Southfield's Farm, Coleshill.

Nice to do something a little different today, which was a visit to Southfield's Farm in Coleshill, North Warwickshire organised by Tame Valley Wetlands and Natural England to see what great work the farmer does in conjunction with Natural England to subsidise approximately ten per cent of his land to the the birds and wildlife in general and to manage the land for the birds and insects such as creating wildflower meadows, planting crops such as kale to feed the birds for the winter, providing supplementary food for the birds when the kale has gone during the quiet months from January to April, correct and wildlife friendly management of the hedgerow especially during the breeding season and crop rotation with birds and insects taken into consideration.

I must say the farmer does a great job managing the land which is evident in the birds I saw today which were, Buzzard, Yellowhammer, Skylark, Linnnet, Reed Bunting, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chichaff, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Starling, Robin, Woodpigeon, Stock Dove, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Raven, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, House Martin, Swallow, Swift, Red-legged Partridge, Lapwing, Moorhen and Mallard also seen were Hare and Rabbit.

Not only did I see quite a few Yellowhammer which was the highlight of the day, there was clearly a pair feeding young in among one of the hedgerows, the Skylarks could only be seen and obviously heard high in the sky but it still a real treat to see and hear them all the same, walking along the rapeseed field we accidentally flushed out a pair of juvenile Whitethroat, who were great to see, personally it was also great to see Stock Dove, a lot of people find them boring but I always like to see them, a pair of Lapwing were also clearly with eggs or young because as we approached them they were not very happy but thankfully they were in an adjacent field which we didn't enter apart from seeing all the wonderful wildflowers it was great to see Red-legged Partridge and Hare, which I don't see very often. 

I must say thanks to the farmer and the personnel from Tame Valley Wetlands and Natural England for providing an enjoyable and informative visit to the farm.