Shard End Lake.
Two visits today, first off it was a birding trip around Shard End Lake where before you even got out of the car you could hear the Parakeets, they numbered in the three figures and they sure do know how to make a racket, great to see such an exotic bird making it's home in Birmingham.
There were a lot of birds on the lake where it was especially nice to see Goosander, Great Crested Grebe and a Grey Heron fishing, notable for their absence were Canada Goose, saying that there was a sizeable amount at nearby Babbs Mill.
There was sadly a lot of litter around the lake, especially by the water's edge and where the 'fishermen' sit and especially disappointing was the amount of fishing lines and hooks blatantly thrown into the trees by said 'fishermen', I haven't been here for years and it was one of the factors I was expecting and sadly I was right scumbags all of them.
Birds seen here were, Parakeet, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great, Great Tit, Goldfinch, Wren, Robin, Starling, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Feral Pigeon, Grey Heron, Goosander, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Tufted Duck, and Mallard.
Babbs Mill Local Nature Reserve.
Then it was off to Babbs Mill Local Nature Reserve taking in the short walk along the River Cole where the lake was full of waterfowl and it was especially nice to see, Shoveler, Goosander, Teal, Gadwall, Great Crested Grebe and Little Grebe.
Obviously with it being so close to Shard End Lake where the Parakeet mainly roost there were a lot present here as well, mainly on the island, as were a sizeable number of Cormorant.
Birds present here were, Parakeet, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Goldfinch, Wren, Robin, Jay, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Cormorant, Shoveler, Goosander, Teal, Gadwall, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Domestic Goose, and Canada Goose.
As per usual there was also a lot of litter here as well, again a lot of is that 'fishermen' have left behind/discarded, don't know why I'm surprised really, filthy heathens! Regardless it was nice to pay both places a visit and I'll have to make sure the length inbetween this and my next visit is not as long as the last.
Perfect morning today for a spot of birdwatching, beautiful blue skies, a slight touch of frost and the leaves falling in earnest in all their Autumnal splendour, so I decided to pay Shustoke Reservoir in North Warwickshire a visit.
On the whole it was very quiet but it was still great to see a flock of Lapwing at the beginning of my visit and a flock of Redwing towards the end of my visit.
Other than those it was pretty standard fare including, Mute Swan, Grey Heron, Pied Wagtail, Cormorant, Jay and Mistle Thrush, saying that I'm not snobby like some people who have to see a certain bird when they're out birding, I love to see them all regardless whether it's the first time I've seen them or the ten thousandth time.
Birds seen today were, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Coal Tit, Chaffinch, Wren, Robin, Redwing, Jay, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Lapwing, Grey Heron, Cormorant, Pied Wagtail, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Coot, Mallard, Tufted Duck and Canada Goose.
As per usual the only thing that spoilt the visit was the amount of inconsiderate dog walkers, even though there are notices around the pool stating that 'dogs are welcome just as long as they are kept under strict control and on a lead at all times', not one person had them on a lead, one person was deliberately throwing a ball towards the waterfowl for his dog while another pair of women were letting six dogs run amok all over the place including into the water, I detest these people !
Nice early morning walk around Ward End Park today, it was very quiet bird wise but it's great to visit locations when they are in their Autumnal splendour.
It was a shame not to hear any House Sparrow near the flats, maybe they were quiet, had a visit from a predator and more likely because I didn't notice the presence of any feeders which is a real shame as they probably struggle for food around that area especially at this time of the year.
There were plenty of Gulls, Carrion Crow, Magpie and Canada Goose present though, it was a shame to see no Grey Heron or Mute Swan though even though I have seen them when passing by the park at other times of the year, I also didn't see any Great Spotted Woodpecker or Song/Mistle Thrush which are normally 'staples' when I visit this site.
Thankfully most of the park was clean but there was still a large amount of cans, bottles and takeaway refuse to be found all the same in certain areas, aside again from a few plastic bottles the pool was clean which is amazing as it's normally never like that even when a Prime Minister visits as I was told by the council workers once 'we don't clean the pool as the camera's won't go down there.
Birds seen today were, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Goldfinch, Robin, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Moorhen, Coot and Canada Goose.
Great visit to Southfields Farm in Coleshill which just about coincided with the blue skies we had this morning as it only went overcast towards the end of my visit, which made a nice change.
Highlights of the visit were seeing .c300 Linnet in one of the fields including c.50 having a bath in a large area of water left over from the recent heavy rain, I was observing them when a Jay flew very low right above them, they must have thought it was a predator as they all flew up en masse into the nearby bushes, talking of predators, when in the largest field I'd noticed it was very quiet, by the time I'd got to the end of the field it was evident why, it must have been down to the presence of three raptors, two Kestrels flying above the fields and a Buzzard sitting in a tree, all I saw in the field were a few Chaffinch and Goldfinch as well as a Skylark seemingly oblivious to a Kestrel hovering directly below it, near the river it was nice to see some Redwing, they were only small in number but still great to see all the same, towards the end of the visit came three highlights all at once, namely that of a Grey Heron flying overhead, a pair of Goldcrest in the hedgerow and a flock of .c20 Siskin.
Finally it's always great to see and hear so many House Sparrow around the outbuilding area, House Sparrows will always remain to be my favourite bird.
Birds seen today were, Buzzard, Kestrel, Skylark, Linnet, Goldcrest, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Starling, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Pied Wagtail, Pheasant, Redwing, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jay, Blackbird, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie and Grey Heron.
It was great to meet John the Farmer and have a quick chat, always a pleasure mate, hope you like this post !
