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.
