Southfields Farm, Coleshill.

As you can see Southfields Farm in Coleshill won again today, so Ward End Park is going to have to stay on my 'to do list'.

As per usual there was plenty to see on and around the farm, I've probably mentioned the House Sparrow's on every blog I've done from here but when they are present in such huge numbers it's hard not to start with them especially as they will always be one of my favourite birds, a bird that wasn't always a favourite but definitely is these days is the wonderful looking Starling, another bird which is doing well at this location, which is great as it's almost easy to forget they are a farmyard bird and not one that you see in town centres and shopping car parks scrabbling around for peoples discarded pasties and the like, shame on us for making some birds resort to this pathetic behaviour, even though it's great to see them among us I find it a bit sad that they have to do this and even worse, that's all some people ever even see of wildlife and then most people don't even notice the birds. anyway it was great to see them checking out potential nesting sites in the holes in the trees.

On better news, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Linnet, Fieldfare and Redwing were all present in decent numbers, the following numbers are a best guess but they numbered roughly in the following amounts, Yellowhammer - at least 20, Reed Bunting - c.50, Linnet - c.300, Redwing - c.300 and Fieldfare - c.200, like I said they are rough guesses but bear in mind that I've gone lower rather than higher with the numbers, the Linnet's looked amazing when they were all in a tree and it was a truly wonderful sight to see them all fly down in unison to the crops, sadly though they flew down because a flock of Redwing and Fieldfare flew into the tree they were in, so sadly that was the last I saw of the Linnets, talking of the Redwing and Fieldfare, they numbered in the hundreds in the fields either side of one of the tracks where John the farmer leaves supplementary seed for birds over the winter and that was not mentioning the decent amount of Redwing and Fieldfare I saw in the other fields as well.

Birds seen today were, Buzzard, Yellowhammer, Linnet, Reed Bunting, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Robin, Starling, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Redwing, Fieldfare, Collared Dove, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Rook, Magpie, Grey Heron, Pied Wagtail and Moorhen.

In the garden apart from the usual characters, including the Sparrowhawk it's nice to have a pair of Goldrest and a male Blackcap visiting, there may also be a female but I haven't seen one yet.