Tag: kingfisher

December 28th – It was one of those so cold, but so beautiful sunlight winter days when there was thin ice on the canal and the usual winter towpath quagmire had frozen solid, so I headed to Birmingham on the canal. From Aldridge, via Rushall Junction, Tower Hill, Aston and Brindley Place. After a call at the German Market I went up to Soho, over Sandwell Valley Park and home on NCN 5 via Yewtree and Walsall.

The kingfisher was the best that could be done – the birds are very active at the moment, but they don’t stay still for long! In the sunset photo, that’s St Augustine’s at Edgbaston, as viewed from the canal mainline at Rotton Park. the sky really was that colour.

A beautiful day, and a lovely ride.

August 18th – I was on the lookout for kingfishers – I’d seen a couple flying down the canal this week, and one tantalisingly perched, who scarpered quickly when my camera beeped as it switched on. Today though, in Pleck, I was having no luck.

Then I spotted why.

A patch of white was twitching and moving in the long grass on the far side of the canal – and on closer inspection turned out to be a tabby and white puss with a remarkable tail engaged in stalking something.

I don’t know what was holding the cat in such rapt attention, but it didn’t even turn to look at me when called. 

My search for a good kingfisher photo opportunity continues…

March 4th – A beautiful day, but still windy. The golden light of spring shone its benevolent best over the canal at Walsall, and it felt good. What was really impressive was that I saw the Pleck kingfisher again – well, actually kingfishers, as one seemed to be seeing another off the territory near the Scarborough Road bridge. I couldn’t get the camera out in time to take a picture, but there was no mistaking the twin cobalt blue flashes. They both seemed to go for cover in the trees somewhere in the bottom picture.

Interestingly, I rode the canal through to Goscote on the way home in the light, too, and saw one there. It’s clearly a great year for these beautiful little birds. I hope I get a good picture of one soon.

January 13th – I know these are poor quality pictures, but I hope you’ll forgive me just this once because they show something astonishing: it’s a kingfisher, by the canal. That on its own is notable, but not remarkable; however this fellow was just in the bushes overhanging the Walsall Canal next to the Scarborough Road Bridge in Pleck, Walsall.

If Walsall were a city, we could call this place inner city; it’s one of the most densely populated parts of town, and not the kind of place one would expect to see such a glorious bird.

These were very hurried, very long range shots (30x zoom) on a dark, overcast day in a rain shower. A Community Payback team were working not 20 metres away. 

This is stunning to me. I never thought I’d see such a thing in a place like that.

A real find on a very grey day.

April 11th – The Goscote Valley in North Walsall is often condemned as a polluted, post industrial wasteland. This is sad as although it suffers the issues of any urban green lung, the cycle trail that runs parallel to the Ford Brook – tributary to the River Tame – is a quiet and speedy way to travel. Today, my journey was punctuated by the sight of a kingfisher, a large male fox and a buzzard. Nature has a habit of surprising you.