Gateshead Birders

Any work on the wildlife of an area is also a work on the people who have studied and documented that wildlife. Below is a brief documentation of some of the people who have contributed to the study of birds in the area.

Over the last one hundred and fifty years the borough has been much studied by a variety of naturalists, especially ornithologists. The principle area of interest has always been the Derwent Valley, the lower portion of which is now within the borough and hence falls within the scope of this book. Many historical records for this current work were obtained from the studies of the Derwent Valley Naturalists.

Undoubtedly the most important ornithologist of the area was Thomas Robson of Swalwell, who in 1896 published the "Birds of the Derwent Valley". Robson was active in the valley over the latter half of the 19th century, and in the first few years of the 20th. His book is one of the principle reference documents on which this present work draws. Robson not only documented his and other local ornithologist's sightings, he also collected specimens and carefully examined the reports of species' occurrence in the district. He was also responsible for adding Great Reed Warbler to the British List. Although Robson's book is concerned with the Derwent Valley, the majority of the text refers to the lower portion, i.e. the part which is now in Gateshead, he also provided much information from along the current Gateshead stretch of the Tyne Valley, from Ryton in the west, eastward to Redheugh.

The presence of large country estates, within what is now the borough, with their wildlife ably documented by both landowners and gamekeepers, has also served as a source of much historical information. The two largest estates, which are still present more or less intact, are Gibside on the east bank of the Derwent, and the Ravensworth Estate on the west bank of the Team. These did, and still do, hold a wealth of birdlife. Lord Ravensworth was a keen ornithologist and he had a huge collection of mounted bird specimens which eventually found their way to the Hancock Museum. Thomas Hancock himself spent some time in the borough collecting specimens, indeed the first record of Tree Sparrow for the Tyneside area comes from a specimen shot by him on the Gateshead "Banks of the Tyne" in 1834.

Through the early part of the 20th century Peter Charlton of Chopwell studied the birds of that area and also active at this time in the borough was George Temperley. George Temperley was a nationally recognized ornithologist (he was awarded the British Trust for Ornithology's Bernard Tucker medal in 1953 for services to ornithology) and was the author of the avifauna of County Durham. George Temperley's "A History of the Birds of Durham" has also been used extensively to provide historical information about the borough's birds. As well as watching birds in the area Temperley was in regular contact with local people, such as the Hutchinson family of High Horse Close, Rowlands Gill, who provided him with much information about local Waxwing movements.
The Birds of Durham was published in 1952, and for a period after that it is difficult to find any individual ornithologists strongly associated with the Gateshead area. However local records were collected together in the annual bird reports of the Northumberland and Durham Natural History Society.

During the late 1950's Brian Little, of Stella, became active locally and this resulted in a series of fascinating "back garden" records from that locality as well as some interesting documentation of wader movements along the Tyne Valley. The increase in popularity of birdwatching through the 1960's and 1970's led to an ever increasing number of relevant local records. From the early 1970's borough records have been collected together in the annual reports of the Tyneside and Northumberland Bird Club, and from 1972 the reports of the Durham Bird Club, "Birds in Durham". Through the latter part of this decade and the early 1980's the Tyneside Ringing Group, Les Milton in particular, did much work locally and they were responsible for many interesting sightings particularly at Shibdon (formerly Blaydon) Pond. In the latter part of the eighties the local role of the Tyneside Ringing Group was filled by the Durham Ringing Group who, though working throughout the old county of Durham, were particularly active in the lower Derwent Valley.

In 1983 Gateshead Borough, in association with the then Community Programme, began to lay the foundations of a countryside management service. The wardens employed in this capacity were responsible for a more systematic recording of the borough's birdlife than there had been previously. In 1986 the borough's Countryside Management Team was set up and this section of the Parks and Recreation Department, now Gateshead Leisure Service, has, since that date, carefully monitored and recorded the birds of the area. One of the first recording tasks undertaken by the Team was to try and discover more about the breeding birds of the borough and with the help of many local volunteers they attempted to survey these during the 1986 and 1987 breeding seasons.

Acknowledgements
Many thanks for their generous financial support must be extended to the following organisations whose sponsorship of this project allowed publication.
(LIST)

Bill Oddie, who opened the Far Pasture Wetland in June 1991, very kindly agreed to write the preface for the book. He proved as generous and aware of the environment as ever, and we must thank him for his care and assistance in drawing attention to our efforts.

As birdwatching has become more popular over the last two decades an increasing number of birdwatchers have been active in the Gateshead area and many of these "local birders" have contributed information to this book. A full list of acknowledgments can be found below. The information for this work has come from a wide variety of sources both ornithological and historical (see list of references), and thanks must be extended to the staff of the Central Library's Local Studies Section for their expert assistance in this matter. The Ornithological County Recorders of both Durham and Northumberland were always most generous with their advice and assistance throughout the writing of the document. The Durham Bird Club generously allowed free access to their extensive card index system at Sunderland Museum and thanks must go to Alec Coles and Les Jessop for their help at the museum. Phil Ward, Mike Watson and Trevor Weston helped with the arduous task of sifting through the thousands of record cards. Many of the population estimates and species coverage estimates were made possible by the people who helped with the 1km breeding survey undertaken in the borough during 1986 and 1987. The detailed records of Gateshead M.B.C's Countryside Management Team proved very useful and the authors also drew heavily on their personal records and knowledge of the area. Many local ornithologists supplied information, much of it very detailed, and they deserve a special mention. It should go without saying that the authors accept the responsibility of any omissions or mistakes within the text, and that they would be grateful to anybody alerting them to such errors. The authors would like to extend their sincerest thanks to:

The Director of Gateshead Leisure Services.
Rosemary Waters, of the Publicity and Promotions Section of Leisure Services, who expertly steered this document towards publication.
All of the staff at the Thornley Woodlands Centre, who gave the authors the time, the facilities and their ever generous support which allowed this work to be produced.
The many people involved with the "Gateshead Atlas" work during 1986/87.
And all of the following local experts:
Ian Armstrong
Tony Armstrong (Durham County Recorder)
Les Ball (Greenside and Reely Mires area)
Phil Bone
John Brooks (Low Fell and Lamesley area)
Tim Cleeves (R.S.P.B.)
Chris Cox
Chris Donald (for records, drawings and advice)
Colin Freeman
Mike Hodgson (ex-County Recorder for Northumberland)
Geoff Horne (for ringing information)
Rev. Keith Huxley (Gateshead and Felling Shore)
Mike Laverick (Birtley and Lamesley area)
Fred Milton (Ravensworth and Kibblesworth area)
Les Milton (for detailed ringing information)
John Orton (Ravensworth Fell area)
Tom Palmer (Bill Quay riverside)
Gordon Pollinger (Clara Vale area)
Dave Pyle (Blaydon Burn, and for access to his notebooks)
Keith Robson (Sunniside and Marshal Lands area)
Rob Stonehouse senior. (Fellside and Whickam area)
Rob Stonehouse junior. ( " " " " )
Biddy Tweddle (Shibdon Pond)
Michael Watson (for records and drawings)
and Trevor Weston, Conservation Officer for Gatesehaed M.B.C., for his records, advice, and for planting the seed of an idea which grew slowly into the book.

Many thanks to Michael Watson and Christopher Donald who illustrated this work with their meticulous and beautiful drawings. Both of them served their "birdwatching apprenticeships" in Gateshead and it is a great pleasure to have their work displayed here.