Sheldon Heath Country Park.

Nice trip out to a sunny and warm Sheldon Heath Country Park where it was nice to walk the parts of the park which were too waterlogged on previous visits even though we could do with a drop of rain now to help out the Thrushes, Starlings and Badgers etc.

Highlight of the day was seeing a Comma Butterfly because I don't see one very often and it's stunning looking butterfly in the flesh, just a pity I didn't get a photo of it, also seen were Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood and hundreds if not thousands of Ringlet fluttering in and around the overgrown grassland adjacent to the airport.

Birdwise the highlight was seeing House Sparrows that numbered in the hundreds, they were located by the houses, along the river and in the farm, it's always great to see and hear plenty of House Sparrow in huge numbers, as you should know by now the humble little House Sparrow is one of my favourite birds who often get overlooked by people.

Birds seen were Buzzard, one hunting over the park and one hunting over the grass in the airport, Whitethroat, Reed Bunting, Willow Warbler, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Chiffchaff, House Sparrow, Robin, Starling, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Jay, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie as well as the following juveniles, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit and Woodpigeon.

Kingsbury Water Park.

Nice trip out to an overcast but not too warm and muggy Kingsbury Water Park in Warwickshire.

Sight of the day had to be seeing a Kestrel pluck an unlucky Swallow out of the air over the River Tame that runs adjacent to the water park, the poor Swallow made a terrible screech when the Kestrel grabbed it and then was dispatched of in a tree overhanging the river, lets hope if it was feeding young that the other adult is still around to feed the juveniles.

As usual there was also plenty of Sedge Warbler resident amongst the river side vegetation where in one place you could here some very noisy chicks, not a good idea at the best of times especially when there were plenty of  Magpie and Carrion Crow about.

Today there was also Canada Goose Gosling aplenty with two separate lots seen, one on the river of fourteen and one on the water park of approximately forty, in fact I've not seen so many Canada Geese, be it adults or juveniles, in one place at the same location for a very long time.

Birds seen today were Kestrel, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Chiffchaff, Sedge Warbler, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Starling, House Martin, Swallow, Swift, Green Woopdecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Collared Dove, Blackbird, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Pied Wagtail, Common Tern, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Coot, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Domestic Duck, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose as well as the following juveniles, Cygnet (5), Duckling (4), Coot (14), Canada Goose Gosling (c.54), Greylag Goose Gosling (12), Grey Heron, Chiffchaff, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Robin.

Sutton Park.

Today it was a trip out to Sutton  Park even though I woke at 5:30 a.m. with a pounding headache and felt a bit sick but you can't let that keep you indoors when it's not raining and there's birding to be done.

For a change I'll start off with the bad, even though they happen in nature certain things are never nice to see, firstly I saw a Kestrel swooping over a pool where the Mute Swans and Mallards etc were, which had the poor Mallards in quite a frenzy flying around the pool and it then flew up into a copse which I always walk to and when I got there I saw something on the floor which just happened to be a Kestrel which upon closer inspection had a poor juvenile Blue Tit in it's talons which even when frightened off by my presence still took it's prey off with it when it flew high into the trees and then secondly it was initially great to see plenty of Linnet in amongst the Gorse happily singing away when I noticed three Magpie squabbling over something on the ground in amongst the Gorse and I knew instinctively they'd got something and when I had a look through the binoculars my suspicions were proved correct and one them had a juvenile bird which looked days away from fledging and at the same time a frantic Linnet flew out of the Gorse so I can only guess the victim was a poor Linnet nestling. Still to counteract that it was nice to see five healthy Cygnets and plenty of Blue and Great Tit juveniles foraging in amongst the many trees that adorn the park.

 Also nice to see were Green Woodpecker, Whitethroat, Meadow Pipit and Willow Warbler,

Birds seen today were Kestrel, Linnet, Whitethroat, Meadow Pipit, Willow Warbler, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Chihhchaff, Robin, Starling, Green Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Canada Goose as well as the following juveniles, Cygnets (5), Blue Tit, Great Tit and a Coot sitting on a huge nest.

Boat Inn (Minworth) Canalside walk.

Today was time for another walk down a stretch of one of Birmingham's many canals, it never ceases to amaze how many birders/twitchers or nature lovers don't have a walk down a canal because especially if it's like today it goes into the open countryside and is adjacent to farmers fields with plenty of trees and bushes. Today's walk from the Boat Canal in Minworth up to Curdworth and back to the car again.

Highlight of the day today had to be seeing and hearing the wonderful Skylark, it's always great to see them singing on the wing and it was also especially pleasing to see them feeding young in the farmers fields, hopefully they'll avoid the tractor etc, I only normally see one or two at a time but they numbered in double figures today.

Another highlight was seeing a male Reed Bunting singing on top of a telephone wire that ran adjacent to the farmers field.

Obviously also great to see was all the fledglings out and about foraging for food, I saw Blue Tits, Great Tits, Chaffinches and Goldfinches foraging about for food in the trees and Song Thrush, House Sparrow and Robins foraging on the ground.

Another fine sight to see was a couple of Common Tern flying up and down the canal looking for insects, always nice to see Terns away from the usual inland habitats like lakes and reservoirs etc.

Birds seen today were Buzzard, Skylark, Reed Bunting, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chiffchaff, House Sparrow, Wren, Robin, Starling, House Martin, Swallow, Common Tern, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, Grey Heron, Moorhen, Coot, Mallard, Canada Goose as well as the following juveniles, Duckling (23), Canada Goose (20), Moorhen (1), House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Song Thrush, Robin and Starling

Babbs Mill Nature Reserve, Solhull.

Nice trip over to Solihull to Babbs Mill Nature Reserve for a bit of birdwatching in the sunshine, yep that's right the sunshine.

Highlight of the day had to be seeing a Great Spotted Woodpeceker feeding young in a nest about twenty foot off the ground, as per usual it was one very noisy chick which was good because I might have walked right past the nest otherwise, the adult feeding the chick didn't really like my presence so I left and let it be, it was also nice to see three Cygnets, plenty of Blue Tit fledglings and Goslings. There was also a large number of House Sparrow seen today, flying to and from the eaves on houses, in bushes, around the waters edge and foraging among the grass.

Birds seen were Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, House Sparrow, Wren, Robin, Starling, House Martin, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Collared Dove, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Coot, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Domestic Goose, Canada Goose as well as the following juveniles, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blue Tit, Cygnet (3), Gosling (28) from four separate families, Moorhen (7) all from the same family and about a month old, Coot (9) as well as the following nesting birds, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Coot (3).

Butterflies seen today were Speckled  Wood, Small Tortoiseshell and Small White.