Kingsbury Water Park.

Another trip over to Warwickshire today, this time to visit Kingsbury Water Park which looked great in all it's Autumnal loveliness.

A mixed bag of news today unfortunately, firstly I'll start with the good news, it's was great to see plenty of mixed flock of birds, mostly Tits and Finches, there was a great flocks of c.50 Goldfinch by the waters edge near the visitors centre feasting on Alder berries also in the same area was a flock of c.50 Chaffinch foraging on the grass, finally around one of the pools there was a mixed flock of Blue, Great and Long Tailed Tit making their way from one tree to another. In that same area there was also two Little Egret having a noisy quarrel. On the water it was great to see plenty of Great Crested Grebe and Shoveler as well as the resident Greylag Geese.

Now I have to get to the bad news, right near the entrance to Tamworth Sailing Club there was a young Black Headed Gull lying on the floor looking very distressed, so I approached it and picked it up and it had clearly had at least one broken wing, so I thought I'd take it to someone in the shop (she was useless and disinterested) so I tried a ranger (he just ignored me) regardless of all this, the poor creature passed away during this time, the poor bird looked like it had been the victim of a car strike because unbelievably in exactly the same area there were two recent Moorhen victims as well because when I picked them up they hadn't been dead for very long, being as the car park was full and it's near a bend I can only presume they had died due to the careless driving of the patrons of Tamworth Sailing Club, if I'm correct they should hang their heads in shame especially as the Gull was left dying, injured by the road side and the Moorhens were left discarded on top of a pile of bark chippings like some rubbish ! I took all three birds about half an hour into the woods off the beaten track and gave them at least a half decent burial because personally I can't just leave deceased wildlife rotting away on the side of the road.

Birds seen today were Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Pied Wagtail, Cormorant, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Shoveler, Gadwall, Domestic Duck, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Greylag Goose and Canada Goose.

I also stopped off in Coleshill for dinner after my birding trip to Kingsbury Water Park, but I'm always birding so birds I saw were a fantastic flock of c.50 House Sparrow in a tree in the memorial park, plenty of Pied Wagtail foraging on the grass in the park, another fantastic flock, this time of c.100 Starling by Coleshill Fire Station, Collared Dove, Jackdaw and a lovely looking juvenile Woodpigeon.

Ward End Park.

Had a trip to Ward End Park today being as I was passing through the area and had an hour to spare.

Nothing much to report really apart from there were the usual c.100 Canada Goose present, both on the water and feeding on the grass, there was also a lone Domestic Duck but unfortunately the Silver Appleyard Duck I've seem on previous visits was nowhere to be seen, let's hope it was just out of sight and no harm has come to it like the Mute Swan (one of this years Cygnets) at Pype Hayes Park that has been found beheaded and dumped on the grass, I don't know anymore about this despicable act but I have seen the pictures and I'll let you know more if and when I find anything more about this incident.

Birds seen today were Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Goldfinch, Wren, Robin, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Pied Wagtail, Grey Heron, Cormorant, Coot, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Domestic Duck, Greylag Goose and Canada Goose.

Shutoke Reservoir.

Another great trip out to Warwickshire to visit Shustoke Reservoir where there were plenty of birds present both on and off the water.

Highlights were seeing a flock of c.20 Corn Bunting foraging on the floor in open grassland adjacent to the railway line, Corn Bunting were also spotted foraging on the concrete floor around the reservoir where the water has receded, talking of the reservoir it was brilliant to see upward of 40 Mute Swan on the water especially as there were some of this years Cygnets at different stages of development so presumably adults and young have flown in from various locations, there were also c.80 Lapwing present who showed their presence when a Buzzard flew over when they went into full protection mode by taking to the skies and making one heck of a noise until said Buzzard took off, also seen were a flock of Siskin flitting about the pine trees, it was also great to see there was a flock of .c100 Woodpigeon flying out of a tree in one of the farmers fields and dispersing in all directions.

Birds seen today were, Sparrowhawk (taking a songbird), Buzzard, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Coal Tit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Corn Bunting, Siskin, Nuthatch, Redwing, Blackbird, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Grey Heron, Lapwing, Mute Swan, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Little Grebe, Shoveler, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Greylag Goose and Canada Goose.

Pype Hayes Park.

Nice early morning trip to a very Autumnal looking Pype Hayes Park where despite some people wearing hats and gloves it was actually very warm.

It was nice to see that the Mute Swans and this years young have made the trip from Plantsbrook Nature Reserve to Pype Hayes Park, they normally come over in May when they are very small Cygnets but apparently they came over a few weeks ago and look strong and healthy, the only downside being that there were originally six and now there's only four. I've said this on a few occasions before but the Muscovy Duck now looks great and appears to be thriving here, I even seen it bullying Mallards today and not being scared off by them like it used to.

Other than that, highlights were seeing four Bullfinch flying over the river, seeing many Wren along the river, which are clearly much easier to see now that the Himalayan Balsam has died down, finally it was great to see the park full of (noisy) Song Thrush and Blackbirds even though yet another tree has been chopped down, that's double figures they've cut down this year, God knows why ?

Birds seen today were Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Bullfinch, Robin, Wren, House Sparrow, Nuthatch, Song Thrush, Jay, Blackbird, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Pied Wagtail, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Coot, Muscovy Duck, Mallard and Canada Goose.

Babbs Mill Nature Reserve, Solihull.

Had another trip over to Solihull to visit Babbs Mill Nature Reserve which looked great in it's Autumnal colours but with winter just around the corner.

Again I was hoping to see plenty of Redwing and Fieldfare but alas I saw neither, in fact the most exciting sights were seen above today, namely that of two separate flocks of c.50 Woodpigeon flying overhead one to the left of where I was looking and the other to the right, also seen flying overhead at the same time were a flock of c.20 Tufted Duck and c.20 Shoveler.

There were lots of waterfowl on Kingshurst Lake with around c.100 Coot, c.50 Canada Geese, c.10 Mute Swan, it was also nice to around c.30 Shoveler, unfortunately the Domestic Geese are now down to 8, they've always had a hard time ever since they were 'dumped' here.

Birds seen today were Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Starling, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Jay, Blackbird, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Pied Wagtail, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Coot, Shoveler, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Domestic Goose and Canada Goose.

Sutton Park.

Today was time another visit to North Birmingham and visit the massive Sutton Park with it's many varied habitats.

I was hoping to see plenty of Redwing and Fieldfare and I actually ending up seeing none of either, unless you count Blackbirds I didn't see a single Thrush ! In fact I didn't see any birds out of the ordinary but it was still nice to see plenty of Tits, Finches, Robins and some lovely Shoveler on the water, whether you see lots of birds or not it's always a pleasure to visit this location.

Birds see today were, Kestrel, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Robin, Wren, Dunnock, Pied Wagtail, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jay, Blackbird, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Grey Heron (one of this years juveniles), Mute Swan, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Coot and Canada Goose.

It was also nice to see plenty of Fungi around especially Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) with c.30 found under one Silver Birch.

Plantsbrook Nature Reserve.

Trip over to Pype Hayes today to visit a very Autumnal looking Plantsbrook Nature Reserve where the highlight over the day had to be seeing two separate flocks of Redwing flying overhead with the first containing c.80 birds and the second containing c.50 birds, lets hope there's many berries for them to feast on this Autumn/Winter.

Birds seen today were, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Goldfinch, Robin, Wren, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Redwing, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Cormorant, Moorhen, Coot, Tufted Duck, Mallard and Canada Goose.