Great visit to Newhall Valley Country Park and a walk around the grounds of Newhall Hotel where I had a feeling there would be some Canada Goose Goslings as you can see I was right as there were six of them, it was also nice to see a Mallard Duckling just as shame that there was only one of them finally it was great to see two nesting Moorhen.
The above was seen toward's the end of the visit but the day didn't start too bad either though with flocks of both Chaffinch and Greenfinch observed, a Kestrel was seen trying to hover over one of the fields but was being constantly 'mobbed' by a lone Carrion Crow, also great to see in the same area was a good colony of House Sparrow, in the denser parts it was a real pleasure to see a Whitethroat and a male and female Blackcap taking insects to their young and last but not least the very last bird of the day spotted was none other than a Stock Dove, always nice to see them.
Other than that highlights was seeing, Green Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush and a pair of Grey Wagtail taking food to their young in the hotel grounds.
Birds seen today were, Kestrel, Buzzard, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Starling, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Grey Wagtail, Mistle Thrush, Green Woopdpecker, Blackbird, Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Moorhen, Mallard and Canada Goose.
Today turned out to be the prefect day to visit Kingsbury Water Park in North Warwickshire where the weather in my opinion was absolutely ideal.
You couldn't go anywhere in the park today without hearing songbirds singing and what's not too like about that ? Personal favourites were, Willow Warbler, Whitehroat, Blackcap, Dunnock and a flock of c.20 Long Tailed Tit, just a shame most people don't appreciate song birds singing for what it is, one of nature's most wonderful gifts to us.
The Willow Warblers singing sounded like they were singing for the bird singing Olympics, they were giving it their all without stopping for breath, Whitethroat and Blackcap as you know have a wonderful song, the Dunnock's song is very underrated and even though Long Tailed Tits haven't got the best song the sheer volume of the noise had to be appreciated.
I don't normally go this far into a blog at this time of the year without mentioning juveniles so here goes, there were six Mallard Ducklings and ten juvenile Coot seen with one Mute Swan, three Canada Goose and one Coot observed on the nest.
Also great to see was the return of House Martin's as well as Little Egret and Common Tern, sadly the island where the Little Egret used to be located has been hacked down to almost a bare scrape so much so that I didn't see a single Little Egret on said island and the only one I saw was on the adjacent River Tame, I don't know why but I always love to see Common Tern maybe it's because they are great to watch when in flight.
Birds seen today were, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Starling, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, House Martin, Cormorant, Common Tern, Little Egret, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Moorhen, Coot, Greylag Goose and Canada Goose.
The only downside was being told by a local that I'd just missed a sighting of a Muntjac Deer by mere seconds but on the positive side at least they are present at this location.
Finally in a location very close to the park but not in the park it was my great pleasure to observe Starlings taking food to their young in a great accidental site for nesting birds, they have done so there for many years, I shan't point out the location just in case I alert people who might not be so welcoming as I would be.
Nice to visit Shustoke Reservoir this morning with the weather being just about perfect for a nice spot of bird watching.
I didn't have to wait long either for the highlight of the day, namely that of twelve Mallard Ducklings which just happened to be my first of the year but as per usual they were scared away form the waters edge by two dogs because the owners couldn't be bothered to put them on a lead even though the signs clearly state so at the entrance that they must be kept on a lead at all times, congratulations to every dog walker I saw there this morning because mot one of you had your dogs on a lead.
Nice to hear many Skylark singing high above the farmers fields, as well as Mistle Thrush who could be observed singing everywhere I went today at this location and being as we are coming to/in the breeding season most songbirds could be heard singing especially in the many hedgerow around the fields as they have been cut back properly and not flailed to within an inch of their life.
It was also great to see the return of House Martin and Swallow with hundreds flying above the water which is always great to see.
Birds seen today were, Buzzard, Skylark, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chiffchaff, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Mistle Thrush, Blackbird, Collared Dove, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, House Martin, Swallow, Pied Wagtail, Cormorant, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Wigeon, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Coot and Canada Goose.
Nice to pay Southfields Farm in Coleshill another visit today where even though it was chilly the sun was still out and there were mainly blue skies.
Highlight of the day was seeing a flock of c.10 of Yellowhammer fly into a tree, I know ten doesn't seem much of a flock but it is when it comes to Yellowhammers, there was also roughly another ten feeding on one of the tracks and about the same number in the adjoining hedgerow, also pleasing to hear, as they were both hard to actually see were countless numbers of Skylark and Chiffchaff, on the other end of the scale but still equally pleasing to see was a small flock of Stock Dove flying overhead.
I was actually not going to mention the high numbers of House Sparrow today but there are that many that I nearly drove over some on the entrance to the farm, that's literally how many are present, they are certainly vocal enough, it should be amazing when the juveniles arrive.
Birds seen today were, Buzzard, Skylark, Yellowhammer, Chiffchaff, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Starling, Blackbird, Stock Dove, Woodpiegon, Raven, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Moorhen and Mallard.
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.
