Prince Charming

On the 17th February a new red squirrel initiative was launched by Prince Charles. The launch, Red Squirrels Northern England was held in the beautiful grounds of Hutton in the Forest, the home of Lord & Lady Inglewood   
The Prince took his time to talk to everyone there, including me and was very interested in all that was said. The Prince is a lover of red squirrels and believes that control of grey squirrels is an unfortunate necessity. It was a very exciting day as I have never met any royalty before although seen them on a variety of occasions. I am sure that this will stay in my memory for quite a while and am sure that the involvement of the Prince, will help raise awareness to the plight of our native reds



 

The Prince circulating - I'm the one in grey

With Robin Day Patron of Save our Squirrels

The Prince speaks about his love of red squirrels


Am I Getting Old or was it My Day Out?

Friday 21st Jan 2011
I've just got up to re-fill my glass of wine and it took me a few seconds to straighten up! Is it my age, I am in my 60th year or was it all the walking I did today when I went out?

It's cold day today, sunny but a sharp frost and I really wanted to be outside. So, I went to Gosforth Park Nature Reserve which is a about 15mins away. I did the usual jobs including taking the small one for a walk and set off just before noon. I had only been to the reserve twice since my stroke but I was really looking forward to going again.I decided to go 'anit-clockwise' as I always got lost when I went the other way.

So off I went and the first thing I noticed was a lot of standing water around some of the trees. It was frozen of course.

As I walked on I realised that I didn't need to watch where my feet were, as I had done before. I still had to watch were I was going every now and then but this was definitely an improvement! I could hear birds singing and saw blue and great tits and a little wren who landed on a log near me. momentarily before disappearing into the undergrowth.

The path, which at times was difficult to follow, runs for a while alongside Newcastle Racecourse.

You need to walk up a slight bank to get this view

A fence post and the grass made some interesting images.

There was no way I could be quiet walking on the frosted leaves - they crackled, so my hope of seeing any of the Roe deer that inhabit the reserve was fairly slim. Roe deer have good hearing, listening out for predators and they hear you, if not see you, before you see them. However, I was in luck and saw three foraging in amongst the frozen undergrowth before they saw me. It was not too last and they soon saw movement and watched cautiously before dashing into the safety of the forest. The white of their rumps was very noticeable against their dark flanks.

However, I then saw a single buck across the racecourse in the sunshine, niggling at the grass. Aha! I thought, I will be able to get closer as I didn't think he would hear me scrunching across the dead leaves. It works, until another deer who I hadn't seen, spots me and gives the alarm.













There may not have been a lot of wildlife around but there was still many photo opportunities.



Moss



Frosted fungus growing from some dead wood



The reserve is a great place for seeing all forms of wildlife and is especially magical when covered with such a frost. Walking on the rough ground was easier than it has been but narrow paths still proved a little tricky for me. Board walks cover many of the boggy areas but still need careful negotiating. In some areas, the paths had turned to mud which in turn froze solid, making negotiating them a bit of a task.

There are several hides in the reserve with a vista over the lake.



Roy Pearce Memorial Hide



Extensive Reed Beds

I was out for about 3 hours and was pretty tired but had a great day. Whilst I was there I saw Blue and Great Tit, Blackbird, Wren, Crows, Wood Pigeon, Whooper Swans, Canada Geese, Greylag Geese, Common Seagull. I deserved that glass if wine!