River Cole. Hodge Hill.

Something a bit different today after Villa's glorious eventual display at West Brom yesterday after claiming a 2-2 draw after being 2-0 down after ten minutes, namely that of getting the bus to Burnley Lane in Stechford and walking an approximate four mile stretch of the River Cole mainly around the Hodge Hill area of Birmingham.

Highlight of day was seeing two separate flocks of c.50 Redwing at the same time, the first flock were at the top of Poplar trees whilst the other flock flew overhead. Also nice to see were the usual copious amounts of House Sparrow and Starling at this location especially when you were closer to the houses. Other birds seen in large amounts were Carrion Crow, who definitely numbered in the hundreds, Great Spotted Woodpecker, of which I could have seen ten separate individual birds and Grey Heron who numbered at least eight, either fishing on the banks of the River Cole, in trees or flying overhead. A bird seen in single figures but spotted twice was a Buzzard seen in two separate trees along the far side of River Cole observing what was going on below until on the first time I observed it when it was being harassed by a lone Carrion Crow from the tree down the river.

Birds seen were Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chafffinch, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Wren, Robin, Starling, Redwing, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Collared Dove, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Grey Heron and Mallard.