To say a visit to Middleton Lakes was well overdue is an understatement, it's been over eighteen months since my last visit and it was like I'd never been away.
There is only one place to start today because I went to Tame Fest in Coleshill on Saturday which was an event celebrating Tame Valley Wetlands heritage and there was a stall from the RSPB at Middleton Lakes who informed me that there are Avocet chicks there ! So that was it I was off there today and I found them, all four of them, four hatched and thankfully all four are still with us at the moment and there is also another Avocet on the nest, which is just as exciting. They are the only Avocet chicks in Staffodshire at the moment and one of one two to fledge in the Midlands this year. Any other visit the Cuckoo I saw would have been top of the list but not today.
The friendly Robin who feeds out of your hand is still there, saying that there were at least four having mealworms from my hand and there were also friendly Nuthatch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Dunnock and a Pheasant quite happy to get the food left on the floor, the handrail on the bridge or from wooden stumps on the floor.
Other noteworthy birds seen today were Yellow Wagtail, who's colours were absolutely amazing even from a distance, Sedge Warbler, Reed Bunting, Mealey Redpoll, Whitethroat, Reed Bunting, Cuckoo, Little Ringed Plover, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, and Shelduck.
Other than the four Avocet chicks I saw, juvenile birds spotted were seven Duckling, fifteen Canada Goose Gosling, six Greylag Goose Gosling and five Coot.
Birds seen today were Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Starling, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Robin, Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Reed Bunting, Mealy Redpoll, Swift, Swallow, House Martin, Cuckoo, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Jay, Blackbird, Rook, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woopdigeon, Feral Pigeon, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Pheasant (Male), Common Tern, Cormorant, Lapwing, Avocet, Oystercatcher, Little Ringed Plover, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Shelduck,
Gadwall,Tufted Duck, Mallard, Greylag Goose and Canada Goose.
I think it's safe to say that my next visit here will not be another eighteen months time !
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