Shustoke Reservoir.

Today was a perfect morning to pay a visit Shustoke Reservoir in Nortth Warwickshire what with the lovely blue skies and before it gets too hot later in the week.

If there's juvenile birds present that's always a great place to start so here goes, easily the highlights were baby Blackcap, Nuthatch and Whitethroat, I love to see all juveniles birds but don't always get the chance to see those three, especially in the same trip out, there was also an abundance of Pied Wagtail and Mallard (forty eight juveniles!) also spotted was Blue Tit, Long Tailed Tit and Carrion Crow.

In the fields adjacent to the reservoir there were two hunting Kestrel, also nice to see was a Grey Heron around the waters edge which is strangely a rarity here these days, close to the car park there were at least three Common Sandpiper, another bird you'd think you'd see here all the time but you don't, for some reason this year there are also double figures of Common Tern present where most years you only see a couple at a time, it was also nice to see three Greylag Goose among a large number of Canada Goose, sadly I didn't see a single Swallow or Swift and the House Martin numbers were very low which is a real shame, talking of sad news it appears that the two torrential downpours put paid to all the Great Crested Grebe and Coot nests on the reservoir, sadly it's a terrible location for nests, as any 'decent' amount of rainfall destroys the nests completely, all the same two Great Crested Grebe were nest building today.

Birds seen today were, Kestrel, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Robin, Wren, Dunnock, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Nuthatch, Whitethroat, Pheasant, Song Thrush, Jay, Collared Dove, Blackbird, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Cormorant, House Martin, Common Tern, Pied Wagtail, Common Sandpiper, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Coot, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Tufted Duck and Mallard.

In the farmers fields adjacent to the reservoir and the fly-fishers pool the farmer has appeared to have left large margins untouched and even though he/she hasn't appeared to have sown any wildflowers as there's too much grass present, beneficial wildflowers are flourishing all the same with birds foot trefoil, oxeye daisy, vetch and red clover among others already in full flow, lets hope it was a conscious decision to do so and remains the norm because all the butterflies and insects were clearly enjoying it.

I don't like to be negative but certain things have to be said, so.....

All the entrances have signs that say 'dogs must be kept on a lead and under strict control at all times', yet every time I go here I very rarely see a dog on the lead today, in fact I saw nine people walking the dog this morning and only one had them on a lead, these are probably the same people who park in 'disabled bays' when they are able, have been mixing with other people during the lockdown and who drop litter, we all know people like this and they are scum, pure and simple, so if you were one of those people who said morning to me today and I ignored you, it's not that I'm ignorant, it's just that I don't wish to give you 'people' the time of the day, which brings me to my second moan, people discarding wet wipes left, right and centre, what is wrong with you people, why would you want to visit a lovely place like this and leave your litter behind, especially when it's detrimental to the environment and wildlife and then there's people that litter PPE that they don't want/need anymore, you should be thoroughly ashamed of yourselves. The woman in the second photo who was throwing the ball for the dog near the wild fowl that included juveniles was very lucky I wasn't near enough to give her a piece of my mind.

Despite my little rant don't let that put you off visiting here as the good points outweigh the bad.

Southfields Farm, Coleshill.

Great to visit Southfields Farm in Coleshill for the first time since the lockdown restrictions began, technically visitors are not allowed to park in the car park at the moment thanks to certain people being very anti-social on the farm and surrounding areas of late but John the Farmer kindly gave his permission for us to do.

One of the obvious highlights of birding at this time of the year is seeing juveniles, baby birds seen today were, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Starling, Greefinch, Goldfinch, Pied Wagtail, Woodpigeon and Carrion Crow.

Not only did I see juvenile Greenfinch I also saw both a male and female adult taking food to their young which is not something you see everyday, I didn't see as many on previous visits but it is still great to see Linnet all the time, it was a shame I didn't see any Yellowhammer but the sight and sound of of another farmyard favourite the Skylark was a great substitute. Another strange highlight occurred when I got back to the car which was the sight of c.50 Jackdaw flying overhead, a group of Jackdaw is called a 'clattering', well they were certainly loud enough.

Even though House Martin and Swallow were spotted their numbers were very poor, in fact I didn't see double figures of either bird which is quite sad, being very overcast probably didn't help but low number all the same.

