, Pool Bank. A thank you to our two drivers, Julia & Kevin.
See the photos here.
John Gavaghan