Gateshead Birders

Introduction
The Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead is situated in the north-east of England on the south shore of the River Tyne. It is an area which clearly displays the evidence of its industrial past, in particular the enormous influence of coal mining. Throughout the area's history coal has been of great importance, shaping the lives of the people and the landscape. Subsidence of old pit workings has given rise to some wetlands whilst opencast mining destroyed almost all of the area's remaining heathland as recently as the Second World War. The earliest local reference to mining activity dates from 1344 and coal extraction continues to the present day, although all current workings are of the opencast variety.

In the twelfth century the area contained considerable hunting forest, especially in the parish of what is now Winlaton, which was controlled by the Bishopric of Durham. Gateshead was also important in a regional context because it had the lowest unbridged crossing points of the river on the Tyne watershed. There were at least four of these fords in the Ryton and Stella areas one of which was used by Oliver Cromwell's army when they passed northward to the battle of Dunbar in 1650. During this time the borough also became important as a milling centre for the northern half of the bishopric. No doubt this was largely due to its position on the River Tyne, which would allow the easy distribution and delivery of materials. The Tyne also had a number of Salmon fisheries, particularly at Ryton and on the downstream stretch from Redheugh to Friar's Goose, an indication of how productive the river once was.

From the sixteenth century onwards industry diversified and weaving, dyeing, rope making and various ship related industries all became locally important. The borough was once renowned as a place of "noxious trades" and foundries, the glass and chemical works have all left their mark on the land in the shape of ballast and spoil heaps.

The easternmost boundary of the borough is some 10km due east of the north-east coast, at Whitburn Bay, and from this point the borough extends approximately 21km westwards. Gateshead is the largest of the five Metropolitan Boroughs that once made up the Metropolitan County of Tyne & Wear. It covers an area of over 34,000 acres, and encompasses a wide range of land types and geographical features. Its' northern edge is bounded by the River Tyne along its' length from Bill Quay in the east to Wylam in the west. From Wylam the boundary follows a series of southward sweeping bulges, ending with a finger like projection down towards Birtley. The boundary then sweeps away northwards again, via Follingsby, towards Bill Quay.

The borough is one of sharp contrasts! The eastern portion is heavily built up, whilst the west is very much rural, a place of scattered small towns and villages surrounded by farmland and woodland. For such a relatively limited area the borough has a wide and varied topography for, from the heavily wooded river valleys, the land rise steeply to fells which are of a decidedly upland character.

Three principal rivers and their tributaries run through the borough. The Tyne runs east to west, and is tidal along the whole of its length within the borough. Into this major waterway run the smaller Derwent and the Team. These three rivers are very different in their character and consequently attract different types of birds.

Some of the eastern most sections of the Tyne have an almost coastal feel to them, with low tide exposing mudbanks and rocky outcrops and at the easternmost point of the borough on the river the Tyne is loomed over by a series of steep cliffs. The River Team, though much developed along its downstream section, is very much a meandering lowland river, with sandbanks and adjacent damp meadows. By contrast the Derwent has a flavour of the uplands. It flows fast over rocks and boulders, and the extensive "rapid and riffle" systems hold numbers of Trout, Stone Loach and Grayling. Its' banksides are heavily wooded and the valley itself has managed to remain relatively free of development and housing.

The positioning of the borough's waterways and their valleys also has a strong influence on the birdlife of the area. Most of the borough's valley systems: the Derwent, the Team, as well as the Blaydon and Stanley Burns, have a roughly north-south orientation, flowing down towards the Tyne. These form north-south "flyways" along which birds are channelled during their spring and autumn migration flights. Hence birds have a tendency to be funnelled into the borough by these valleys. Almost at right angles to these valleys lies the Tyne. With its east-west orientation it provides a convenient cross country flyway, from the North to the Irish Sea, across what is one of the narrowest points of mainland Britain. The Team Valley, roughly in the centre of the borough, provides a linking flyway between the Wear and Tyne watersheds. This offers birds a natural "crossing-place" from one valley into the other. Indeed this connecting valley once emptied the contents of the Wear into the more northerly river.

