Shustoke Reservior.

Another foray to Shustoke today where the highlight was seeing five very young Tufted Duck chicks on the fly fishing pool and some Goldfinch chicks by the rape seed field. Birds spotted were House Martin, Swallow, Swift, Whitethroat, Reed Warbler, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Wren, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Blue Tit, Robin, Jay, Buzzard, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Lapwing, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Cormorant, Tufted Duck, Mute Swan, Grey Heron and the following chicks/juveniles, Robin (3) Cygnet (6) Great Crested Grebe (3) Duckling (27) Gosling (5) and Tufted Duck (5.) The Great Crested Grebes and Coots are building nests again but unless the weather is nice like today, I don't see them having much success being as they build their nests on the floating buoys which the wind and rain play havoc with. To see only only three Great Crested Grebe chicks (from three separate parents) is such a shame being as there are fifty plus pairs of Great Crested Grebes at any one time and they clearly want to breed but the location and elements are always against them at this otherwise excellent bird venue. Today belonged to Chaffinches and Blackbirds, they were everywhere. The reservoir held a large amount of Great Crested Grebe and the fly fishing pool had a large amount of Tufted Ducks, Pied and Grey Wagtails were all around the reservoirs waters edge, it was also nice to see some Horses and Rabbits as well. Quality specimen of Funghi, the pictures don't do it justice, it was huge.

Pype Hayes Park and Plantsbrook Nature Reserve.

A quick trip to Pype Hayes to see how the cygnets and goslings are getting on and they are all fine. Birds seen at Pype Hayes were Goldfinch, Dunnock, Tufted Duck, Mute Swan, Cygnet (5) Gosling (15) Duckling (2) and two juvenile Magpie. The highlights of the day was seeing a Kingfisher dive for a fish at Plantsbrook and seeing that the Great Crested Grebe have had two young. Birds seen at PBNR were Kingfisher, Blackcap, Swift, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Moorhen, Grey Heron, Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebe chick (2), Coot chick (19) and Gosling (2) As usual it's always nice to see some Funghi, especially outside of Autumn.

Lady Bradford's, Castle Bromwich.

A trip to Castle Bromwich today, birds spotted were Song Thrush, Wren, Robin, Swift, Starling and House Sparrow. Juvenile birds seen were Robin and Woodpigeon. Also saw the fisherman's friend, a Cormorant, flying over as well as plenty of blackbirds hopping about.

British Speedway Grand Prix, Millenium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales.

No actual birding as such today being as I went to Cardiff's Millenium Stadium to watch the British Speedway Grand Prix, so this a post with a difference. We left on the coach from Coventry Speedway stadium at 8:00am (after getting up at 5:00am) and the birds I saw in Coventry were Pied Wagtail, House Martin and Swallow. Along the motorway birds spotted were Buzzard and Kestrel, it was also Corvid city, with Carrion Crows, Rooks, Magpies etc aplenty. We arrived at Cardiff at 11:30 am were we walked around Bute Park opposite the stadium and a walk along a section of the River Taff were birds spotted were Swallow, House Martin, Swift, Chaffinch, Great Tit chick, House Sparrow and Starling as well as plenty of Gullage, i.e. Lesser Black Backed and Greater Black Backed, no Herring Gulls though. There was a few Mallards on the River Taff but strangely enough no Canada Geese. Bute Park is apparently home to Cuckoo's but unfortunately I didn't see any, without my binoculars, plenty of leaf cover for the birds, the park being in the centre of Cardiff and the limited time span, I was lucky to see  what I did. After yet another great British Grand Prix we arrived back at Coventry at midnight and arrived back in Birmingham at 1:00 am. Like I said not my greatest ever post on birding, but I still like to keep my eyes open wherever I go for our feathered friends !

Babbs Mill Nature Reserve.

A trip to Kingshurst today to Babbs Mill Nature Reserve, the lake, River Cole and the Yorks Wood. Highlight of the day was seeing not one but two lots of four Willow Warbler fledglings being fed insects by their very busy parents, the first four were in the bushes on the bank of the lake and the other four were in the Yorks Wood. Birds seen were Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jay, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Wren, Dunnock, Willow Warbler, Song Thrush, House Sparrow, House Martin, Swift, Greylag Goose, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Tufted Duck, Mute Swan, Grey Heron and the following chicks/juveniles Willow Warbler (8) Great Crested Grebe (3) Cygnet (3) Coot (3) Duckling (11) Grey Heron (2) Great Tit (1) Jay (1) and Farmyard Goose (1). I hope the Farmyard Geese have more chicks than the single one there is at the moment because their numbers were hit hard during the last hard winter due to predation and starvation, you couldn't go over there at winter without at least seeing one new Goose carcass, but there are still at least fourteen adults, so who knows. If you've read my previous uploads these are the Geese that were dumped at the lake a few years back, so it would be nice to see these lovable Geese doing well. At least one pair of Grey Herons have bred at this sight this year, at any one time you could see at least four adults and two juveniles, which is good because it means the lake is stocked with plenty of fish.

Sheldon Country Park and Old Rectory Farm.

 

Another trip to Sheldon today to the park, farm and the flightpath. Not brilliant today on the bird spotting front, birds seen were Great Spotted Woodpecker, House Sparrow, Starling, Dunnock, Robin, House Martin and Swift, it was also great to see a flock of approx. 30 juvenile Starlings treating us to a mini aerobatic display. Animals seen on the farm were the same as my previous upload. As the last time there was plenty of House Sparrows and Carrion Crows all around the park right up to the flightpath. On a personal note I've had a couple of juvenile Woodpigeon in the back garden over the last couple of days.

Plantsbrook Nature Reserve.

A trip today to Plantsbrook via Pype Hayes fishing pool to check out the little ones, there were five Cygnets, fifteen Gosling and five Ducklings, the two in the picture can only be one or two days old. Birds spotted at Plantsbrook were Blackcap, Dunnock (chick) Chiffchaff, Robin, Grey Heron, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Tufted Duck and the following young - Gosling (2) Moorhen (1) Duckling (8) Coot (18) as well as the aforementioned Dunnock chick. The Great Crested Grebe is still on the nest, so they should be hatched by the time of my next visit. It was also good to see some Trametes Versicolor - Turkey Tails funghi while I was saving a Bumblebee from certain death, the poor little thing was swimming upside down on top of the lake, so I fished him out, put him on a log, he dried out after a few minutes and flew off.