Kingsbury Water Park.

Today was time for another trip out to Warwickshire to visit a surprisingly very humid Kingsbury Water Park with my snazzy new camera being as my other ones developed a major fault.

As soon as I stepped out of the car I saw adult House Martin's feeding at least two healthy juveniles in a nest on top of a burglar alarm on a newsagents, let's hope they're fed up enough for their long journey ahead.

A 'fisherman' was no doubt to blame when I saw the sad sight of one of this years juvenile Canada Goose struggling about on one foot, 'fisherman' and their fishing line have a lot to answer for I'm afraid. It's almost as disgusting as Sandwell Council culling around 220 Canada Geese including days old Goslings because of the 'mess' they create and so they can introduce more 'ornamental' ducks, absolutely disgraceful !

Birds seen were Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, House Martin, Swallow, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Pied Wagtail, Lapwing, Cormorant, Common Tern, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Coot, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Domestic Duck, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose as well as the following juveniles, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Dunnock, House Martin, Pied Wagtail and Coot.

Pype Hayes Park.

Short, early morning trip around Pype Hayes Park this morning, it was short due to me not feeling very well and my camera has decide to play up !

Highlights were seeing a flock of c.30 Goldfinch which included many juveniles also in the same area was a family of Chiffchaff also not to far from this spot was a family of Blue Tit which also included many juveniles.

Birds seen were Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Chiffchaff, Robin, Wren, Dunnock, Starling, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, House Martin, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Coot, Muscovy Duck and Mallard plus the following juveniles, Goldfinch, Chiffchaff, Blue Tit, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow and Magpie.

It was great to see the Rowan Berry fruit in abundance.

Due to the lack of photos I thought I'd post this photo of Great black-backed gull who for some unknown reason was trying to gain some sustenance from some Budweiser.

Sheldon Country Park.

Trip over to Sheldon Park today to take in some Birding, Plane, Train and Emergency Service Vehicle spotting.

To be honest birds, butterflies and wildlife in general where pretty quiet today hence the photos of my other hobbies, the only exciting thing that happened was when I was going through the long grass to get a photo of Birmingham Airport Fire and Rescue OSHKOSH Striker I accidentally spooked a Green Woodpecker that was foraging on the ground who then proceeded to fly towards the grass at the end of the runway whilst loudly making it's displeasure known for my untoward interruption.

Birds seen today were Sparrowhawk, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Robin, House Martin, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blackbird, Collared Dove, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie as well as the following juveniles, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Carrion Crow.

Butterflies seen were Speckled Wood and Meadow Brown.

Regardless of what birds and wildlife I did or didn't see, needless to say it's always nice to get and about anyway.

Yesterday this huge beast was on the wall in the back garden, I'm no expert but I would say it's a Cricket.

Sutton Park.

Today was the first birding trip out in a week so I decided a trip to Sutton Park was the order of the day especially as it's been nearly two months since my last visit here.

On my last visit here there were five very cute Cygnets and thankfully there are still five Cygnets present and they look much bigger than last time and more importantly look very healthy, other than that the highlights were seeing and hearing many Great Spotted and Green Woodpecker, with at least five juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker either seen and heard, I've also never seen so many Green Woodpecker as I did today with double numbers of the bird seen, but that could have been because I went into the moorland that borders the golf club where many people don't venture to so is obviously a quiet habitat for Green Woodpeckers. Also nice to see was a Whitethroat taking caterpillars into the plentiful Gorse clearly feeding it's young.

Also seen today were some Stock Dove along the woodland edges, I've never seen them here before maybe they were just passing through to Pype Hayes Park which is the normal location I see them in.


Another highlight was finding two separate spots of Slime Mold (Fuligo septica) more commonly known as 'dog vomit', as you can see I found both yellow and white Slime Molds, which is quite unusual because I normally find one or the other, not both. Strange and wonderful is Slime Mold because they are not plants, not fungi, not animals, but something all unto themselves.

Birds seen today were Whitethroat, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Robin, House Martin, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jay, Blackbird, Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Coot, Mallard, Canada Goose as well as the following juveniles, Cygent (5), Coot (1), Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Carrion Crow.

Strangely enough there where not very many Butterflies about today with the only species seen was Meadow Brown.