Staffs/Worcs Canal (April 29 2010)

Out on a fishing trip and I thought I had seen badger the night before during darkness. But this time they were confirmed as I managed to capture them on film before it got too dark.

Once it was dark properly though I had an amazing sight as I watched two badgers feeding on the far bank skyline and a tawny owl fly over them, just a few feet above.

Too dark - and happened too quickly - to get on camera but one that will live in the mental memory card for a long time.

Here's the video of the badgers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKVUUH2clsA

Fens Pool Nature Reserve, Pensnet (April 28 2010)

A quick visit while I was doing a hospital run to nearby Russells Hall. High in the sky were a swift and a house martin.

The Fens Pool on arrival had 9 lesser black-backed gull and 2 herring gull on it. Three lapwing were circling around and landed on grass alongside the pool.

A male sparrowhawk was hunting low over the ground in a hawthorn bush section and a little higher just over the tops of the bushes a kestrel was also in hunting mode.

Sedgley (April 28 2010)

Saw my first swift of the year this afternoon, two birds high in the sky just to the east of Sedgley centre. Takes me to 80 species for 2010.

Staffs/Worcs Canal (April 27 2010)

A female mallard on the canal with 10 young that looked like they have not been out of the nest very long. My first fledglings of the year.

A colony of bluebell flowers on the far bank of the canal in full bloom.

Sedgley - backyard birding (April 26 2010)

A group of c.6 lesser black-backed gull in the area today. They were very noisy, that's what alerted me to them in the first place. Living by a school where the kids throw food on the floor, we get lots of gulls who get fed well. The birds were in lazy, low flight and often went down to collect something.

Video of brown rat (April 25 2010)

Not my favourite creature I must confess. This video was taken on a recent fishing trip. It was at this venue a few years back I woke in the night to find a brown rat on the pillow next to me. Not nice!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv4H3Lgr1gw

Video of great crested grebe (April 25 2010)

Added a video to YouTube of a pair of great crested grebe in summer plumage. These were filmed on a recent fishing trip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hY64nPIHd4

Highgate Common (April 24 2010)

A quick walk with Twinkle my Bedlington Terrier, so a sort of killing-two-birds-with-one-stone exercise. Although not literally of course, I wouldn't want to even tread on an oil beetle. The signs are up in the area that they have been sighted, so that's great news.

Saw my first whitethroat of the year (up to 79), well several actually, many of them singing. Other singing birds included willow warbler and yellowhammer.

A pair of common buzzard soaring high overhead and a kestrel spotted hovering several times.

Did catch a brief glimpse of what looked like a small tortoiseshell but the only other butterfly I saw and identified was a small white.

Staffs/Worcs Canal (April 23 2010)

A fishing trip on the local canal, so just a few hours at first light and not mobile. Saw a female mallard fly to her nest, which isn't unusual of course. Except that this one is 12 feet up a tree. Will be interesting when the young hatch.

Saw my first mistle thrush of the year, can't believe it has taken me so long. It takes me to 78 for 2010 anyway, crawling along as I always do.

The lesser celandine are really showing well once the sun gets up. Everything is at least a month behind though, I'm usually enjoying these in early March not the end of April.

Staffs/Worcs Canal (April 21 2010)

Birthday boy am I today and an early morning fishing trip on the canal was my present to myself. Singing birds included blackcap and willow warbler, both showing well in bankside vegetation. On the far bank a pair of jackdaw were busy around a nesting site in a hole in a tree. This is a regular spot where birds nest. Also saw a treecreeper and a stock dove.

Lots of lesser celandine are coming through now, albeit late because of the harsh winter we have had. A healthy colony of butterbur on the grass verge next to the canal itself.

Sedgley Beacon (April 20 2010)

A very quick visit to Sedgley Beacon at lunchtime, with the specific hope of seeing if any wheatear were around. I see migrating birds every year on the site but unfortunately not today.

There were no whitethroat either, they haven't set up residence yet. There are usually a good number of birds to be seen and heard.

The birds I did see were the usual suspects such as greenfinch, great tit, blue tit and so on. A good number of house sparrow - male and female - around the entrance at the top of Beacon Lane.

Quite a few carline thistle still showing from last year on the west slope, along with coltsfoot in certain places. Lots of dandelion everywhere, in full bloom.

Back on track (April 20 2010)

Can't believe that I haven't updated the blog for 12 months. Anyway it's time for me to get back on track I think. I wish there was an app that I could use from my Blackberry, but then again as I tweet on a very regular basis, including all my nature sightings, that would be an unnecessary duplication anyway.

So the idea of a write-up appeals to me, it's something different. Might not be every day though as it's from my laptop, but I'm sure there won't be too many free days to be honest. Plus I have put my twitter link on the blog, so in the event that I do see something worthwhile and people are in the area then the information is there immediately.

Another positive is that I have put a stats counter on the blog. At the end of the day, even if you enjoy writing, there's no point in doing so just for yourself. So hopefully a few visitors will make it worthwhile.

Thanks for stopping by. Here's to some wonderful postings of the natural world in and around South Staffordshire. I live just in the 'West Midlands' but that's not a county! It's an adminstrative 'thing'. I'm a Staffordshire lad and that's historically where I live not some created political boundary!

Near Kinver (April 13 2009)

Chiffchaff - silent bird flitting in trees. Heard other bird but not seen.
Canada goose - 2 on the canal.
Jackdaw - several noisy birds.

Sedgley - backyard birding (April 12 2009)

Greenfinch - very encouraging to see the pair of birds (male and female on the seed feeder, albeit briefly)

Midlands gravel pit (April 11 2009)

Greylag goose - 3 on pit.
Great crested grebe - 2 on pit.
Black headed gull - several in flight.

