Tag: geese

August 22nd – The sun came out, and whilst riding over Anchor Bridge I’d noticed the swan family were headed off up the canal at a determined pace. I snatched a frankly awful picture, then went on my way. My mission in Brownhills aborted, I doubled back to get some better pictures, and quickly found the swans in a morass of at least 200 Canada Geese on the canal between Catshill Junction and Silver Street. 

The swans are in fine fettle – I had been concerned last week after not seeing them awhile, and there had been a surplus of white feathers on the water near the bridge, but it turned out volunteers had been ringing them. According to reports, they spent a couple of days sulking in Aldridge, then came back.

Quite what’s attracting the numbers of geese here, I have no idea. I note there’s some outrage about Sandwell having undertaken a cull recently, but with few predators, goose numbers are skyrocketing, which increases pressure on food supplies. It’s a tricky question I guess.

After all, one does get so attached to these birds…

July 17th – On my return, I was held up by some rather familiar beaked* villains. This is Coulter Lane, Burntwood, just outside the farm where they sell asparagus. It’s a good couple of miles from Chasewater – yet these honking, hissing impediments to cycling progress are clearly the Chasewater geese – domestic birds set free some years ago, that generally hang around the boating lake, grumping at anyone and anything. 

Are they regulars here? Is this actually their home? Do they commute?

So many questions, so little time…

*yes, I know they have bills, not beaks, but it doesn’t scan as well.

May 9th – Also introducing their offspring to the big, wide world were Birmingham’s Canada geese. I saw a couple of families on the canal in central Birmingham, each with 3 goslings. These charming yellow chicks are gorgeous, but fiercely guarded by mum and dad who hiss and head-bob at me while I take pictures.

Late spring – multiplication, it’s the name of the game. Delightful to witness.

April 19th – The footpaths around Chasewater’s south shore have recently been resurfaced, and are, on the whole, lovely. Since transferring to the control of Staffordshire County Council on April 1st, certain local councillors have rediscovered the park’s existence and seen keen on turning into some kind of landlocked Prestatyn, and the council itself talks darkly of ‘returns’.

I fear we’re in for interesting times.

The new path around the boating lake shows off the goose and swan poo fantastically well, and I was cheered to note the return of the third white domestic goose, hitherto missing since Christmas.

She looked in good health despite what must be advanced years, and was very white and neat. Not as aggressive as normal, the geese ignored me and one remained resting in statuesque, one-legged repose.

These birds bloody hate me on the whole, but I’m actually rather fond of them. Long my they remain.

March 17th – On the canal near Clayhanger, the Blackthorn (I think it’s the Blackthorn – can you confirm, Susan?) is now in Bloom. What with this, the amorous frogs and newly aggressive Canada Geese, spring is surely in for the haul now.

I still won’t be comfortable with this until the clocks go forward…

December 24th – It all went a bit astray. Time was tight, I had stuff to do. I wanted to get a good ride in, but the wind at lunchtime was punishing. I was visited by the p*nct*r* fairy. Then I caught the squall at Chasewater. 

The skies darkened, and the waves lapping ashore at the north end of the dam were something to behold. There was horizontal rain, snow and sleet. 

10 minutes later, blue skies and sunshine. I just gave up and pottered home, tired and wet. I just wish the weather would make it’s bloody mind up. 

That wasn’t a ride, it was an endurance test. Nice to see folk looking after the swans and geese, though.

March 22nd – If you can, please visit Chasewater and feed the waterfowl on the boating lake. This mixture of ducks, swans, coots and geese are all ravenous due to the snow, cold weather and lack of benevolent visitors. The swans were so hungry, they forgot to be aggressive. I forgot to bring them food. I felt guilty, they clearly felt cheated,

Oh bugger.

January 26 – I’d prayed to Thor, the god of meltwalter, but not much happened. We had heavy rain, then it refroze; but skipping out mid day for a sandwich and a brew, there was a sharp ramp-up in temperature, and the thaw set in with some urgency. It actually felt tropical.

I had to admire the British stoicism of the picnickers with flask and camera. They didn’t even have a dog.

Even the sailing club got their boats out.

The riding was terribly poor; the ice on the paths around Chasewater was unridable as it was too mobile; it was like riding on pea gravel.

The bird life is booming at Chasewater; we recently had the largest gull roost in many years, with upwards of 10,000 birds, and the waterfowl on the boating lake are as persistent as ever. I love the domestic white geese and the way they hector me for food.

The water level continues it’s inexorable rise; on January 11th, the water was at 75com from the top of the scale, it’s now 64cm, a rise of 11cm or just over 4 inches. With the huge increase in lake surface area, that’s a immense amount of water.

The 9-foot pool has now joined the main lake through the new bridge, and it won’t be long until the water overtops the weir into the spillway – that is, if it’s allowed to.

It’ll be interesting to see the effects of the thaw.

October 19th – Working from home today, I spun out late afternoon on errands and to get some shopping. It was misty and grey, but all the same, I headed to Chasewater to check out the levels. It was pretty deserted at 5pm, and the boating lake was a peaceful soup of wildfowl, who flocked around me hoping I had food. The sheer variety in the duck population – domestic, blended with mallard, crossed with tufted ad infinitum – was fascinating. Ducks will mate with just about anything they can, and the diversity here is illuminating. 

I see the domestic white geese are still terrorising visitors, too, the aggressive devils. Goose bills are the stuff of nightmares, eh? Look at all those serrations…

June 10th – For the second time in two days, I hit Chasewater. I was going on to ride the Sherbrook Valley on the Chase, but couldn’t resist a spin around the park in the sunshine. The weather was warm and soft, and I was in shorts and shirtsleeves. The boating pool was, as usual, a cloudy soup of mallards, canada geese, swans and coots, mingling with bird waste and discarded bread, but the waterfowl seem happy enough. Unusually, a mallard had her ducklings on the lake, including this rather fetching yellow one. A lovely thing indeed.