Winter wonderland

A good covering of snow down the Dell over the last two days.

Not a lot of birds about , the Kingfisher is still here in it's usual spot.

There were plenty of tracks in the snow including some deer tracks around the ford end of the woods.

Litter Pick

Friday 23rd December.

The group met this morning at the Dell for our first task, a litter pick.
Armed with gripper sticks, gloves and bags, we set off around the site collecting any litter we came across and it didn't take long before we came across the first plastic bags .

We filled about 12 bags of rubbish, mainly drinks cans and plastic bags , the cans going to the recycle bins at Coulby Newham collection point.

Here's Dave Elliot, our new Chairman, clearing the cans from below the Dell Close bridge. This area is one of the access points into the Dell so in clearing these cans away, we will give a much better impression to visitors.

Monday 19th December

Another cold frosty day although brilliant sunshine. The top lake was frozen and the bottom lake almost totally, only free of ice where the beck came in and around the island.

The Woodsmen have come back today for a few days extra work. Tyne, their horse, helped with the heavy work of pulling the logs out again.

The woods where alive with bird calls this morning, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long Tailed Tits, Robins, Blackbirds and Wrens all joined in together.

16 Mallards today 9 of them males and 5 Moorhens all on the bottom lake.

The West Beck Way path again had Greenfinches and a couple of Chaffinches also three Bullfinches, 2 males and a female.


Walking up the steps into the park I could hear Coal tits calling, turned out to be three birds in the ivy covered trees at the top of the path.


In the park, an elderly gentleman walking his dog was filling up a bag with rubbish using a gripper stick ! a true "friend of Fairy Dell"



Dropping down the side of the wood towards the beck another three Bullfinches ! all males showing well their pinky red breasts and jet black caps. Watching these I caught site of something flying past me and back up the beck, the way it was flying looked very much like a wagtail. Doubling back and towards the ford to see if I could find it, there it was, a Grey Wagtail, bobbing up and down on the rocks in the beck. An unmistakable bird with grey back and lemon vent and breast. It searched around the ford for a while then flew off back up the beck.

Saturday 16th

A very cold afternoon today, part of the bottom lake was still frozen ! 6 Mallards today, they seem to be paired up never leaving each other.
The Kingfisher was there again today flying up and down the west bank of the lake. Up on the west beck way path, two groups of finches, 4 Chaffinch and 6 Greenfinch.

Found the large group of Tits around the Dell ford, around 20 birds of Long Tailed Tits, Blue Tits and Great Tits also a Treecreeper with them. I would guess this is the same group I see regular, especially as the Treecreeper is normally present with the group.


Cutting through the wood to the park I flushed 2 Redwing, the first of this winter. They both showed the red patch under the wing as they flew off into the wood.
The Redwing is a winter visitor to us from the Scandinavian region often seen in large flocks with Fieldfares, usually for the Dell, you can see few of these together in the park but not yet this year.

Friday 16th

Very quiet down in the Dell this morning, where have all the birds gone ? Walked along the path for the first time since the trees had been thinned out . Access through here is much better now, no more climbing over branches and logs ! the light here is also much better, will have to see what happens in the springtime, see what comes up.

Decided to have another look around the bottom lake, which was a good decission as the Kingfisher was there again. It was skullking in the low branches but again showed itself lit up in the sun. I've seen it in this spot several times now, maybe it will nest here this year.

Not many Mallards today, just the two pairs and a couple of Moorhen. Whilst watching the Kingfisher a group of around 20 tits arrives in the trees above me, mainly Blue Tits and Great Tits with around 6 Long Tailed.

Up on the West Beck path the "Willow" Tit was seen again in this spot . Also single Chaffinch and Goldfinch and a few Blue Tits in the Alder trees.

A view of the Top Lake

Here is a picture of the top lake.

The top lake is fed by a little stream and then overflows down a waterfall into the bottom lake. This lake had a small boat house , the foundations of which still remain, and around the far side of the lake some rock landscaping.

It is on this lake that the female Teal stayed for a few days but usually it's only Mallards and Moorhens, both of which nested and raised young.

Tuesday 13th December

A sunny but cold afternoon.

The water levels have gone back down after the last couple of weeks rain and the beck has slowed down a lot after last weeks rapids !

Had a look at the results of the logging. All the work along the beck seems to be done with the result that there is a lot more light getting in and the access on the west side of the beck is much improved.

The work on the trees has stopped now until after Christmas.

Wildlife seen today

On the top lake 14 mallards, 7 male and 7 females and the usual 2 Moorhens. Walking across the bridge there were 4 Goldcrests in the ivy covered trees on the lake edge.

Walking down to the bottom lake, there were another 9 mallards,giving a total of 23 ducks today and another 4 Moorhens. Whilst walking along the lake side path a Kingfisher called and flew low along the bankside then perched on branch on the lake's island. It gave great views of blue and orange in the bright sun. I hadn't seen it for a while which was probably down to the amount of disturbed silt in the beck and lake after all the rain.

Plenty of Blue tits, Great tits and Long tailed tits in groups flitting across the paths around the lake. One group had what looked like a Willow Tit (I never can quite say for definate whether it's Willow or Marsh).

A group of Magpies started getting alarmed, making a lot of noise, looking up I caught sight of a male Sparrowhawk flapping and gliding across the lake and over to the park.

At the top of the steps into the park, something caught my eye moving in the field. What I thought was a rat turned out to be a small Hedgehog !

The work starts

The start of the work began last Monday when the Woodsmen arrived to start clearing the trees identified by Elisabeth Langton, a Project Support Officer from Middlesbrough Council . Chris Wadsworth leads the team using his horse ( Tyne or Tees ) to do the heavy work of pulling the felled wood around.
The horse will be much kinder to the wood and doesn't damage the ground like a machine would.
The trees selected for felling are going to be used in the Dell, the larger trunks will be made into natural seating and the smaller bits are going to be chipped to provide a temporary surface to the pathways through the beck valley.

A little history of the Dell

Fairy Dell is a wooded beck valley and a small Park in Marton , Middlesbrough. There are two lakes, a top lake connected to the bottom lake by a small waterfall.
These features were part of the estate of Gunnergate Hall and the Dell was set out as a walk in the natural wooded valley. The owners of the Gunnergate Estate were the Vaughans, local Ironmasters, and lastly , Raylton Dixon who was a local ship builder. The Hall was occupied during both wars by the army and fell into dissrepair after they left, eventually being pulled down.
The bottom lake ( Gunnergate Lake ) was modified much later by the Middlesbrough authorities, to hold water in times of heavy rain so as not to flood the lower reaches of the beck that is in Middlesbrough.
The beck in the little valley is called Marton West Beck and flows through the Marton area to the Tees at Middlesbrough.

The wildlife in the Dell include most of the common woodland birds and the lakes have breeding Mallards and Moorhen. You can usually find a Heron on the lake early in the morning and if you are lucky you can catch a glimpse of a Kingfisher as it flies along the lake edge.
The most unusual birds seen, for the Dell, were a Common Sandpiper, Teal, Siskin and a female Mandarin Duck.

Mammals seen : Fox, Shrew, Water Vole ( not seen for a while but plenty of holes ) plenty of Grey Squirells and Roe Deer.