Heaton Woods again 8th April
The linear path from Redburn Road to Shay Lane in the valley of Heaton woods is little more than a kilometre however on its southern aspect the wood climbs quite steeply to Heaton village. Today, in beautiful sunshine, I crossed the Red Beck where it enters the culvert under Redburn Road on its way to Bradford Beck and walked up the stepped path to access what I consider the middle level of the wood. The entry from Ashfield Road leads to the part known as Reynold's Wood which is privately owned but open to all. I picked my way through the still muddy area near the work base for the Heaton Trust Volunteers and approached Sean's pond dug in 1991 in memory of a local young man killed in a car accident . A nearby second pond was constructed in 2006. A solitary male mallard was in residence: a circuit round the pond did not reveal a nesting female. Other birds seen were jays, blue and great tits and a wood pigeon. The variegated leaves with pink stripes around the edge of the pond puzzled me but later identification suggested sweet flag - apparently young leaves may be pinkish in Spring. It will be watch this plant now. This flat and less wooded area has a number of manmade ditches crossed by wooden bridges. Little has colonised so far. Daffodils provided colour - sadly not wild ones.
There is an excellent play area for children with almost every challenge made from wood of fallen or cut down trees. Of course no children were using it today. A large wood pile and a huge pile of wood chippings promise good hunting later. Wood anemones were in full bloom among the leaf litter and a wild cherry had open blossom. In a damper area my plant of the day was the emerging wood horsetail, the tallest only nine inches. I learned that I had missed a fox. never mind, maybe next time.
I also popped into Northcliffe where plenty of nuthatches were spotted, I saw my first bluebell flowers of the year and took photos of Norway Maple in flower on the golf course.
Alice