Babbs Mill Local Nature Reserve.

Great visit to Babbs Mill where it was lovely and cool and actually quite pleasant to be overcast for a change.

I haven't seen and heard so many juvenile Tits in a long while, they could be seen practically all around the lake and along the River Cole, they must have had an excellent breeding season so far this year, which was certainly the case for the pair of Mute Swan on the lake, I don't think I've ever seen so many Cygnets that big from one family before and to think they were only born in May, Mallards have also been very successful at this location as there were many who were clearly from this year's breeding season, it was also great to see juvenile, Grey Heron, Great Crested Grebe and Coot.

As is always at this time of the year it's great to see all the flowers and bushes in full flow, there are some particularly large patches of wildflower here which is great for all the pollinators that visit the lake.

Birds seen today were, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Greenfinch, Wren, Robin, Dunnock, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Raven, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Parakeet, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Great Crested Grebe, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Moorhen, Coot, Greylag Goose, Domestic Goose and Canada Goose.

Plantsbrook Local Nature Reserve.

Lovely visit Plantsbrook Local Nature Reserve this morning, especially as I went nice and early and had the place to myself upon arrival and the weather was great.

It's always great to see juvenile birds, so it was a pleasure from the off to be greeted by numerous Mallard Ducklings and juvenile Coots, even if they were constantly squabbling with each other as soon as I put some bird seed down for them, other juvenile birds seen were Wren, Blue Tit and Great Tit.

An absolute delight but very unusual sight was that of a Green Woodpecker in the meadow, I'm pretty sure I've never seen here before, especially strange though when you consider that they normally prefer grassland, maybe it came over from the adjacent Pype Hayes Park as that was very busy with dog walkers and there was no one in Plantsbrook, not until I turned up anyway.

There were a pair of Mute Swan but sadly there were no signs of a nest or any young, saying that the location where they were you would have been hard pushed to spot a nest anyway.

It was also great to see the meadow has been left untouched which was really nice to see, wildflowers seen were Heath Spotted Orchid, Meadow Crane's-bill, Bird's-foot trefoil, Red Clover, Cornflower and Cow Parsley.

Birds seen today were, Chiffchaff, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Mallard, Domestic Duck, Mallard, Moorhen, Coot and Canada Goose, also seen were the following juveniles, Mallard (22), Coot (16), Wren, Blue Tit, Great Tit and three nesting Coot.