Witton Lakes and Brookvale Park, Erdington.

Witton Lakes.

First off today it was a trip to Witton Lakes which ironically located in Erdington and not Witton for a walk around the two medium sized lakes. Highlight of the day had to be seeing five Ruddy Duck, I say highlight because there are now less than one hundred of them apparently left in this country and they'll be gone soon thanks to the government led cull, it's so far cost over £5million to kill around 6,500 of them, that's money well spent then. I actually didn't see a single song bird here at all even though I did here a Robin and some Goldfinch. But what did make up for a lack of song bird activity was a nice mixture of water fowl including around 30 Mute Swan. I also found two dead Carrion Crow here that had been shot by some arse hole, there are always a lot of Corvids at this site, but that doesn't make it right though.

Birds seen at Witton Lakes were Ruddy Duck, Shoveler, Wigeon, Pochard, Gadwall, Little Grebe, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Coot, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Canada Goose, Pied Wagtail, Blackbird, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon and Feral Pigeon.

Then it was off to the nearby Brookvale Park which is fed water from Witton Lakes.

Brookvale Park.

So then it was a walk around Brookvale Park which is apparently exactly one mile all the way around where the highlight of the day was a no brainer, a pair of Goldrest, firstly because they a great little bird and I do mean little and secondly it's only the second time I've seen them in Birmingham. I first saw them hopping about near the top of a Willow tree and I thought they were a couple of Wrens but it did seem to high for Wrens being as they're normally seen in bushes on the ground, so upon closer inspection they were indeed a couple of Goldcrest, you can't beat that rush of excitement when you see that yellow stripe on top of there head and then that's it you've just got to follow them everywhere they go. Also worth mentioning is that there were over thirty Cormorant here, which is quite a lot for a medium sized lake, hopefully they'll be left alone and not get persecuted. On Swan Island there were also three Grey Heron including one of this years juveniles, which was half the size of the two adults. It was nice to see four Domestic/Greylag hybrid Goose, which I've never seen at this location before. If you've read this blog before you'll already know I've got an affection for the humble House Sparrow, so it was pleasing to see many here in two separate groups around the lake. Brookvale Park was also the place where the song birds were hiding as you'll see by my following list.

Birds seen at Brookvale Park were Goldcrest, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, House Sparrow, Robin, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Pied Wagtail, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Cormorant, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Pochard, Pekin Duck,  Tufted Duck, Mallard, Coot, Canada Goose and Domestic/Greylag hybrid. 

Here are some links relating to today's musings.

Ruddy Duck extermination (this article is from March 2012) 

Ruddy Duck. 

Goldcrest. 

US Rockers 'Wheatus' at Brookvale Park.