Shustoke Resrvoir.

The trip to Shustoke Reservoir today was a very different tale of two birds, one good and the other bad. Quite literally on my first steps around the reservoir the Robin in the top picture appeared at my feet clearly looking for food so I treated him to some mealworms which obviously went down a treat, I left some for him by the fence away from the foot traffic and started walking around the water when I noticed a Black Headed Gull on the waters edge which I fully expected to fly off as I got closer, sadly it didn't because it was clearly dead, so I risked life and limb (I'm not exaggerating) trying to get near it to retrieve it, I eventually had to get there and back on my bum, which meant I ended up getting filthy, but it was worth it because you should know by now I don't just leave deceased animals if I see them, I brought a dead Black Headed Gull home from Birmingham city centre last week and buried in the garden, anyway the bird I found today had no external injuries whatsoever and looked like it had just died through the cold, I took it to a location around the Fly Fishers pool and buried in it's final resting place under the dead tree stump covered in moss in the last picture.

Highlights apart from the friendly Robin were seeing c.40 Redwing foraging on the grass in a field were horses are kept, also present on the grass were Song Thrush, Blackbird, Robin, House Sparrow, Dunnock and Chaffinch, it's always nice to see many different species of bird foraging in the same location. On the water it was nice to see Little Grebe, Gadwall, Wigeon and Pochard, on the fly fishers pool there were c.50 Tufted Duck and c.60 Pochard.

Birds seen today were Buzzard, Kestrel, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Robin, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Redwing, Song Thrush, Jay, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Pied Wagtail, Mute Swan, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Gadwall, Wigeon, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Mallard and Canada Goose.

Sutton Park.

Had another trip to North Birmingham to visit Sutton Park despite horrendous road works and the weather looking a bit dodgy, luckily it was worth the trip all the same.

Yet again there wasn't a huge variety of birds around so the highlight of the day was to hear many Song Thrush singing which is always nice to hear, I also heard a lot of Greenfinch singing, it's not the greatest of songs I know but it's always nice to hear that your in the presence of Greenfinch. The most numerous bird seen was toss up between Woodpigeon and Carrion Crow which sound obvious but even though there are always a high number of Carrion Crow here, I don't always see too many Woodpigeon yet there loads flying around and in the trees today.

Birds seen today were, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Jay, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Coot, Tufted Duck, Mallard and Canada Goose.

Babbs Mill Nature Reserve, Solihull.

Nice trip out to Solihull to visit Babbs Mill Nature Reserve which was largely frozen which was strange because Shard End Lake which is nearby was mostly unfrozen.

Highlight of the day was seeing a Water Rail which was foraging around amongst the waterside vegetation, I'd been told there were a couple at this site by a local so it was nice to actually spot on. Other than that it was the usual mixture of birds including plenty of Tit and Finches as well as many vocal Wren, there have been Shoveler and Goosander present on the lake recently but sadly there were none around today.

Birds seen today were, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Bullfinch, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Collared Dove, Blackbird, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Wqoodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Grey Wagtail, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Water Rail, Moorhen, Coot, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Domestic Goose (who are now sadly down to eight birds, if the council insist on killing the young again this year they'll never get their numbers back up) and Canada Goose. 

I also left many piles of bird seed, mealworms, sunflower hearts etc, on my travels today, which is something I always do anyway whatever the weather but obviosly any supplementary food for the birds in winter is literally a matter of life and death.

As you can see in the last picture I came across a nice bit of fly tipping to go with all the usual rubbish you find littered everywhere in this country, I'm not going to have a rant about the disgusting 'people' who insist on dropping litter but I will say if I could find out who left this fly tipping I would leave it on their doorstep or better still I would put it through their letterbox piece by piece and see how they like it !

Shustoke Reservoir.

Nice trip out to North Warwickshire to visit Shutoke Reservoir where even though the both ends and the edges were frozen solid, thankfully the main body of water was ice free leaving plenty of room for the waterfowl but that didn't stop the c.200 Coot squabbling, nothing new there then ! There was even a pair of Great Created Grebe practicing their courtship dance, unfortunately they stopped when I noticed so I didn't manage to get photos. I also treated to a five minute slow flurry, nice while it lasted though.

There wasn't a great variety of birds around but it was unusual to see three main birds of prey, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard and Kestrel, there quarry is obviously easier to see when there's snow/frost on the ground. Other than the that the sight of the day was seeing c.30 Mealy Redpoll flying over the reservoir towards the trees and open grassland.

Birds seen today were, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Kestrel, Mealy Redpoll, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Starling, Blackbird, Collared Dove, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, Pied Wagtail, Grey Heron, Cormorant, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Coot, Tufted Duck, Mallard and Canada Goose.