Thursday 17 July 2014

Newhall Valley Country Park.






Nice early trip out to Sutton to visit the ever wonderful Newhall Valley Country Park.

Highlight of the day is a tough one today in fact it's impossible to choose so it's going to have to be a draw between seeing juvenile Wren and Nuthatch who ironically were seen in exactly the same place but separate sides of a patch adjacent to the Plants Brook, there was loads of movement in the bushes which upon investigation just happened to be a flock/family of Wren including many juveniles, when I was looking at them I heard the familiar sound of the Nuthatch so I had a look and was surprised to see two adults and at least four juvenile Nuthatch, there could have been more but they were high up scurrying about a tree with plenty of leaf cover.

Also great to see was still the huge amount of juvenile birds around of which I'll detail at the end of post.

By the Hotel the council have left the grass on the hill unmown again and the wildflower looks fantastic again, with plenty of different and varied plants present.

Birds seen were Buzzard, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Collared Dove, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Moorhen, Coot, Mallard, Canada Goose as well as the following juveniles, Nuthatch, Wren, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, House Sparrow, Collared Dove, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Moorhen, Mallard Duckling, Canada Goose Gosling plus I also saw and heard a juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker at the end of my road when I was leaving this morning, the first time I've ever seen one in my road.

Butterflies seen today were Small Skipper (hundreds of them), Comma, Small Tortoiseshell, Meadow Brown, Ringlet and Small White.


I don't if you check my Flickr but I've also set up a new YouTube account where I'll be uploading plenty of birding and wildlife videos as well as my Emergency Service Vehicle videos plus anything else I find interesting.

4 comments:

  1. Apologies if you get this comment twice. I wasn't signed in the first time and the comment had disappeared!!

    Wonderful photos. So good to hear that wildflowers are being allowed to flourish. I've been thinking of visiting this site since passing it on our way to Newhall Mill.

    Do you know please if they have water voles at the country park? I picked up a leaflet at the mill which suggested they were present. Thanks.

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    1. Thanks,

      It's definitely worth a visit, there's always plenty to see and do, there's also a great Wildflower Meadow at Babbs Mill Nature Reserve.

      Apparently Water Voles are present but I've never seen them but with Himalayan Balsam currently taking over the Plants Brook they'd be very hard to spot even if they were present.

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  2. Thanks so much for the reply. I'll visit the Newhall Country Park - might look for water voles early next Spring when less vegetation is around. I will also try and get to Babbs Mill NR - thanks also for the info that there is a wildlife meadow there too. Enjoyed your most recent post too - lovely butterfly photos :)

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    1. No problem.

      Thanks for your lovely comments :)

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