Birds seen today were, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chiffchaff, Linnet, Skylark, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Starling, Pied Wagtail, House Martin, Swallow, Pheasant, Cormorant, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Coot, Moorhen and Mallard.

Shustoke Reservoir.

Great to visit Shustoke Reservoir for the first time since the lockdown began, even though it was raining before I left, on the way, upon my arrival at the car park and intermittently during my visit, still, you can't let a little rain put you off.

Always a pleasure when there's not one highlight but many, it's not very often I see a Little Ringed Plover and I've certainly not seen one at this location before, it did appear to only be passing through as it flew away from the site when spooked by a dog that was running around around because it wasn't on the lead, talking about birds I don't see very often it was great to see a Yellow Wagtail especially as it was a resplendent male collecting nesting material, another bird which is always great to see is Common Tern, a bird that doesn't get much coverage but I was glad to see them in double figures as well, talking of numbers, easily the best bird seen by number was House Martin, there was c.1000+ on the Fly-Fishers Pool, it was definitely a sight to behold, even though I didn't see any Swallow there, they were present over the car park and the reservoir, it was also great to see the 'three' Wagtails, not very often these days I see Pied, Grey and Yellow all in one day as I don't see Chiffchaff juveniles as I did today.

Juvenile birds are always a pleasure to see, seen today were, Mallard (9), Canada Goose Gosling (4), Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Chiffchaff, Robin, Pied Wagtail, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw as well as the following birds on the nest on the reservoir, Great Crested Grebe (8), Coot (3) and a single nesting Great Crested Grebe on the Fly-Fishers Pool.

Birds seen today were, Buzzard, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chiffchaff, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Collared Dove, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Little Ringed Plover, Lapwing, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail, Swift, House Martin, Swallow, Cormorant, Common Tern, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Coot, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Mallard and Canada Goose.

Always great to get out and do a spot of 'proper' birding like today as the previous list shows which is not a bad count even if I do say so myself.

Ward End Park.

Bittersweet trip out to Ward End Park today as it's a great little park but is definitely in the wrong location as the locals couldn't give a damn about it, saying that neither can the Council.

Bird wise it was great to see a few juveniles but not many though, there must have been double figures of both Blue and Great Tit in the trees and bushes where the Council don't ever tend as it's full of used drug syringes and huge amounts of litter as it's left as a 'wild habitat' area for the wildlife to 'enjoy', if your child ever wanders in there and picks up an infected needle, contact Birmingham City Council as they've known about this problem for over ten years now, there were also three Mallard Ducklings, two Coot juveniles, as well as one Coot on the nest as well as Carrion Crow and Magpie fledglings, conspicuous in their absence, especially considering the high number of (semi) resident Canada Goose was any Goslings whatsoever, Birmingham City Council has been known in the past to apply a Petroleum based oil to eggs to prevent them from hatching, I'm not saying categorically that's what has occurred here but it's very strange that there was more than one egg that hasn't hatched on the islands which are almost impossible to reach by the general public.

Also seen above the pool were Swift, on the pool there were Tufted Duck, Mallard, Moorhen, Coot, Canada Goose and surprisingly Little Grebe and at least one Indian Runner Duck, I've never seen either of these birds here before and I'm guessing the Indian Runner was left by someone as such as the RSPCA, even though Domestic Ducks and a Muscovy Duck were 'dumped' here many years ago and survived quite well until somebody killed them.

Birds seen today were, Nuthatch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chiffchaff, Wren, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Swift, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Moorhen, Coot, Canada Goose, Little Grebe and Indian Runner Duck.

Last of all I must get back to the state of the place, what an absolute dump! All around the bins there is a disgraceful amount of litter, the pool has to be seen to be believed and the large area of grass is awash with litter, shame on the Council for letting it get in this state and for all the locals that mess it up in the first place and just walk past it day after day, shame really as this could and indeed used to be a lovely little location, it's also got nothing to do with the current situation as it's always been like this, go and have a look at this location if you can and just remember Birmingham City Council have a 'Green Spaces Manager' or some other made up title like that, they 'pride' themselves on how they 'manage' their parks and the fact that is actually a 'Green Flag' awarded location, trust me you'll be amazed!