Tandle Hill Country Park, 26 February 2011
The February trip by the Rochdale Field Naturalists’ Society was to Tandle Hill Country Park on a bright and breezy day following a period of heavy rain, particularly the previous night.
Early signs of coming Spring were all around. Bird song filled the air, early flowers including Dandelion, Daisies, Groundsel and that true harbinger of Spring, Coltsfoot, added a dash of colour. On a sadder note, evidence of the early movement of frogs from winter hibernation to their breeding ponds was shown by the number squashed on a short section of the lane.
An encouraging number of birds were seen and heard, starting around the houses with the garden birds, Robin, House Sparrow, Dunnock, finches and tits and moving on to wider flooded fields where Black-headed, Common and Herring Gulls comprised a mixed flock. Jay, Nuthatch, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Tree Creeper, Mistle Thrush and Kestrel were amongst a host of other birds recorded in the Park itself.
The woodland and hedgerow bottoms proved a rich source of satisfaction for the fungi foragers who recorded such individuals as Common Jelly Spot, Turkey Tail, Smokey Bracket, Elder Whitewash and Glistening Inkcap, part of a total of thirteen species recorded.