Shard End Lake.

A trip out to Shard End Lake today partly for a change and partly because I had planned to go to Shustoke Reservoir but after a full days rain like yesterday large parts of the best birding territory would have been been largely impassable, so Shustoke is now down for Saturdays visit instead. Anyway, back to today which was a visit to Shard End Lake and a walk along a two mile stretch of the River Cole.

With Autumn now in full swing and the leaves dropping at a great rate there is definitely a much greater chance of seeing Blackbird, Robin, Wren and Dunnocks among the bare tree and hedgerows, which is probably why I saw many more Dunnock in one day than I've see in a while, which was nice being as the Dunnock is a massively underrated little brown bird, they have loads of charisma if you take out the time to observe them. As per usual at this site there were plenty of House Sparrow and Satrling present. On the water it was nice to see a small gathering of Shoveler, another bird which I love to take the time out and observe.

Birds seen were Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Starling, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jay, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Pied Wagtail, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Mallard and Canada Goose.

Sutton Park.

Trip out to Sutton Park today even though there was an omnipresent threat of rain from the moment I was filling up the bird feeders in the back garden at 7.00 a.m. until I'd actually finished my visit to Sutton Park at 1.00 p.m.but thankfully despite a bit of light drizzle it didn't rain and the decision to go birding was thankfully the right one.

Highlights of the day were seeing four (two male and two female) Bullfinch feeding in an Ash tree, seeing a flock of .c50 Siskin feeding in amongst a bunch of Alder trees and also flying overhead and seeing a good flock of c.100 Starling also flying overhead.

Birds seen were Kestrel, Siskin, Nuthatch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Robin, Wren, Dunnock, Starling, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blackbird, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Coot, Mallard, Tufted Duck and Canada Goose.

Unfortunately apart from the ever present Blackbird I didn't see a single Thrush today which was a shame because with this wonderful mixed habitat I thought I would see plenty of Redwing, Fieldfare and Song Thrush today.

What I did see plenty of was Fungi, especially the wonderful Fly Agaric, which of which I must have seen at least fifty today which was a pleasant surprise because I only normally find small clumps of them unlike today where I spent a good thirty minutes photographing them at one spot alone.

Sheldon Heath Country Park.

It was off to Sheldon Heath Country Park today which also entailed a visit to the Old Rectory Farm and the obligatory stop off at the public runway at the Birmingham International Airport. 

There wasn't that many birds about really apart from hundreds of Crows, Magpies and Gulls on the grassland between the runway and the Farm. If you live in or near Birmingham and your unfortunate enough not to have House Sparrows in your garden or don't see them very often, then I suggest you give the Old Rectory Farm a visit because there are hundreds at this location, when you go near the cow or pig sheds you literally have to duck down to avoid them flying in and out, also with there being plenty of hedgerows about, they are literally everywhere and actually make quite a racket with there constant chirping, which is great to see and hear. The only letdown with the Farm is the people that work there, to say they are ignorant is an understatement, you can't even get an 'hello' out of them, still, each to their own.

Birds seen today were Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, House Sparrow, Robin, Starling, Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon and Feral Pigeon. 

Lady Bradford's, Castle Bromwich.

Trip out to Lady Bradford's in Castle Bromwich today where strangely enough I'd already anticipated the highlight of the day before I'd even arrived, namely that of seeing a pair of Goldcrest, for some reason as soon as the weather starts going cooler you'll always find at least one pair of Goldcrest at this location and today thankfully didn't disprove that theory. Other highlights included seeing large numbers of Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Goldfinch, Starling and a flock of c.50 Redwing. There was also a good number of Nuthatch about. Another spot was that of seeing a Woodpigeon fly past me me like the clappers with a Sparrowhawk in hot pursuit, I have no idea if the Woodpigeon escaped the Sparrowhawks clutches, but hopefully it did. Also seen today was a Buzzard when I entered the site, which I had inadvertently spooked as it was sitting on the branches at the extremity of tree which overlooks the grassland, nine times out of ten you'll see a Buzzard here so I guess it must be resident here.

