Nice trip to Shustoke Reservoir in North Warwickshire which because of having other things to do and the bad weather was only my second birding trip out this month which by my standards is woeful.
It's always great to visit Shustoke when Autumn has started because of the amount of different trees it's always a riot of colour and then of course there's always plenty of funghi because there are lots of ideal habitats for it to flourish.
As soon as I got out of the car I was treated to the sight of a Song Thrush having a bath in a puddle, juvenile Woodpigeons and lots of Tit, Finch, Robin and Wren birdsong.
On the water there were c.100 Canada Goose, I know they are not everyone's favourite bird but I always like to see them, especially in those numbers, also in good numbers were Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Mallard, Coot and Lapwing. Strangely I didn't see any Mute Swan, Gadwall or Moorhen apart from on the fly-fishers pool, they must have preferred it there because it was more serene.
Birds seen today were, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Coal Tit, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Dunnock Wren, Robin, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Cormorant, Lapwing, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Gadwall, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Moorhen, Coot and Canada Goose.
Sadly there was much more litter than I normally see at this location, at least I retrieved as much as I could, even risking life and limb to get the plastic water bottles from the waters edge, still if I don't do it nobody else will, I just wish ignorant people wouldn't drop litter in the first place especially that which is hazardous and potentially lethal for our wildlife.
Let's hope I get much more birding done next month especially as Autumn is one of my favourite seasons, when there's always plenty to see and do.
Strange visit to Babbs Mill Nature Reserve in Solihull today because the day started off foggy but very muggy which eventually gave way to a torrential downpour of rain which basically ended the birding session because I had other things to do after and as you might guess when I was doing them it was blue skies and sunshine, oh well that's how it goes I suppose.
Highlight of the day would be the highlight of most days if you were lucky enough to witness it, namely that of a sighting of Goldcrest juveniles, if that doesn't get you excited then you're doing the wrong hobby, even better than though was that there were at least four fledglings, I'd guess by the noise that they were making that there were more but it was hard to tell because they were high up in an apple tree but they were fairly easy to observe all the same and if that wasn't enough the tree also held Chiffchaff juveniles, what a great sight to see two sets of amazing juveniles in the same tree, other juveniles spotted today were Moorhen, Jay, Carrion Crow, Magpie and Woodpigeon including fourteen forging on the grass.
High in the skies both Buzzard and Kestrel were seen who were both ironically being mobbed by Carrion Crows.
Nothing out of the ordinary was spotted on the lake even though it was nice to see a Moorhen juvenile and a couple of Cormorant who have avoided the persecution of the local 'fishermen', there was more action above the water with hundreds of House Martin still present.
With the foggy and misty morning it was great to see all the spiders webs that you can't usually see, it even almost made the Himalayan Balsam look good, talking of the Himalayan Balsam it's gone completely out of control at this location with some paths almost unwalkable saying that the Wasps were taking full advantage of it because the plants were literally buzzing and along the main stretch where the dreaded plant is located between the lake and the River Cole there were two separate Wasps nests spotted. On a brighter note talking of plants getting out of control there were hundreds of blackberries so there will hopefully be plenty left in the Autumn and Winter for the Blackbirds and Thrushes to enjoy.
Birds seen today were, Buzzard, Kestrel, Goldcrest, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chiffchaff, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Wren, Robin, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jay, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, House Martin, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Coot, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Domestic Goose and Canada Goose.
