Babbs Mill Nature Reserve, Solihull.

With the rain finally deciding to stop falling for a change, it was back to birding again, which was nice. So it was off to Babbs Mill Nature Reserve in Solihull where it was unseasonably warm, in fact towards midday it was like a hot Spring morning.

Sight of the day was seeing a flock of c.50 noisy Jackdaw flying overhead as I was taking the picture of the Magpies in a tree (in the last but one photo you can just see the Jackdaw appearing in the bottom right of the picture). Also in this area were two fighting Grey Heron, which is probably why the Magpies had congregated in the tree, there was also birds being flushed out of the trees and bushes with the commotion being created by the Grey Heron's squabbling, birds dispersing were Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Dunnock, Jay, Blackbird, Carrion Crow and Magpie, like I said the Grey Heron's were definitely upsetting the peace, hopefully the left each other alone in the end with neither one getting hurt.

With leaves dropping with a gusto now Autumn is in full swing it's nice to see Jay's and Grey Squirrel's gathering this years bumper crop of Acorns, talking of bumper crops, the fruit bearing trees and bushes did spectacularly well this year. I've said this before but apple trees that didn't have a single apple last year are this year laden with thousands of apples of which many hundreds have already fallen to the floor.  

On the water it's nice to see the return of Shoveler, Wigeon and Gadwall who even though are not that colourful in themselves they still add a splash of colour and character to the water. There was also double figures of Little Grebe on the lake, which is always good to see.

Birds seen were Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, House Sparrow, Jay, Blackbird, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Little Grebe, Shoveler, Wigeon, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Moorhen, Coot, Domestic Goose and Canada Goose.