Nice to have a quick visit to Rookery Park in Erdington this morning as I was in the area. Rookery Park is a great little location if not very small and is now unfortunately even smaller thanks to houses being built on a section of the site, even though many of the trees are still present practically all of the bushes and hedgerow have now completely gone leaving a lot of birds with little or no cover, it's always such a shame to see construction companies decimate locations such as this, this is the same company that erected some very poor netting to deter birds from nesting of which they also didn't maintain, thankfully they removed it all after I 'outed' them online.
At least there was still some nice bird activity to see which made the visit worthwhile not least the c.50 Redwing foraging on the grass, it was great to hear House Sparrow who were in the gardens far away from the construction works, there was also flocks of Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch and Goldfinch, there was also a sizeable number of Blackbird, Robin and Starling.
Birds seen today were, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Robin, Dunnock, Starling, Redwing, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow and Magpie.
When I got home it was great to have a visit from the very first Grey Wagtail I've ever seen in the garden.
Excellent visit to Shustoke Reservoir this morning apart from the issue I shall address at the end of this post, as you can see I've tried a little something different with my photos today but sadly the wanton destruction of habitat that you will see deserves to be seen in all it's colourful horror.
It was a bit on the cold side again with a slight touch of frost which was perfect for a bit of birding especially as there was barely no wind at all.
From the beginning of the walk to the very end, the Song Thrush and Blackbird song was very evident which was obviously great to hear, they are clearly getting ready for the breeding season as where the Great Crested Grebe who were doing the 'courtship dance' on the reservoir.
As per usual for this time of year there were plenty of Tit and Finch flocks to be seen and heard, it was especially pleasing to see a flock of Greenfinch feasting on teasel close to the Boating Club, in the same area there was also a good population of House Sparrow.
On the reservoir and fly-fishers pool there was a good number of Mute Swan which isn't always the case as was the same with the Little Grebe numbers, as always it was also good to see, Goosander, Gadwall and Pochard.
Birds seen today were, Buzzard, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Wren, Robin, Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Collared Dove, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Magpie, Pied Wagtail, Cormorant, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Goosander, Gadwall, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Coot and Canada Goose.
As is always the case not one dog walker had a dog on the lead so they never got a 'morning' off me, I don't care how ignorant I look as the signs about having dogs on the lead and under strict control at all times are all clear to see, so why would I want too converse with these people anyway.
When I got to the portion of land between the reservoir and the fly-fishers pool, I saw Treecreeper and saw and heard Nuthatch and straight away I thought 'that's strange', as I've never seen them there before and they've got all that perfect habitat very close by behind the fly-fishers pool but as we all know wildlife doesn't always conform to what we perceive as being normal, so then proceeded to go around the pool and venture behind the pool only to be greeted by a scene of sheer wildlife vandalism, all the trees have been felled and all the once wonderful habitat has now been destroyed, I am currently in discussions with Severn Treat as to why this work was undertaken which will be interesting as I cannot see any reasonable reason as to why it's been done, the area was always full of birdsong and full of birds such as Treecreeper, Nuthatch and Coal Tit etc, to stand there and not even hear one bird close by was shocking, so for now I'll leave you with the following photos and you can make your own mind up.
Great to visit Plantsbrook Local Nature Reserve again where it was much windier and colder than last week, the cold doesn't bother me at all but the wind isn't ideal when trying to listen for birdsong, saying that the Nutchatch were very vocal for some reason.
Before I'd even got out of the car I could already hear, Blue, Great and Long Tailed Tit, as well as Robin and Blackbird which is always a good sign, in typical fashion the Blue and Great Tit were foraging among the trees and the Long Tailed Tit were flitting from tree to tree.
It was great to see the Muscovy Duck has still got all it's cheekiness and followed me all around the large pool, the pair of Domestic Duck were on the smallest pool and enjoyed the seed I had taken for them, it was also nice to see Goosander still present even though I didn't see any Shoveler or Gadwall, it was also great to see that some of the Great Crested Grebe have already 'paired up'.
Birds seen today were, Nuthatch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Robin, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Cormorant, Goosander, Great Crested Grebe, Muscovy Duck, Domestic Duck, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Moorhen, Coot and Canada Goose.
I'll hopefully do another post later this week, probably from a location in Warwickshire.
