Great visit to Southfields Farm in Coleshill this morning where it was surprising to see that John was still feeding birds supplementary food, so there's still time to get down to the farm to the two locations he leaves the seed and take in the rarity of seeing double figures of Yellowhammer feeding, I'd very rarely seen a Yellowhammer until I first went to the farm, now it's expected that you'll see them as is seeing and hearing hundreds of House Sparrow, even though I have c.50 House Sparrow that visit my garden it still amazes me to see so many at the farm. Talking of John leaving or growing food for the birds, as you can see in the last three photos, there will be plenty of food for birds in the fields, so you'll get to see the great spectacle of 300+ Linnet feasting on the seed from those plants as well as the other birds.
It was also great to see where there are some dead trees, that they've been cut down to the bare minimum and the dead wood has been utilized to make insect houses and log piles and the trees have been presumably left for birds such as Great Spotted Woodpecker to nest in and if that wasn't good enough brand new bird boxes have also been erected. On another similar note it was great to see that all the hedgerows have been cut well in advance of the breeding season and not been fell fowl to the horrid practice of 'flailing' or even worse have that disgusting practice of having netting put around them to stop the birds nesting in them, John is proof that farmers can farm and still look after the wildlife. You can sign the petition to make it a criminal offence to 'net hedgerows' here. Make 'netting' hedgerows to prevent birds from nesting a criminal offence.
Birds seen today were, Yellowhammer, Skylark, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Coal Tit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Reed Bunting, Starling, Pheasant, Collared Dove, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Raven, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Cormorant, Mute Swan, Mallard and Coot.
Last but least, it was great to see a Hare bounding through one of the fields, an animal which I don't see nearly often enough.
Nice visit to Cole End Nature Reserve, well it was mostly nice apart form the one aspect I'll get to at the end of this post.
As you might guess there was plenty of songbirds singing which apart from when you where near the motorway was quite audible, always nice to be away from the hustle and bustle where you can really take in nature.
There wasn't as many birds as I'd like ot have seen but at least this land hasn't fell prey to evil developers who only care about money and couldn't give a damn about our wildlife.
Birds seen today were, Buzzard, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Mistle Thrush, Jay, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Blackbird, Mute Swan (three flying overhead in the direction of Shustoke Reservoir, Moorhen and Mallard.
Sadly now I have to report this incident of disgusting vandalism, I'll let the photos do most of the talking but if you know the area this is off Gilson Drive, how people think this is acceptable is completely beyond my comprehension, shame on them !
Great visit to Shustoke Reservoir even though I'm going to start with a moan, yet again it's about irresponsible dog owners, I'd been at the waters edge for less than two minutes after putting seed down for the water fowl when this dog came bounding out of nowhere and chased all the birds back into the water, even though I didn't speak to the owners, I did raise my arms in the air in utter disbelief and then then I heard the male say it was my fault because the dog (Rex) was after the 'food', not forgetting that dogs are supposed to be on a lead at all times at this location, which brings me to my second encounter less than three minutes after that one, true to my word I ignored a woman who spoke to me because her dog (Archie) was running wantonly over the place, so when I made a comment to the person I was birding with, the woman shouted back that the dog was under control so it was okay to which I informed her that she was throwing a ball so the dog wasn't under control and I was told not to be so pedantic and she then informed me dogs don't have to be on a lead but just kept under control, when I told her about the previous encounter I'd just had she said 'don't be silly my Archie doesn't chase birds', that's the same Archie that was just chasing around like a maniac when it should have been on a lead. The following three photos are the thee signs pertaining to dogs at the reservoir at the entrance she came in, I'm pretty sure they say dogs must be kept on a lead or maybe it's just me being 'silly'.
At least after those encounters it was all good, one half of the reservoir was bathed in sunshine while the other was foggy and misty, in fact the last photo below is actually in colour, it only looks monochrome through the mist.
