Southfields Farm, Coleshill.

Another visit to Southfields Farm in Coleshill this morning which is one of my favourite places to go birding because thanks to all the great work John the farmer does you always guaranteed to see a great mixture of birds including Yellowhammer, House Sparrow, Reed Bunting and Linnet.

Saying that I never thought I would ever see one of the most amazing sights that I saw today namely that of c.50 Yellowhammer feeding on one of the locations where John leaves supplementary winter seed for the birds, just a pity a Buzzard flew over and 'spooked' them, I did see them on further locations around the farm in among the many hedgerows but that wasn't as good as the sighting of seeing so many feeding on the floor, the other wonderful sight you are guaranteed is seeing and hearing is the hundreds of House Sparrow around the cottage, farm outbuildings and the trees and bushes around that area, for somebody who loves House Sparrows, the sight of them being literally everywhere is truly wonderful as was seeing c.100 Linnet still feeding on the area where John grows plants for the birds, even though the food is supposed to be long gone they are still finding from it there.

At the one location where the supplementary winter seed is located there were, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird and even a cheeky Moorhen feeding while the other location was being monopolized by Dunnock with at c.20 feeding there.

As per usual there were plenty of Tits and Finches just a shame that a lot of the Finches were blighted with the deadly disease Trichomonosis which is caused by people who feed the birds and/or provide water for them but don't clean the feeders and birdbaths, so if you feed the birds please make sure you clean them on a regular basis.

Birds seen today were, Buzzard, c.50 Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, c.100 Linnet, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Starling, Collared Dove, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blackbird, Pied Wagtail, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie and Moorhen.

Also great to see was a Hare bounding across one of the fields, they sure can run.

After the birding was done it was nice to see John and have a chat and he also treated us to a hot drink, thank you John, it's always a pleasure to see you. 

Rookery Park, Erdington.

Not really a birding trip today but I visited Rookery Park because I was in the area and I thought I would record what I saw on my short visit.

Birds seen today were, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Starling, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie and Feral Pigeon.

Even though these were the only birds seen they were there in good numbers especially House Sprrow, Blue and Great Tit, Chaffinch and Goldfinch, Blackbird, Robin and Woodpigeon.

There is a good mixture of trees and bushes at this location and it was especially nice to see a couple of flowering Viburnum grandiflorum trees.

Shustoke Reservoir.

Great day to get up and go out birding with the weather being quite clement and not a single cloud in the sky, in fact the day started off wonderfully because when I was filling up the feeders in the back garden the first thing this morning I was treated to a Dunnock serenading me with it's wonderful song, what a great little bird.

Highlight of the day was seeing a Sparrowhawk being chased by a Carrion Crow, even though it was over in a matter of seconds it was a splendid sight to see, it all happened adjacent to the reservoir on the edges of the farmers field, they came darting down and the Sparrowhawk went into the trees just above ground level were presumably shook off the attention of the Crow. Other than that it was very quiet but all the same it was especially nice to see the following birds, Goldcrest, Treecreeper, Coal Tit, Wren, House Sparrow as well as plenty of Great Spotted Woodpecker pecking at trees and even a pair fighting each other and it was also nice to see and hear a large amount of Song Thrush and Robins singing.

Birds seen today were, Sparrowhawk, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Treecreeper, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Pied Wagtail, Cormorant, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Pochard, Gadwall, Tufted Duck and Mallard.