As well as a varied topography the borough's land uses are many and contrasting. The main land uses are: urban, agricultural, industrial and, rather surprisingly, woodland. Most of the industry is concentrated around the eastern half of the borough, though there are gatherings elsewhere in a variety of industrial estates, including the oldest one in the country in the lower Team Valley. Much of the agricultural land is not of the highest quality, and this means that most of the farming is mixed, with some cattle, sheep, and a variety of crop types. Some cereals are grown and an increasing acreage is now being used for Oil Seed Rape production. However there are still large areas of pasture, and relatively unimproved grassland, which are often important for wildlife. Many small pastures and paddocks in the borough are used for grazing horses.

The majority of the borough's almost 200,000 people live in the east and in this area the villages have grown together, with little greenspace in between, to form one large conurbation. However there are also some concentrations of population in the more rural west, especially around Whickham, Swalwell, Blaydon and Ryton.

Perhaps the most surprising large land use in the borough is woodland. Some 17% of the borough is wooded, compared to the national average of about 8%. This area of woodland will increase in future as the plantings done as part of the Great North Forest project mature and develop. Some of the tree cover is of introduced softwoods and many of these plantations are managed commercially by the Forestry Commission. However a relatively large proportion of the woodland is deciduous, and there are significant amounts of semi-natural ancient woodland in the lower Derwent Valley. Indeed the Derwent Valley, from its Gateshead end up to, and above, the Derwent Reservoir holds one of the largest blocks of almost contiguous woodland in the north-east.

The variety of birds which can be found in an area is limited by the number of habitats available. Gateshead is fortunate in having a wide range of different habitats, some of them being ones particularly beloved of birds, and consequently it attracts many different species. It has a variety of woodland types, a series of small wetlands and marshes, damp pastures, upland areas, municipal parks, tidal mudflats and even a tiny remnant of saltmarsh.

Woodlands probably attract a wider range of bird species than any other habitat, so an area rich in woodland is one that will invariably be rich in birds. In the Derwent Valley can be found ancient Oak woodlands with Wood Warblers and Nuthatch, and commercially managed conifers which host Crossbill and Siskin.
Wetlands are a scarce and dwindling habitat in the north-east, and good ones invariably attract many different bird species. The borough is well supplied with a series of ponds, the largest being over 10 acres in extent. Some of them such as Axwell Park Lake, have been created, some are natural, and others have been formed as a result of man's activities, principally coal or gravel extraction. Some of the ponds are bounded by areas of fen and marsh, providing yet another type of habitat for birds. Along the Tyne there are a number of small saltmarshes, a rare local habitat, which have resulted from the mixing of salt and fresh water systems. Along the south bank of the Tyne, at a variety of locations there remain small but significant areas of mudflat. This habitat supports huge numbers of invertebrates which, when the mud is exposed at low tide, become available to wading birds and wildfowl. On the River Tyne in Central Gateshead can be found the Baltic Flour Mill, a building which hosts Gateshead's most famous birds. This is the breeding colony of Kittiwakes, the furthest inland in the country, which became established there in the early 1960's. One might think that the municipal parks of the area would not be the ideal place for birds but they do have their attractions. The long established Saltwell Park has areas of mature woodland, which hold Nuthatch, and there are a variety of captive wildfowl to see on the park lake. The varied farmland of the borough supports many of the typical species associated with pastoral landscapes: Linnet, Yellowhammer, and Grey Partridge, though in recent years there has been a sad decline in the Corn Bunting. Farmland with mature hedgerows and hedgerow trees is frequented by Tree Sparrows, and occasionally these are joined there by their urban cousins. The built up regions in the eastern half of the borough often hold little more than Starlings and House Sparrows, though Blackbirds and a few Song Thrushes can also be seen, with an occasional unexpected species, like the Lesser Whitethroats which nest by the banks of the Tyne. However right in the heart of the town Kestrels can be found nesting and one of the longest established urban sites for this species is on the High Level railway bridge overlooking the Tyne. Landscaped areas along roads and housing estates may hold small numbers of Linnet, whilst Goldfinches and occasionally Mistle Thrushes nest in the larger trees. Even the ornamental berry bushes around Gateshead Civic Centre, in the very heart of the built up area, can attract interesting birds. In some winters this spot is a favourite one for that most colourful of visitors, the Waxwing.