Before I'd even got to the reservoir there was plenty to see around the car park area, plenty of House Sparrow could be heard near the houses, male Blackbirds were fighting all over the place which is also happening a lot in my back garden, I also got really close to a female Blackbird which seemed strange until I got closer and I noticed it was clearly blind in it's left eye so I left it to forage in among the leaf litter, the air was full of birdsong especially some very vocal Mistle Thrush of which I saw one with the biggest worm I've ever seen and just as I was leaving to get to the reservoir a Sparrowhawk darted passed me towards where the small birds where near the boat house, towards the end of the walk it was great to hear Skylark singing in the farmers fields.
On and around the water, I saw a Little Egret which is a bird I've never seen here before then I saw a Grey Heron which I haven't seen here for years, saying that I do see them on the fly-fishers pool which is the direction it was flying towards. It's always nice to see but sad at the same time the two resident Canada Goose with angel wing, at least I do the decent thing and feed them seed. Around the waters edge I normally only see Pied Wagtail so it made a pleasant change to see Grey Wagtails instead today. It was also great to see plenty of Little and Great Crested Grebe on the water, hopefully they'll have better success in breeding than they do most years at this site. I also saw what maybe my last sighting for a while of Redwing, who sadly were all flushed out of the trees by a passing freight train which runs adjacent to the reservoir on one side.
Birds seen today were, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Skylark, Nuthatch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Redwing, Mistle Thrush, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Collared Dove, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Magpie, Grey Wagtail, Cormorant, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Tufted Duck, Mallard and Canada Goose.
I can't be 100% possible that this is a crime but on the edge of one of the farmers fields I found the remains of a dead Rabbit hanging from a tree, seems strange whatever the reason is.
Nice visit to Shustoke Reservoir this morning even though the sun couldn't decide whether it wanted to come out or not, it was still nice and crisp all the same.
It goes without saying but there were a lot of small birds around the wooded area of the reservoir and surrounding areas today such as Tit and Finches, also birds in high numbers were Robin and Blackbird, in the water there were a lot of Coot, I'd say approximately about 300, shame there was only one pair of Goosander, still better than none at all though.
Birds seen today were, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Robin, Dunnock, Nuthatch, Starling, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Redwing, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Pied Wagtail, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Goosander, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Coot and Canada Goose.
Sadly it's moan time again, namely that of the dog walkers at this location, even when I read other birding blogs from here I read the same comments as I'm going to make so I'm not alone in my thoughts, for starters they still ignore the signs about having dogs on a lead at all times and they have since day one, even worse than that they ignore the signs about blue algae being harmful or even fatal to dogs so in my opinion they couldn't give a damn about the poor beasts anyway let alone the birds that the dogs regularly chase back into the water and of course what goes hand in hand with letting your dog run wantonly everywhere, dog poo, don't get me wrong either it's not the dog's fault it's completely down to the irresponsible owners, when I'm out and about I never ignore anyone with the one exception of dog owners at this location who let their dogs run riot, so if you fall into this category and you say hello to someone at the reservoir and they ignore you, it may very well be me.
As you can see I've finally paid Ward End Park and pool a visit and on the whole the pool improvements don't look too bad, the water in the 'corner' by the main entrance was filthy and full of litter but surprisingly the rest of the water was looking good, the islands were a bit of mixed bunch, at least they are still there for starters as I feared they would have been leveled, in my opinion they have been a bit harsh with the cutting back of the trees but on the other hand if the works being down and you have the access maybe it was the right thing to do, at least the waterfowl still have decent access to the islands because when passing on the road it doesn't appear that way, the corner of the wooded area by the boathouse has remained untouched and hasn't been touched for years because that's where the junkies throw their discarded syringes and according to Birmingham city council 'we like to leave that area as a natural habitat for the wildlife' even though they know it's full of highly dangerous needles, and that's a direct quote so if anyone from the council wishes to call me a liar, feel free to contact me over the issue and I'll discuss it, you won't though because you've always treated me with utter contempt, you even called me a liar to my face in my own house even though I had a Councillors backing, anyway I digress, God help you if wander into that area unknowingly.
What about the birds I hear you say, nice to see that House Sparrows are still present near the houses as are Great Spotted Woodpecker around the pool, a very pleasant surprise was to see Stock Dove, a bird you don't see a lot of in Birmingham, sadly on the pool there wasn't a single Coot, they must have gone when all the maintenance was being done, hopefully they'll return before the breeding season starts again.
