Cannon Hill Park, Edgbaston.

Time to give another new place a visit, namely that of Cannon Hill Park, somewhere I haven't been since I was a lad and the mighty Aston Villa F.C. were Champions Of Europe, which was in 1982 for those too young to remember. Talking of Champions, the park is directly opposite Edgabston Cricket Ground, home of the Warwickshire Bears who were crowned 2012 LV County Champions only days ago. Cannon Hill Park is less than two miles from Birmingham City Centre and is an area of roughly 57 acres which includes two large large pools and many other small ones, a wonderful collection of trees, beautiful flowerbeds and is also adjacent to the River Rea. Basically it's an ideal habitat for our birds and wildlife and those of us that like to observe them both.

It actually didn't end up being a vintage day for bird spotting with it being windy and still plenty of leaf cover, what was nice to see was as well as the usual Canada Goose and Mallard population there was also plenty of Moorhens with at least eleven juveniles spotted, ranging from days old chicks to older juveniles but still with their downy appearance. There was also countless Grey Herons on the two large pools with three juveniles seen. I also thought I'd seen the last of this years Mallard ducklings but there were two ducklings seen today that were probably less than a week old. I have never seen so many Grey Squirrels as I did today, quite literally everywhere you went, with a lot of them coming up to you for food, they took bird seed straight away but didn't want any of my apple, which was strange. There is also plenty of different types of trees, which is never a bad thing especially as when I'm out and about, the council and private houses seem obsessed with chopping them down.

Birds seen today were, Kestrel, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Grey Heron, Moorhen, Coot, Mallard, Canada Goose, Herring Gull as well as the following juveniles, Grey Heron (3), Moorhen (11), Duckling (2) and Woodpigeon.

Here are any links if you're interested reading any more about the park, Cannon Hill Park (Birmingham City Council), Cannon Hill Park Friends , and Wikipedia.