Nice to get out and do some 'proper' birding for a change after all the rain and other things getting in the way of me getting out and about and what better time to do it than Autumn time !
Saying that, birding wasn't the primary reason for visiting Lady Bradford's it was actually a more of a Fungi hunt but I'm obviously not going to go unless I'm armed with my trusty binoculars.
Needless to say after the current wet weather there was a lot of Fungi around, I could easily post around two hundred photos, don't know what it is but I always love to see Fungi.
Birds that were easily the most notable were Parakeets especially as the sound they make is unmistakable, I already knew that they roost in nearby Shard End Lake and if heard and seen them quite a bit around Solihull so it was great to see that they are also resident here, probably because the land backs onto residential areas it was great to see and hear House Sparrow as was the sight of a Moorhen and two of this years juveniles, this piece of land is deceptive as even though it appears to be land locked there are actually a few areas with water present, especially when you wander off the beaten track, there was a sizeable number of Mistle Thrush, Starling, Woodpigeon and Corvid's just off Lady Bradford's very close by to the grounds of Castle Bromwich Hall Hotel. There is actually a 'corner' of the land that is for all intents and purposes inaccessible to humans, this is where the Foxes and Pheasants reside, you can always hear them but you very rarely get a glimpse of them but they're definitely there.
Birds seen today were, Parakeet, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Dunnock, Wren, Starling, Mistle Thrush, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Raven, Carrion Crow and Moorhen.
Hopefully I'll have another birding for you before the weeks out, this time from Warwickshire.
Two visits this morning, firstly was a visit to Pype Hayes Park and then it was off to the adjacent Plantsbrook Local Nature Reserve.
Pype Hayes Park.
It was great to see that there were plenty of birds all around the park with many flocks of birds seen including a very impressive flock of very noisy c.30 Long Tailed Tit with a good number of juveniles in among their number, even though they were noisy they couldn't compete with the Parakeets I saw, some flew over where I was observing the Long Tailed Tits and others were seen in and around the gardens, if you know Birmingham and Solihull well I've also seen Parakeets this week in the trees by Asda in Chelmsley Wood, so it's great to see their territory getting larger, there was also a sizeable number of Nuthatch to be seen and heard all around the park equally great to see but in much lesser numbers were Whitethroat.
On the pool it was great to see a Mute Swan Cygnet, shame there was only one but sadly it's a notoriously bad place for waterfowl to breed, even still there were still ten very small Mallard Ducklings and plenty of this years Ducklings were all around the pool as were young Moorhen, unfortunately I can't tell you what was along the Plants Brook as it's been completely overtaken by Himalayan Balsam.
Birds seen at Pype Hayes Park were, Kestrel, Nuthatch, Whitethroat, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Robin, Parakeet, Jay, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blackbird, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Stock Dove, Feral Pigeon, Mute Swan, Gadwall, Mallard, Moorhen, Coot and Canada Goose, also all of the following juveniles were seen, Mute Swan, Mallard, Moorhen, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw and Carrion Crow.
Plantsbrook Local Nature Reserve.
Then it was off to Plantsbrook Local Nature Reserve where upon arriving at the pool I met a couple and mentioned that it would be nice if the Terrapin was still present, they looked at me like I was mad and told me they'd been visiting this location for over twelve years and they'd never seen one, so I gave the islands around the pool a quick scan and lo and behold what's there, yep a Red Eared Terrapin.
Apart from the Terrapin the first pool was fairly quiet whereas the main larger pool was full of waterfowl including Mute Swan Cygents, Mallard Ducklings and Great Crested Grebe juveniles and it was great to see that the Muscovy Duck still present.
Birds seen at Plantsbrook Nature Reserve were, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Jay, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Muscovy Duck, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Moorhen, Coot, Canada Goose and Great Crested Grebe as well as the following juveniles, Mute Swan Cygnet, Mallard, Great Crested Grebe, Coot and Jay, also on the main pool there were a couple of Coot still on the nest.
Just a pity I missed the meadow when it was in full flow, I shall definitely be going back next year to see it in all it's wonder.
I shall finish on two notes, one bad and one good, first the bad, while I was talking towards the main pool this dog came out of nowhere barking and generally going mental, so I said to the people with the dog, I'm okay as I haven't got a dog with me and their reply was 'well stay away as he'll attack you anyway', being as these horrible people had plenty of dogs I can only presume they were in a white Ford Transit parked in the car park (PO62 CVM) it wasn't just me by the way as other people I spoke to had a similar experience.
As I don't want to finish on a sour note I'll end by saying that over the years I've picked up a lot of litter from this location so I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was no litter at all which must largely down to the great work done by the Friends of Plantsbrook Local Nature Reserve who can be followed on Twitter by the following link. Plantsbrooklnr
Great visit to Edgbaston Reservoir yesterday even though it was very quiet bird wise, always good to see what wildlife is present none the less.
By the entrance to the main car park by the cafe there were still plenty of House Martin taking insects to their young in the nests on the surrounding homes, also in that area were plenty of House Sparrow as was the case all around the reservoir where the water was close to the homes, other than that there's not much to report apart from the fact that most of the trees that were planted a few years back most are still present minus the ones that were initially vandalised at the beginning of the project.
Birds seen were, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Robin, Wren, Dunnock, House Martin, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Coot, Mallard and Canada Goose.
Finally a note of caution that if you are planning a visit to the reservoir be aware that the due to large scale anti-social bahaviour the car park is currently closed twenty fours hours a day, even though that decision is under review it's likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future, so if your planning a trip, prepare in advance to park off sight and walk to the venue.
