Walks, Sightings and Sounds in the Merry Month of May!

6th May....Leasowes Park

 

Today was my first 'proper' walk around this park.  Plenty of bird song was heard with Song Thrush, Wren, Robin, Blackbird and a delightful pair of Blackcaps gathering nesting material being the highlights!

 

 

Barn Swallows viewed at Wassell Grove.

 

 

 

10th May....WWT Upton Warren N R

A visit with my Daughter today was interesting and an eyeopener to say the least! Hey ho, Onward and upward.;-)

 

 

A Grey Heron was getting short shrift from a Black-headed Gull! Maybe it was the weather causing the short fuses that abounded today! A good visit nonetheless.

 

11th May....Brake Mill, West Hagley

 

I watched from a distance the Blue Tits as they gathered the moss from the tree for their nest!

A shy wren!

This Goldfinch was very vocal, lovely to hear!

Insects were abundant!

 My first of the year Orange-tip Butterfly. A delightful female.

 

18th May....Wassell Grove

How lovely it is to see the hedgerows colouring up! Cowslips are always a joy to see!

 

 

It is not often I manage a 'fairly' decent image of a Common Whitethroat, I was pleased with this sighting and image.

 

 

There were a multitude of Colts-foot seed heads, they looked rather splendid in close proximity to each other.

 

 

19th May....Beacon Hills

 

The Beacon Hills was a favourite place to visit along with the Lickey Hills when I was a youngster, not that many years ago.;-)

 

 

The impressive Toposcope.

 

 

 

Wonderful panoramic views on such a bright sunny day!

 

19th May....WWT Broadmoor Wood N R

 

Good to walk around this delightful little woodland once again. The sights, sounds and fragrances were very welcome on such a lovely sunny day!

 

 

 

 

The angle is correct! There is a steep incline in part of the wood.

 

 

 

22nd May....Bunkers Hill Bridleway.

 

A busy Nuthatch!

 A little cutie!

 The Great Tits have nested in this upright of the gate for a couple of years now. This was the best image I could manage, they were too quick for me to capture them...with my camera!

 

 

 

25th May....Wassell Grove

 

Canada Geese 'on the edge'!

One of a family of Long-tailed Tits that flitted in the trees by a stream. Great little birds to see and hear!

 

Longhorn Moth

 

 

 

 

Hoverfly species?

 

 

Green-veined White.

 

 

 

 

26th May....Stewponey Lock and Wharf  plus Wolverley Lock No 8.

 

Stewponey Lock and Wharf.

Canal walks are always a pleasure to do...especially so early mornings! It was to be a delightfully warm and sunny day so an early start was taken to make the most of the peaceful walk along the towpaths. Numerous cyclists were later seen peddling furiously in front and behind us on the walk. Those in front are obvious to see it is the one's that are behind you and belong to what I call the 'No- bell' club and creep up on you silently that are the problem! Why do they not have a bell on their bikes?

 

 

I believe this is Periwinkle? It was the only cluster of this flower seen along this stretch of the canal.

 

Numerous Song Thrushes were singing today, always a joy to hear and also interesting listening to the various songs from the Thrushes.

 

 A Dunnock in the hedgerow. Very apt!

 

One of two Buzzards seen today.

 

 

Someone is going to enjoy a good lunch!

 

Wolverley Lock No 8.

 

This was the first walk along this stretch of the canal. An enjoyable walk with the added bonus of the The Lock Inn being a good place to refresh oneself after the walk.;-) They do a mean Cheese Burger and hand cut chips.;-)

 

A couple of meadows were almost filled to capacity with Buttercups, a great sight to see these delightful Wildflowers doing so well!

 

House Martin, Barn Swallow and Swift were a pleasure to see hawking the water and fields! Insects seemed to have irrupted in their thousands today as there were endless clouds of them along the waterways and in the fields!

 

 

My Garden.

 

Blue Tits are nesting in a box in my garden and at present are strenously toing and froing with food for their chicks! I hope I am around when they hopefully safely fledge!

 

 

 

Blossom on a Crab Apple tree looking good in the sunshine!

 

Changeable weather during May, I wonder what 'Flaming June' will bring!

 

 

 

 

 

Update on Lime Hawk-moth !

It was the 15th August 2012 when the last two caterpillars decided it was time to dig in to the soil to change into a chrysalis: http://allmarsh.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/caterpillarsgoing-under12082012.html

The original Lime Hawk-moth was found on the 15th June 2012 so almost 12 months have passed!

Well today the first one has emerged, hopefully there will be more but I am well pleased to see that one has survived and emerged after what has seemed to have been a very long time under the soil and after such a cold and long Winter.

I have had to lighten many of the images as it was a little difficult to get a good image due to the position of the moth in the box. 


16.30pm

17.04pm

 

 

17.04pm

 

 

 

 

18.43pm

 

 

18.57pm

 

 

 

 

 

An April catch-up in May!

1st April:
Lower Smite Farm and Hillers Farm Shop.

It had been a long while since my last walk around Lower Smite Farm, a cold day so it was good to have a good walk! Yellowhammer, Chiffchaff, Robin, Blue & Great Tit, House Sparrow, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel were all seen on the walk. It was  a pleasure to sit and watch the House Sparrows on and around the feeders, a sight I had in my garden once upon a time but not anymore.

 

 

Later in the afternoon a first visit to Hillers Farm Shop was made and most enjoyable it was too. Apart from the delicious food they serve and sell they have bird feeders and a hide at the far end of the Farm shops/Garden centre, a lovely idea and a good idea to get people interested in birds and Wildlife! A Muntjac was a nice surprise to see feeding fairly close with a Pheasant for company.

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Several visits were made to Brake Mill Pool and Brake Lane during April. Varying numbers of Goosander were seen on several occasions on the pool during the early part of April. Mistle thrush, Fieldfare, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Whitethroat, Grey Wagtail, Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker, Swallow, House Martin, Kestrel and Buzzard werre a few of the highlight species seen during the month.

 

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Buzzards galore at Severn Valley Country Park , well 7 to be precise! It was a real treat watching them circling in the thermals. The marsh area was quiet with just Canada Geese, Coot, Moorhen and Mallard to be seen. The views were excelllent as it was such a clear and sunny day!

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Several visits were also made during the month  to the area of Whittington, nr Stourbridge where Wheatears and soaring Buzzards were the stars of the show though I must also mention the singing Skylarks and hovering Kestrels which played their parts magnificiently!

There were 5 Wheatears perched at one point, I think they were enjoying the heat!

 Spot the birdie!

This sheep somehow managed to find it's way out of the field where the flock were but soon was bleating to return to them! It followed me up the track at one point, I felt like Little Bo Peep! It did return home wagging his tail behind him!

 

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A visit to Forge Mill Farm, Sandwell was made though there was  not much in the way of birds to report about. However a rather handsome looking  Bull and cute calves were delightful to see.

 

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 Dowles Brook, Wyre Forest came up trumps today (28th) with a pair of Pied Flycatchers and two female Redstarts being the absolute stars of the day! To have had good views of the Pied Flycatchers feeding and perching for around an hour was brill and then two Redstarts arrived! It was lovely to get such good sightings of these stunning looking birds!

  

Wood Warbler was heard only, a pair of Mandarin Ducks, Grey Wagtail x2, Marsh Tit, Blackcap pair, Siskin, Redpoll, Goldcrest, Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Nuthatch being other highlights! A Muntjac was fleetingly seen and Peacock Butterflies were spotted several times but surprisingly not a single Brimstone today. At long last we are now seeing some colour in the form of Cowslips, Forget-me-knots, Cuckoo Flower and Common-dog Violets to name a few.