Witton Lakes and Brookvale Park.

Two birding locations were visited today being as they are practically adjacent to one another, visiting these sites is long overdue so it was nice to go to them for a change, first off it was Witton Lakes which are a pair of former drinking water reservoirs between the Perry Common and Erdington areas of Birmingham and then the short drive to Brookvale Park which is located in the Stockland Green Ward of Erdington Constituency. I'd like to say how wonderful it was to see so many House Sparrows at both locations including many juveniles, the House Sparrow will always remain to be one of my favourite birds, they are always a delight to see.

Witton Lakes.

Witton Lakes has a bit of checkered past what with people killing ducks and swans and their young and destroying their nests for many a year now and the shameful murdering of seven Ruddy Ducks in a Government backed initiative in March 2013, at least a raft has now been built on either lake to give the waterfowl some refuge and a location for nests and during the breeding season The Friends of Witton Lakes patrol the lakes to deter people from harming the breeding birds and their young.

The day started off with a mini drama because when I got to the first bend of the first lake I could hear a bird calling where there is an overflow so went to investigate but I couldn't locate the bird so there was nothing for it, the camera and the binoculars went on the floor and I jumped over the rail and into the water and there it was, a few days old Coot hiding in the corner chirping away where there was a small space of spare concrete, I scooped it up as fast as I could because if it had gone into the fast flowing water it would have been irretrievable, then through the water again and back over the fence, which wasn't easy holding a baby Coot and reunited it with it's parents and siblings, which had the added bonus of getting some acclaim from the locals present which was nice but as always I did it for the wildlife and not myself.

Also in the skies above there were hundreds if not thousands of Swift who were enjoying the nice early morning weather.

Being as I'm on the subject of juveniles there were three Cygnets, twenty five Coot, five Mallard Ducklings, House Sparrow, Woodpigeon and fourteen nesting Coot.

Birds seen today were, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Wren, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Swift, Mute Swan, Little Grebe, Mallard, Tufted Duck and Canada Goose.

Then it was off to...

Brookvale Park.

There were a lot of juvenile waterfowl at this location but because a lot of it is hidden by the trees and bushes I have recorded only what I saw which was, two Cygnet, five Coot, House Sparrow, House Martin, Woodpigeon, Magpie and two nesting Coot, like I said there were probably many more but a lot of it is out of sight and inaccessible to the nefarious people that visit this location, a Black Swan was killed and eaten here by Eastern Europeans in February 2013.

There is a good mixture of waterfowl here which is always good to see, with c.50 Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Domestic Goose, Domestic Duck and Cormorant resident all year round.

Brookvale Park has always been a great place for breeding House Martin what with the old houses and the adjacent lake and this year has proved no different with many hundreds of them in the air over the water and houses.

Birds seen here were, House Sparrow, Wren, Robin, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Domestic Duck, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, hybrid Greylag/Domestic Goose, Coot, Moorhen, Cormorant, Swift and House Martin.