Midlands gravel pit (April 10 2009)

House martin - first of the year. Several feeding birds in the afternoon.
Sand martin - c.250 feeding over pit at dusk.

Oystercatcher - bird landed on one of the islands on the pit. Heard other calling birds (at least 2, but not seen).

Greylag goose - 4 on the water.

Barn swallow - 4 birds feeding over pit.

Skylark - singing over nearby field.

Reed bunting - male in pitside trees.

Total for 2009 - 82

Midlands gravel pit (April 9 2009)

Oystercatcher - single bird in flight, landed on one of the islands.
Sparrowhawk - male low in flight over water.
Greylag goose -7 birds on the pit.
Skylark - bird singing over nearby field, a second bird in flight, dropping onto field.
Cormorant - sightings of 3 birds and 2 birds in flight.
Goldfinch - 2 birds chasing each other in mating style.
Sand martin - several feeding over pit briefly.

Midlands gravel pit (April 8 2009)

Mute swan - 2 birds on water, 1 visiting bird chased away.
Canada goose - count of 31.
Reed bunting - male in pitside trees.
Cormorant - 3 sightings of single birds in flight.
Sand martin - c.50 feeding birds late in afternoon over pit.
Chiffchaff - singing bird in tree.

Sedgley - backyard birding (April 7 2009)

Dunnock - 2 feeding in birds in garden. One singing from cherry tree.
Blackbird - male and female in garden.
Common buzzard - high overhead in flight from NE to SW.
House sparrow - several male and female birds feeding.

Near Wombourne (April 6 2009)

Barn swallow - first one of the year. A single bird in direct flight, travelling north to south.

Bullfinch - male and female bird landed briefly in copse.

Song thrush - single bird in copse.

Chaffinch - male and female feeding in trees.

Mallard - several male and female birds on the canal.

Total for the year - 81

Sedgley - backyard birding (April 5 2009)

Dunnock - bird with nesting material in beak. I have located the area where they are nesting, it's in my backyard.

Blackbird - another nesting bird in the backyard, in a conifer. Male and female bird around regularly feeding.

Herring gull - 3 noisy birds in the area in flight.

Robin - bird singing well into dusk from its usual spot at the top of a mature sycamore in a neighbour's tree.

Midlands gravel pit (April 4 2009)

Oystercatcher - single bird on the shore of one of the islands on the pit.
Chiffchaff - singing bird in bushes.
Cormorant - single bird in flight.

Midlands gravel pit (April 3 2009)

Greylag goose - 7 noisy birds landed on the pit. Always a pair on there, first time I've seen this many.

Chiffchaff - bird singing from bushes. Several others singing but not seen.

Sand martin - c.12 birds passed through at dusk. Still no birds spending time on the pit feeding.

Mute swan - Pair landed and were promptly seen off by the resident birds.

Oystercatcher - calling birds in flight during darkness, but not seen.

Wall Heath (April 2 2009)

Barn owl - Driving on the A449 from Kinver, a bird flew left to right across the road 150 metres from the island by the Kingfisher club. I'm always excited to see a local barn owl but doubly so in this case, because as soon as I got home I did some boundary research and realised that the bird had flown into and over the West Midlands. So a West Mids / Black Country barn owl made me a very happy bunny indeed.

Bird seen at 8.21pm. I travel this road regularly and it's the first sighting I've had.

Near Kinver (April 1 2009)

Green woodpecker - several sightings of single bird in flight, very vocal.

Treecreeper - single bird on trunk of tree.

Chiffchaff - single bird singing in copse alongside canal.

Grey wagtail - 4 sightings of a single bird in flight along the canal. Probably the same bird.

Common buzzard - 3 sightings of single bird in flight/soaring.

Jackdaw - several in the area.

Sheepwash nature reserve, Tipton (March 31 2009)

Robin - 6 singing birds from path that goes from the entrance to lake.
Chiffchaff - 3 singing birds from the same walk as above.
Mute swan - nesting bird on pool.
Great crested grebe - bird on nest on lake.
Goosander - the number of birds has dropped but there are still 3 females on the lake.

Cormorant - On the lake, 2 birds perched on the edge of one of the islands and a 3rd bird on a post in the water.

Lesser black-backed gull - single bird in flight.

Sedgley Beacon (March 30 2009)

Linnet - first of the year, a pair in flight.

Skylark - bird singing high over the plateau, later a bird flushed from the rough grass.

Goldfinch - 2 in flight.

Grey heron - passed through in flight.

Kestrel - bird hunting over the rough grass.

Collared dove - passed through in flight.

Total for 2009 - 80

Near Kinver (March 29 2009)

Mandarin - male resting alongside River Stour.
Jackdaw - Never seen so many birds. Waves of c. 200, 250, 150, 30, 60, 80, 20, 160, 100, 180, 40, 10 at dusk in flight. A total of c. 1280.
Lapwing - 2 birds in flight, 1 calling briefly.
Mallard - male and female diving on the canal. Staying under for up to 20 seconds.

Total for the year - 79

Sedgley Beacon (March 28 2009)

Skylark - bird singing over plateau, then dropped. Later 3 birds flew from the rough grass.

Goldfinch - 1 in flight.

Dunnock - 1 adult bird and 2 juveniles in bushes. First birds seen this spring that have left the nest.

Total for 2009 - 78

Near Wombourne (March 27 2009)

Carrion crow - nest building in tree over Staffs/Worcs Canal.
Mallard - 3 males on canal.
Great crested grebe - on adjoining pool.
Jackdaw - 2 in flight.
Jay - 1 in flight.
Song thrush - 2 in far bank copse.