Another highlight of visiting Lady Bradford's in the Autumn is the amazing amounts of Fungi to be found and today was no exception with over one hundred photographs taken today of many different varieties.

Birds seen today were Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Goldcrest, Nuthatch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Coal Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Starling, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Redwing, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Carrion Crow and Magpie.

Pype Hayes Park.

Trip out to Pype Hayes today where the day started off with news of a terrible event before I'd even left the car park, I was informed that one of the Mute Swan's (one of this years Cygnets) has tragically been killed on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Talking to the locals, reports ranged from a Fox attack to our Easten European friends, looking at the picture of the poor bird cut in half with all the breast meat missing and inspecting the feathers at the kill site, I'd personally say it was one of our Polish brethren, I'd would actually prefer it was a Fox attack because that's natural and the Poles may come back and kill either one of the adults or the four out of the six of this years young that remain.

Then it was off to the park where there were birds scattering everywhere, from Finches and Tits to Corvids and Pigeons, needless to say the culprit was a Sparrowhawk, I don't think it was successful in it's hunt for prey but with the commotion it was hard to tell, as well as the Sparrowhawk hunting there was also a Kestrel hunting the other end of the park.

Highlight of the day was seeing a flock of c.50 Siskin in amongst the trees and also flying over the pool later on in the morning, it's always a pleasure to see some Siskin when your out and about. There was also a sizable number of Goldfinch in and around the trees, possibly fifty or more, but there are always a good number of Goldfinch at this location. Also nice to see was a very young looking Nuthatch foraging around the trees in the gardens.

Birds seen were Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Siskin, Nuthatch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Robin, Wren, Dunnock, Starling, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Blackbird, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Coot, Muscovy Duck, Mallard and Canada Goose.

Middleton Lakes, RSPB Nature Reserve, Tamworth.

Had a long overdue trip to Middleton Lakes today where it was still unseasonably warm.

Highlights of the day was seeing a male and female Stonechat, the male was a bit shy and kept diving back into the reeds unlike the female who would comfortably sit on a nearby fence but only if about twenty foot away, apparently they are nesting in the reeds that the male kept diving back into. Seeing the Stonechat's pushed what would have otherwise been the main highlight of the day but that meant that my first sighting this Autumn of Redwing and Fieldfare were pushed into second place instead, there were a few Redwing in the trees around the car park mixed in with a few Fieldfare but I also had a flock of approximately one hundred Fieldfare fly overhead. Talking of flocks I also saw the following flocks of birds, c.100 Shoveler, c.100 Lapwing, c.100 Greylag Goose, .c100 Canada Goose and c.80 Jackdaw. Other highlights included the first sightings of this Autumn of the aforementioned Shoveler, which is a great little Duck, also spotting a Green Woodpecker and a few Little Egret spread out over the lakes.

Birds seen today were Buzzard, Stonechat, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Coal Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Reed Bunting (female), House Sparrow, Wren, Robin, Starling, Green Woodpecker, Redwing, Fieldfare, Jay, Blackbird, Rook, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Pied Wagtail, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Little Egret, Lappwing, Shoveler, Gadwall, Wigeon, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Greylag Goose and Canada Goose.

Needless to say it was still nice to have the ever so friendly Robin still with us who is always ready for a mealworm or ten.

Brookvale Park, Erdington.

Quick one hour visit to Brookvale Park in Erdington after visiting Villa Park in nearby Aston to watch the First Team have an opening training session. Today's visit literally entailed having dinner in the Brookvale Park car park where as per usual at this location I had some of the local Grey Squirrel's for company, then it was off for a quick walk around the lake, which had the usual mixture of birds including the usual amount of c.50 Mute Swan, double numbers of Cormorant, plenty of assorted Ducks including three new arrivals, namely three Domestic Ducks and of course the sizable local House Sparrow population where still present.


Birds seen on today's very short visit were House Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Greylag/Domestic Hybrid, Domestic Duck and Canada Goose.