Birds seen today were, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Robin, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blackbird, Collared Dove, Stock Dove, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Mallard and Canada Goose.
As you can see Southfields Farm in Coleshill won again today, so Ward End Park is going to have to stay on my 'to do list'.
As per usual there was plenty to see on and around the farm, I've probably mentioned the House Sparrow's on every blog I've done from here but when they are present in such huge numbers it's hard not to start with them especially as they will always be one of my favourite birds, a bird that wasn't always a favourite but definitely is these days is the wonderful looking Starling, another bird which is doing well at this location, which is great as it's almost easy to forget they are a farmyard bird and not one that you see in town centres and shopping car parks scrabbling around for peoples discarded pasties and the like, shame on us for making some birds resort to this pathetic behaviour, even though it's great to see them among us I find it a bit sad that they have to do this and even worse, that's all some people ever even see of wildlife and then most people don't even notice the birds. anyway it was great to see them checking out potential nesting sites in the holes in the trees.
On better news, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Linnet, Fieldfare and Redwing were all present in decent numbers, the following numbers are a best guess but they numbered roughly in the following amounts, Yellowhammer - at least 20, Reed Bunting - c.50, Linnet - c.300, Redwing - c.300 and Fieldfare - c.200, like I said they are rough guesses but bear in mind that I've gone lower rather than higher with the numbers, the Linnet's looked amazing when they were all in a tree and it was a truly wonderful sight to see them all fly down in unison to the crops, sadly though they flew down because a flock of Redwing and Fieldfare flew into the tree they were in, so sadly that was the last I saw of the Linnets, talking of the Redwing and Fieldfare, they numbered in the hundreds in the fields either side of one of the tracks where John the farmer leaves supplementary seed for birds over the winter and that was not mentioning the decent amount of Redwing and Fieldfare I saw in the other fields as well.
Birds seen today were, Buzzard, Yellowhammer, Linnet, Reed Bunting, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Robin, Starling, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Redwing, Fieldfare, Collared Dove, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Rook, Magpie, Grey Heron, Pied Wagtail and Moorhen.
In the garden apart from the usual characters, including the Sparrowhawk it's nice to have a pair of Goldrest and a male Blackcap visiting, there may also be a female but I haven't seen one yet.
Nice to get out birding again after having a virus to start 2019, much better now though, I'd originally planned to pay a visit to Ward End Park being as the pool is open to the public again but being as it was rather frosty this morning I thought Southfields Farm would be a better proposition, hopefully I'll get to Ward End Park next week instead.
Like I said the farm and the fields looked great in the frosty/snowy conditions and as per usual you could see and hear all the House Sparrows before you even got out of the car, they definitely number in three figures at this location which is great in this day and age, thanks to John's great work the following birds are also among those thriving, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Linnet and Starling thanks to the seed he puts down and the plants he grows to help the birds through the winter months.
This time of the year it's always great to see Fieldfare and Redwing ad they are both stunning looking thrushes as was the Mistle Thrush I saw who looked absolutely stunning with the sunlight showing off all it's great colours.
Birds seen today were, Buzzard, House Sparrow, Yellowhammer, Linnet, Reed Bunting, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Dunnock, Wren, Starling, Pied Wagtail, Fieldfare, Redwing, Mistle Thrush, Collared Dove, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie and Moorhen.
If you want to see the amazing amount of birds John attracts to the farm then check out the short video on my Twitter feed, you won't be disappointed.
After disappearing from the garden for a while after being 'picked off' on a daily basis, my House Sparrows have returned in great numbers in the last few weeks which unfortunately could mean only one thing, the return of their nemesis.....the Sparrowhawk, it can be seen above after already having 'despatched' of one of my babies (footage can be seen on my Twitter page), only to return within the hour to terrorize them again, thankfully it didn't make a kill on this occasion but a Coal, Blue and Great Tit had a very lucky escape when it swooped in when they were atop of the apple tree in my garden and it can be seen here watching them as they were hiding in among the bushes, the Sparrowhawk is a stunning looking bird, just a pity it has to kill the smaller birds to survive.
