May 16th – I noted the cuddle puddle of goslings as I came back into Brownhills at Catshill Junction – the large brood of Canada goose chicks were all huddled together on the canal bank under the watchful eye of mum and dad having a communal nap break.
Couldn’t resist taking some pictures of this lovely group.
The parents weren’t aggressive today, either – which shows they must be getting used to me. Or are lulling me into a sense of false security.
May 15th – Sorry, waterfowl again, but these little guys are fascinating me.
The Watermead swans seem to spend a lot of time up at Catshill Junction – I’m not sure why, The cygnets are gaining bulk fast which should protect them from rats, mustelids and herons, if not larger raptors and foxes. Mum and dad are very attentive, and at the same time, relaxed. This evening, they brought their brood over to me to beg for food, which they weren’t doing a few days ago.
The Catshill Canada geese still seem to have the additional chicks stopping over, but appear to have lost 2. This is obviously very sad but normal, otherwise such large broods year on year would mean we’d be knee deep in Canada geese by now, and clearly we’re only ankle deep, so there.
May 2nd – The canals locally are a joy at the moment. Spring is in full effect and in one short journey between Walsall and Darlaston I saw new goslings, moorhen and coot chicks and an older family of ducklings.
When your ride to work contains such wonderful things, it’s hard not to have a great day.
April 12th – A horrid, wet commute home on a surprisingly cold day was lightened somewhat by the antics of a familiar pair of avian muggers on the towpath near Clayhanger.
I assume the same pair every year take residence on this stretch of canal, and noisily accost anyone passing for tidbits or sheer goosey devilment – honking, head-bobbing and if sufficiently irritated, pecking.
I carry a small bag of seed to distract them while I make good my escape, but I love them really.
There’s not much kindness in your average goose…
June 5th – Over to Middleton Hall for cake, and a weary return through Tamworth up the canal. Although it was a gloriously hot day, I just wasn’t feeling it and my energy was low, but the scenery really perked me up.
Everything is so green at the moment – from the barley in the fields to the gorgeous limpid canals – and that view of Middleton over the fields never gets old.
A lovely ride, even if I was knackered!
May 21st – On my way back via Chasewater, I spotted the huge Canada goose family near Catshill Junction; remarkably, 12 of the 13 chicks survive, with mum and dad being a good bit more protective and aggressive than formerly – one suspects the loss and protectiveness are related.
The young are growing well though. Lovely to see.
April 13th – I spotted her on the way home, something I don’t think I’ve seen before, a Canada goose nest. From my vantage point on the opposite side of the canal, I couldn’t decide at the time if she was sitting a nest, or just resting. It’s clearly the former, looking at the material underneath her.
This nest is right on the canalside behind the factories on Maybrook Road, between Walsall Wood and Brownhills. My goodness, she’s vulnerable to foxes there.
Lovely to see, though. Hope she’ll be OK.
March 9th – The spring imperative seems to be afoot again – reports of frogspawn locally, and the Canada geese seem to be pairing up again, all the better to mug passing cyclists for treats.
I’m sure we see the same two on the the canal between Catshill Junction and the Black Cock Bridge every year. They are used to being obstructive and noisy until paid off with a tidbit.
I do love these rowdy, uncouth characters. It’s good to have them back!
February 21st – Today, I saw an old familiar, I thought was lost – the white domestic goose from Chasewater with the bump it’s head. Originally part of a cohort of six kept as guards for the boatyard at Ogley Junction, they were cast into the wild when the yard closed. Living on the canal by the Chemical for a few years, two were lost, presumably to the local fox’s belly. When the Chemical was redeveloped, the geese moved to the main lake at Chasewater, where they lived seemingly contentedly amongst the Canada geese and swans.
One bird was lost to the cold in 2013, and another disappeared last year; for a couple of months now I’ve only seen the one, and assumed this bird was lost, but today I saw it preening by the waterspouts club.
The flock would be probably over ten years old now, and it shows in their eyes – these are venerable birds. Truculent, permanently cross and hostile to anything that didn’t give them food, they were hard to like. But I’ve always loved them. Such pure, white plumage, always tidy birds who knew their mind.
I hope they see another summer, and feel the warm sun on their backs once more.
May 28th – At Clayhanger, the Mallard family that numbered four on Sunday is down to three; probably picked off by a heron or raptor (or perhaps even a fox), it’s sad to see but natural, I guess. Mum may go on to have another clutch this year, and this is the way of things I guess. But I do hope the missing one didn’t suffer too much.
Meanwhile, just near Clayhanger Bridge, a single Canada goose mum and one gosling. I think there must be a story there too; she looked like she was protecting her fluffy charge with grim determination.
Nature can be so brutal sometimes.
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