Tuesday 9th February
Hulne Park, Alnwick
A relaxing (but cold!!!) three hours spent in Hulne Park today as hubby was busy tinkering with his generator in the living room (don't ask!) and it was a choice between birding or housework
I arrived at just before 2pm and left at 4.30pm.....and the guy who lives in the lodge at the gate gave me SUCH a bollocking because the park shut at 4pm!!! Well I didn't know as it's always been 11am till dusk! And they certainly don't make it clear at the entrance!
Anyway, apart from that pompous prat, I had a very good day.
It was a typical winter's day with not a lot seen nor heard and for the first half hour or so I saw barely anything ~ not even woodpigeons! But then things picked up with a flyover
Sparrowhawk. The river was very full and fast so, as expected, no sign of dipper or grey wagtails and the only water birds I saw were a group of six
Mallard.
I continued on as far as Filbert Haugh Bridge and was thrilled to finally come upon (and hear!) a group of small birds in the trees nearby. Three
Lesser Redpoll were feeding in the upper branches of a Silver Birch, a male & female
Bullfinch nearby,
Jay heard calling nearby, a female
Chaffinch was on the ground nearby and a small group of three
Long-tailed Tit passed overhead.
I decided to head back at this point and enjoyed my second sighting of a Sparrowhawk being mobbed by passing crows at the Monk's Bridge. Two
Mistle Thrush were feeding below an oak tree opposite.
No other birds of note were seen after this but I had fabulous views of a
Roe Deer buck in velvet as he looked down at me from between two trees. He would have made an AWESOME photo but my camera chose to run out of battery and by the time I'd quickly changed it for a fresh one (I always carry two other fully-charged ones in my pocket!) he had moved on out of view. He was accompanied by a female
photo below and I was able to get better views of her.
A single
Grey Squirrel was seen dashing across the ground and up into a tree where the path below the sawmill joins back onto Farm Drive and at the stone bridge just yards further on I was to see my sixth Roe Deer of the day! A female crossing the small valley and stream below the bridge and, a few yards upstream, a very dark chocolate
Fallow Deer pic below I watched these two for a few minutes until I decided I really must head home as it was 4.20pm at this point!
35: Sparrowhawk
36: Lesser Redpoll
37: Mistle Thrush