Brookvale Park and Rookery Park, Erdington.

                   Brookvale Park.

 

                   Rookery Park.

First off today was a trip to Brookvale Park in Erdington, then a trip to Erdington high street to do some shopping then a short visit to Rookery Park for some scran and a quick walk around the gardens. Without a doubt the highlight of the day was a stunning but very shy male Mandarin duck at Brookvale Park, apparently it visits Brookvale every year until it gets chased off by other water fowl. Mandarin ducks in Britain are the descendants of captive-bred ducks which escaped or were deliberately released. Mandarins are one of the few duck species which are not hunted for food - apparently they taste really bad ! Other notable bird species seen today were a healthy amount of House Sparrow, House Martin, Goldfinch, Starling, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Tufted Duck, Grey Heron, Cormorant, fifty plus Mute Swan, and some day old Goslings. I also counted 14 Coots, 2 Great Crested Grebe and 1 Mute Swan on nests. Notable bird species spotted on the short visit to Rookery Park were Wren, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch and Robin.