17^th October Tyne in heavy spate. This is the third one this year, plus one which kept going for more than two weeks.

29^th October Tyne has been running high since 17^th October.

24^th November Saw a kingfisher at the bottom of the mill lade at St. Mary’s Church.

10^th December Two strange ducks on the water at the Nungate Bridge.

21^st December Two kingfishers in the Mill Lade, this shows that the kingfisher is becoming quite common when they are fishing away from the river.

23^rd December I have always wondered about the crows and where they go to in the mornings. You can see them best at this time of year as they go off to their feeding grounds at the first streak of dawn. I tried to follow them on my motorbike when I was young. I followed them as far west as the A68 road and they were still flying west. Maybe now that I have more time I may just finish what I started all those years ago.

24^th December The two collared doves that perched on the cherry tree behind my flat had four youngsters in the summer, so there’s now six doves sitting in the tree and they make much more noise in early summer than when there was only two of them. So here’s to next summer.

25^th December Christmas brought natural disaster of a different kind when our TV was

full of the Asian earthquake and terrifying Tsunami.

9^th January Saw a cormorant come up with two trout out of four dives. How it could see anything in chocolate coloured spate water beats me.

24^th January More cormorants fishing above the Victoria weir.

28^th January Two big divers with auburn heads and crests looked for fish by swimming normally with heads under water and diving when they saw a fish. Body of bird was mottled, mainly white and perhaps dark patches. It was difficult to see properly in the grey light of dawn.

3^rd February Two cormorants took fourteen trout in a half hour of fishing between the Nungate brig and the Victoria weir.

18^th February Otter was seen at the Braeheads opposite East Haugh. If you walk round the river in early morning your more likely to see an otter.

27^th February Three otters were seen at Tyne Court.

15^th March An adult otter was seen by a woman walking her dog on the new riverside path to the Abbey Bridge.

16^th March Two mallard ducks have paired off with strange females but don’t know if anything will come of it. Have seen the same thing in other years, but no conclusions.

DAVID J MOTHERWELL