Our injured cygnet (Tiddles) left the reserve this week after just over a year with us. Her injured wing appears to be mended now. She will be a big miss as latterly she was following me around like a pet dog.

So if you do see a young swan on your travels with a red leg ring that reads JKI please let me know.

Maybe in years to come she may bring a partner back to the reserve.

Over the last couple of weeks we have been very busy on the reserve with a lot of help from a number of different volunteers.

We have been working on the path into the additional six acres of land.

The Northumberland Rivers Trust are funding a team from Skillmill (who built our leaky dams). We have had additional help from volunteers from Wave Utilities.

Ross Blackburn (my next door neighbour) loaned me a dumper truck. We have made good progress but it’s a big job as it’s a path of approximately 500 metres.

We also had a team from Merck. Sharp & Dohme who were in over a couple of days painting and clearing weeds around our new hedges.

We have also had Morpeth Rainbows, Girl Guides and Rangers as well as Morpeth Scouts, all helped out on the reserve.

Finally we had 60 pupils from Abbeyfields School who visited to learn about seed dispersal.

No pictures of the youngsters as it’s not allowed these days!

So very busy few weeks but I am very grateful for the help given.

Just an update on my frog rescue program, the frog spawn has developed into a fine collection of froglets.

These little chaps are the first batch about to be released back into their original pond.

Before I did this they treated me to a little frog gymnastic display:-

They were released into the pond and hopefully avoided the juvenile Heron that arrived not long after!

Big thanks to Andy Peaden for his kind donation of a lifebelt.

Helps me meet my health and safety obligations.

It no has pride of place at Dunces Corner Pond:-

Just a quick update on my tadpole aquarium. The tadpoles are doing well and I am close now to releasing them back into the wild. Once most of the tadpoles have there little back legs then I will put them back into the pond they came from. I estimate that will be in about a weeks time, though have them now as you can see below.

I hadn’t appreciated how nicely patterned tadpole were until I took a few closeup pictures. This is taken of one feeding on the side of the tank so its taken from below as though it was swimming over the top of you.

A little while ago Hepscott Parish Council kindly donated a couple of display cabinets that they were replacing. One has been used at the entrance for a while now but the other needed a stand made. At last I have managed to get around to making it. The display case fits in so it can be taken out and the whole thing moved wherever needed on site.

Our latest project has been to build 3 leaky dams on the stream running down from Dunces Corner Pond. This stream is a combination of overflow from the pond and the outflow from the underground pipeline of rainwater runoff, from Coopies Lane Industrial estate.

There are three main benefits, in my mind, for putting in these dams.

1. These dams will slow down the waterflow, particularly when there is heavy rain, which is a contribution to flood alleviation. This water feeds directly into the Wansbeck so it should in some small part slow the flow into the river.

2. As the water coming off the industrial estate will not be the cleanest my theory is that the pools formed behind the dams will act as settling ponds taking out some of the pollutants. In theory this should mean cleaner water going into the Wansbeck!

3. The pools formed should make better habitat as the waterflow will be much slower.

To progress this project I contacted Northumberland Rivers Trust and Peter Kerr came out and had a look, agreed it was a worthwhile project. He also agreed to fund the project, which was wonderful. Skill mill is the enterprise company that they use for this work, a company that we have worked with in the past having helped us with pond maintenance in the past.

Over the last week they have constructed three dams. They were learning as they went along so it took several attempts to ensure they weren’t too leaky. We even incorporated some donated sheep fleeces to help with the construction.

So it’s a big thanks to Dave and his team for all their hard work.

Our little cygnet has been on her own pond now for three weeks and seems to be happy on her own.

She is an inquisitive little bird and comes up from the pond if there is any activity.

She still seems unable to fly so we are hoping that when she moults her juvenile feathers she may regain that ability, otherwise we may have a long term resident.

The young Roe deer have been appearing on the reserve more often over the last few days. I think it is because there is now more to eat as new growth appears with the spring.

The triplets from last year appear to have a friend, its an older buck with only one horn. He may even be a buck from the 2022 triplets.

He appears to be a bit more mature than the three youngsters from the 2023 family, see below:-