Plantsbrook Nature Reserve.

 

Great visit to Plantsbrook Nature Reserve where it was quite evident Winter's on its way out and Spring's on its way, what with the bushes and flowers and pond life all starting to emerge back into life and even though I didn't see any evidence of the water fowl nest building I did observe Great Crested Grebe doing the 'courtship dance' and Wren, Blackbird and Blue Tit among others collecting nesting material.

Highlight of the day was an easy one today, not very often you see a mixed flock of c.50 Siskin and Lesser Redpoll, they looked truly magnificent with the backdrop of the clear blue skies, also worth noting was how noisy they were, a treat to see and hear any time you're lucky enough to do so.

As I always say, seeing any bird is a treat, so it was also great to see a very charismatic pair of Domestic Duck, a Nuthatch who actually was coincidentally seen 'among' the mixed Siskin and Lesser Redpoll flock, a rather resplendent looking Mistle Thrush who was catching the light from the sun perfectly, Parakeets who are definitely always noisy, Shoveler who always great to see even if they do always keep their distance and last but not least, Cormorants who always look great drying off their wings.

Birds seen today were, Siskin, Lesser Redpoll, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Robin, Wren, Dunnock, Nuthatch, Mistle Thrush, Blackbird, Starling, Parakeet, Cormorant, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Domestic Duck and Canada Goose.

I must also thank the 'Friends of Plantsbrook Local Nature Reserve' who look after the park as it was basically litter free and is clearly looked after well!

Southfield's Farm.

Great visit to Southfield's Farm this morning, a bit muddy in places, but hey it is Winter.

Strangely for the time of the year it was very quiet, I was expecting to see Linnet numbering in the hundreds and I didn't see a single one, let's just hope they were in other fields to the ones I was in, apart from the 'resident' House Sparrow population, easily the bird I saw most was Chaffinch, and they did number in the hundreds, they were mainly attracted to the supplementary food John leaves for them over Winter, strangely though there were no Reed Bunting spotted in those areas which is also unusual. As always, it was good to get out about regrdless of what I did or didn't see.

Birds seen today were, Yellowhammer, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Mistle Thrush, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Mute Swan, Mallard, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow and Magpie.

Sutton Park.

 

Great visit to Sutton Park this morning which coincided with the first slight frost of this Autumn, which made for some great views of the vast scenery with the blue skies and sunshine.

It's always good to see any birds and wildlife that places have to offer but four spots were especially great to see today, first up was the sight of a flock of Redwing, along with many Woodpigeon, feasting on the berries from a Holly tree, it was especially nice as they are the first Redwing I've seen this Autumn, then almost straight after that I got a lovely view of a Yellow Wagtail which first landed on a bridge and then went for a forage in a brook and if those spots weren't good enough I had the pleasure of seeing a pair of Stonechat, male and female going from bush to bush looking for insects, I don't see many Stonechat so that really was a rare old treat, last was not least was seeing a small flock of Meadow Pipit looking for insects in among the moorland and ferns who flew up to a tree every time a dog appeared but soon came back down once the 'danger' had gone.

Longmoor Pool was as busy as you'd expect with three of this years Mute Swan Cygnets still hanging around, the Mallards were as cheeky as usual and the Coots were fighting as usual, I don't think they ever give it a rest, the only real surprise to see on the water was a good number of Little Grebe, they are lovely bird that you don't see nearly often enough.

Birds seen today were, Stonechat, Meadow Pipit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Robin, Nuthatch, Redwing, Jay, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Pied Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Little Grebe, Coot, Moorhen, Tufted Duck, Mallard and Canada Goose.

Pype Hayes Park.

 

Chilly visit to Pype Hayes Park this morning, which is just how I like it especially when the suns out and there's lovely blue skies, the only problem was the wind, still great to be out though.

Apart from the pool it was very quiet, the wind didn't help spotting the birds though, the pool was incredibly busy especially you consider it's fairly small, there was a lot of Mallard and Canada Goose, with Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Coot and Domestic Duck present.

Other birds seen were, Parakeet, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Jay, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw and Magpie.

As usual it's not about spotting a particular bird or the amount of birds that I see, it's all about getting out there and seeing what's around regardless.

Pype Hayes Park.

Nice little trip to Pype Hayes Park this morning where we are in between the splendid colours of Summer and Autumn and most flowers are past their best and most of the bird breeding has finished, still as always it's great to be and about observing nature.

As you might guess it was fairly quiet this morning apart from the pool which had .c100 Mallard, a lot of which were this years juveniles, also seen was a juvenile Gadwall, Domestic Duck, hybrid Shoveler, hybrid Runner Duck and hybrid Mallard, as well as Mute Swan, Mallard, Moorhen and Coot.

Between the Plantsbrook and the pool there was a Buzzard and Kestrel hunting, so let's hope the other birds stayed well hidden, also seen that area were Parakeet, Song Thrush, Jay as well as the usual songbirds and plenty of Corvids.

Birds seen today were, Buzzard, Kestrel, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Robin, Dunnock, Parakeet, Song Thrush, Jay, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Coot, Canada Goose, Gadwall, Mallard and Domestic Duck.

Newhall Valley Country Park.

 

First visit today to Newhall Valley Country Park in a very long time where a bit of sunshine would have been nice but at least there was no rain.

As soon as I got out of the car I could hear a Cuckoo calling which was great to hear but sadly I couldn't find it's location so I didn't actually get to see it, also from the get go I could hear a Buzzard calling, in fact I could hear Buzzard for the entirety of my visit and even saw one swooping in towards a group of Parakeet, don't think it got anything though, along the Plantsbrook there were Little Egret, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail and a very accommodating Grey Heron, strangely I didn't see any birds such as Mallard and Coot but that could have been due to the Himalayan Balsam taking a stronghold in this location, at least there were Mallard and Moorhen to be found on the pool at New Hall Hotel, other than that it was fairly quiet apart from a small flock of Coal Tit at the hotel.

Birds seen today were, Cuckoo (heard), Buzzard, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Coal Tit, Goldfinch, Robin, Wren, Dunnock, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jay, Parakeet, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Moorhen and Mallard.

Kingsbury Water Park.

 

Lovely visit to Kingsbury Water Park even though it didn't get off to the greatest of starts because I witnessed a Gull swoop down, kill and then eat a Coot juvenile who was only few days old.

At least after that incident it was all uphill, in the same stretch of water there was also seven juvenile Little Grebe, other juvenile birds seen were Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Mallard and the aforementioned Coot, on another part of the lakes their were a pair of Egyptian Goose who were presumably the same pair I saw on my last visit here back in April, it was also great to see so many Greylag Goose, there were at least fifty but there may have been even more on the islands by the the large lake, over the water it was great to still see many House Martin present.

Birds seen today were, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Wren, Robin, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, House Martin, Cormorant, Mute Swan, Egyptian Goose, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Tufted Duck and Mallard.