Thought I'd go somewhere a little different today, namely that of Lady Bradford's in Castle Bromwich, not sure what the land is actually called but that's what the locals call it so that's good enough for me.
It's a great little piece of land and when I say it's little it's just that but there are still plenty of birds that call it home, there are also foxes and pheasants even though I didn't see or hear either today.
As well as walking around that area I also took in St Mary and St Margaret's Church, the adjacent churchyard as well as the area around Castle Bromwich Hall Hotel.
Highlights were seeing a large flock of Great Tit juveniles in the church yard, to say they were noisy is an understatement, always great to hear though, there was also another noisy juvenile seen in Lady Bradford's, this time that of a wonderful Song Thrush fledgling foraging on the floor, sadly I couldn't get a photo though also in the same area was a very fluffy Robin juvenile, even though I didn't see any there was also a fairly decent number of Blackcap to be heard.
Birds seen today were, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chiffchaff, Goldfinch, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Starling, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jay, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow and Magpie.
Despite saying I probably wouldn't visit Sutton Park again this week, I decided to change my mind and not let the bad people win, anyway it wasn't too bad today even though there were far too many people around for my liking but there you go.
My main intention other than birding was too try and find the Exmoor Ponies which didn't happen that still didn't ruin the day though.
Highlights of the day was seeing more Swift present than on my previous visits, also seeing plenty of House Martin over Blackroot Pool, watching a pair of Blue Tit feeding some very vocal juveniles in a nest high up in a tree in a hole where there used to be a branch, hearing many Song and Mistle Thrush and the obviously all round song coming from the songbirds.
Birds seen today were, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Chiffchaff, Nuthatch, Wren, Robin, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Swift , House Martin, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Coot and Mallard.
Another birding outing and yet another trip to Sutton Park, back again this time to Banners Gate but taking a slightly different route than the last time.
On the pool it was great to see two Mute Swan Cygnets, no juvenile Coot though even though three were still on the nest but another appeared to have been abandoned or raided by Gulls or Corvids, I'll get back to the pool later in this post.
Other highlights were having a Green Woodpecker fly right in front of me, watching a Kestrel hovering above the large open moorland, seeing and hearing a male Blackcap, Skylark, Linnet, Nuthatch, Chiffchaff and watching a Grey Heron fly overhead on the same patch of land where the Kestrel was, so could fully observe how magnificent they look in flight.
Birds seen today were, Kestrel, Skylark, Linnet, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Nuthatch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Swift, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Mallard, Coot and Canada Goose.
It's never nice seeing deceased birds/animals, strange though to see dead almost side by side, hopefully it was just a coincidence, I'm never convinced though when people (especially in large numbers) are close to wildlife.
Now I've lulled you in with a few nice photos from the park, I'm afraid it's rant time!
Firstly there was a disgusting amount of litter near the entrance/exit going all the way up to the pool and further on up to the copse, most of the litter was cans, bottles, pizza boxes, carrier bags etc, and that kind of general stuff that people can bring into locations like this but refuse then to place in a bin when finished with or even take it home with them, is if that wasn't bad enough the pool was absolutely disgusting especially as most of the litter was discarded bread bags, feeding the waterfowl bread is bad enough but then to compound that error by not disposing of the bag properly so it ends up the water is unforgivable, take your litter home with you!
Then we have the cyclists/runners have no consideration for others (and is was the majority of them) whizzing passed you at all speeds out of nowhere within inches of you, if you're going to visit a location like this, think about a) social distancing and b) regardless of anything else think about other people who have gone there to enjoy the site and the wildlife that inhabit it, it's not a bloody race track!
Then finally we have the other idiots who enter and leave the car park like it's a race, yet again regardless of anything else, it's dangerous and careless at the best of times but with the park being especially busy at the moment with the car park packed and limited space, racing around like an utter fool will get a child or pet killed, just think people!
Sorry to end an a sour note but sometimes certain things have to be said, partly because of this I shall be visiting other locations next week but sadly it will probably be the same wherever I go, anyway birding I must, so birding I will :)
Another great visit Sutton Park early this morning which is a great place as there's always something to see and do there and it's an excellent place to go birding and socially distance as the location is absolutely huge.
I entered the park today at the Boldmere Gate entrance and had a little stop off first at the first car park to see the large amount of cattle that were present and to see if there were any juvenile waterfowl on the water, sadly I couldn't see any but it was still great to see a Grey Heron and a Little Egret, there are also a lot of Corvids present at this entrance, mainly Carrion Crow with a few Jackdaw as well.
