Saturday 1 July 2017

Southfields Farm, Coleshill.







Another trip today to Southfields Farm in Coleshill, primarily to see what juvenile birds were around and to see what the wildflower meadow looked like.

The wildflower meadow as you can see was stunning with all the usual wildflowers present as what you'd expect to see, Birds Foot Trefoil, Oxeye Daisy, Cornflower, Knapweed, Red and White Clover among many others, strangely though there are no Poppies in the meadow they are in an adjacent field instead. The meadow was also buzzing with bees, butterflies and banded demoiselles.

I started and finished my walk with some great juvenile bird sightings, firstly at the beginning of today's walk it was my great pleasure to see a pair of juvenile Goldcrest, even though they are not as colourful as the adults they are still a stunning little bird, judging by the calling I could hear there were more than two but I only spotted one pair, I'm not complaining though as it's not everyday that you're lucky enough to see fledgling Goldcrests. Then at the end of the walk it was juvenile bird heaven, with a good fifty spotted in and around the area where John leaves huge logs and and there are many trees and bushes, juveniles seen in this small area were House Sparrow, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Linnet, Pied Wagtail and last but not least House Martin, the Sparrows and Finches were either feeding or drinking from the ground or getting insects from the trees and bushes whereas the House Martin chicks looked like they had very recently just fledged because they were still being fed by the adults on a ledge under a disused farming construction, I have never seen so many juveniles in one place before maybe that was because there is quite a large visible area to observe them and it's a great habitat for many birds with large open dusty spaces, fields, the farm buildings and plenty of weeds etc, all in a relatively small area.

Birds seen today, Goldcrest, Skylark, Linnet, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Chiffchaff, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Starling, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Collared Dove, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Pied Wagtail, Swift and House Martin.

Also seen and definitely heard were a pair of Hare, you can't miss them with those large ears and you can't help but hear them when their feet are thumping the ground when running.

2 comments:

  1. Super post - the wildflower meadow is looking stunning - such a great environment for insects :) Good to hear of all the juvenile birds too. We had good views of a hare in a field by the river when we went a few weeks ago to the Open Day. I really must revisit soon.

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    1. Thank you ! As you know photos don't do wildflower meadows justice, it looked amazing in person. The farm is a great place to visit any time of the year, always plenty of birds and wildlife to see :)

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