Shard End Lake.

(remnants of) Bracket Fungus (Laetiporus sulphureus).

Musk Mallow (Malva moschata.)

Cypress Spurge (Euphorbia cyparissias).

Tasmanian Poppy (Papaver Somniferum).

Trip out to a very overcast but cool Shard End Lake.

There was plenty of juvenile birds out and about again with my favourite today being the two Robin I saw being as they were the first ones I've seen this year. There was also plenty of Tit juveniles around as well a couple of Song Thrush and Blackbird juveniles and there was also a juvenile Great Crested Grebe on the lake.

Birds seen were Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Robin, Starling, House Martin, Swift, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Collared Dove, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Canada Goose as well as the following juveniles, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, House Sparrow, Robin, Starling, Blackbird, Great Crested Grebe (1), Duckling (21), Gosling (8) and Coot (1). In all likelihood there were some Moorhen chicks there as well being as a feisty Moorhen was chasing anything away then went near some bushes by one of the islands, just as well if there were any young ones they were safely hidden away.

One of the Goslings, which were about three weeks old, had an obvious leg injury which was undoubtedly caused by the litter left behind by the local 'anglers', I say that because by one peg I picked up four bags of litter and a pillow, the rubbish contained empty sweetcorn tins, hemp seed, empty lure packets, boilie packets as well as beer cans and empty crisp packets etc, in my opinion these so called 'anglers' are as big a nuisance as these bloody Chinese flying lanterns. If you want to see the rubbish I picked up around just one peg check out my Flickr photostream. When all's said and done let's hope the Gosling injury is not too bad and it's long term health is okay.

As I've said before this location is a real hotbed for House Sparrow, you could see and hear them all around the lake, on the houses and in the gardens, all along the River Cole and also on the new estate. It's always great to see plenty of House Sparrow around, they will always remain one of my favourite little birds.