Then it was off further up the hill to the next car park for a good walk around the wooded area and heath land where the highlights were, Skylark, Linnet, Nuthatch and the sheer amount of songbirds you could hear singing which must be amplified by it being so open and the fact you are a fair distance from the road and there is also little or no air traffic at the moment.
Birds seen today were, Buzzard, Skylark, Linnet, Nuthatch, Chiffchaff, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Robin, Wren, Dunnock, Starling, Jay, Blackbird, Collared Dove, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Swift, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Mute Swan, Coot, Tufted Duck, Mallard and Canada Goose.
I'll hopefully have another report for you at the end of the week, taking yet another different route than the previous two.
Great to actually get out and do some birding for the first time in just over two months now the restrictions have been slightly relaxed.
After seeing a recent photo of the cows that are resident here I was hoping to see them today, so I pulled into the Banners Gate entrance and I didn't even need to get out of the car and I could see them, there were over in twenty in total, nice to cows enjoying freedom rather than being imprisoned on some crappy farm.
Bird wise, highlights were hearing a Cuckoo, in fact you could hear it all around my walk this morning, on the more open areas there were plenty of Skylark to be seen and heard whereas on the moorland there were plenty of Meadow Pipit to be seen and heard, not bad being as one is a red listed species and the other is on the amber list, also great to see were Great Spotted Woodpecker and Song Thrush, sadly there were no juvenile waterfowl on the pool even though I could see four Coot on the nest.
Birds recorded today were, Cuckoo, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Whitethroat, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chiffchaff, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Starling, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Coot, Canada Goose, Tufted Duck and Mallard.
Hopefully I'll do another report from Sutton Park next week but this time starting off from another entrance.
Mainly nice visit to Cole End Local Nature Reserve in Coleshill this morning, all will become clear as to what slightly spoiled the day.
Bird wise it was the usual species I would have expected to see, even though there didn't seem as many in previous visits but I suppose that happens wherever you go. Flocks of Tits and Finches were abundant, as were Blackbird and unusually Wren, it was also great nearer to the houses to see House Sparrow, further in the fields it was great to see Reed Bunting, Song Thrush and Collared Dove.
Unfortunately some areas were totally inaccessible due to high water levels and the 'work' being done, the route I ending up taking was a big mistake as even though I had my walking boots on, it was wellington boot territory, which was obviously of only a minor annoyance until you realised that even though the flooded areas were obviously down to a lot of heavy rainfall of late this was only exacerbated by the 'work' being done which as if you haven't guessed by now is the foundation work for the (waste of time and money) HS2 'project', to think it will, as in many other locations, cut straight through this land which is devastating, it's a prime bit of land where the birds and nature are largely left to that, nature, the tracks literally run right through the main hedgerow, bushes and trees, still it's only birds so why should the Government and all those receiving backhanders care, shame on them !
Birds seen today were, House Sparrow, Reed Bunting, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Collared Dove, Woodpigeion, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Moorhen and Mallard.
#STOPHS2
Great trip as always to Southfields Farm in Coleshill this morning where despite some early wind and rain the morning actually turned out be one blessed with blue skies and even some winter sunshine.
Among the highlights was the sighting of eight Yellowhammer (four male and four female), there were probably more as they were darting from the hedgerow to the winter supplementary food John the Farmer puts down for them and back to the hedgerow and back again, there were definitely eight though as they were seen all at the same time, this was especially pleasing as I met John in one of the fields at the beginning of the walk and he said he hadn't seen many this year as I haven't either, the same could also be said for Reed Bunting but they were present in double figures at the same location, in separate parts of the farm there were two flocks of c.50 Chaffinch, unusually both flocks only contained Chaffinch where this time of the year I would expect to seem mixed flocks, maybe that's down to the fact we haven't had many sub zero temperature nights this winter, talking of flocks of birds it was great to see a flock of c.100 Linnet, they are spread out across the farm this year so again I would say there were definitely more, much less in number but equally as pleasing was sighting of a small flock of Siskin, finally all around the farm, Skylark could be seen and heard, which is always a good sign of good farming practices with birds and nature taken into consideration.
Birds seen today were, Yellowhammer, Siskin, Linnet, Reed Bunting, Skylark, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Starling, Collared Dove, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Stock Dove, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Grey Heron and Moorhen.
Also seen flying overhead were Cormorant which is a timely reminder as I won't be reporting any more sightings of them as 'anglers' read reports online of their locations and then kill them because they have the audacity to kill birds to survive where so called 'anglers' catch fish for sport.
Other wildlife seen today were Rabbit and Hare, seeing a Hare is especially exciting as I don't see them very often and they are great to watch when they are in full flow.
