The reserve in March

Gosforth Nature Reserve is only a mile from my home as the sparrowhawk flies.  Being often busy in the reserve with work parties, education visits, etc I usually spend less time looking and watching than I should, so my plan for this year was to post a monthly review from now until at least the end of autumn on things I see there.  Unfortunately the reserve is now closed and won't reopen until the movement restrictions are lifted but here at least are some of the things I saw in March.

Herons regularly nest on top of some tall Scots pines in the northeast corner of this reserve but this year two pairs have built nests much closer to the lake.  I think both parents must share the work of incubating the eggs as I watched the change over between these two.

I saw and heard the first chiffchaffs of the year.  Our first summer visitors, just in from Africa.

I expect mallards are already nesting.  A gang of males was wandering around looking very handsome while the females were probably hidden away incubating their eggs.

The changes in colour as the mallard turns its head are amazing.

Two species of geese nest in the reserve.  Greylag geese are native but most are descended from reintroductions after they were almost wiped out by wildfowlers.

Canada geese are non-native but widespread in the UK.  In smaller areas they can be real pests but the few here are not too bad.

A large gang of black headed gulls have been established on the lake for a few weeks.  They nest on a platform in the lake built for common terns (which haven't yet arrived back from Antarctica).  They have been busy mobbing the herons and any other birds they don't like the look of.

The alder trees were in flower.  The male catkins dangle in the wind below the small red female flowers which will produce cones later in the year.  the alder is our only deciduous cone-bearing tree.  Alder wood was used to make the foundations of Venice and more recently has been used to make the bodies of Fender electric guitars.

Hazel trees were also in flower.  Hazels are monoecious, meaning they have separate male and female flowers on the same plant.  The male catkins are very obvious.

The female flowers are tiny.  These two have already been pollinated and are starting to swell to form hazel nuts.

This fungus caught my eye.  It is Sarcoscypha coccinea, the scarlet elf cup.  It grows on decaying sticks and branches in damp areas, something we have plenty of.

With no people in the reserve the animals will be having a marvellous time.  Who knows what they will get up to with no-one watching?