June 21st – It may be the solstice, but the mating behaviour continues on the canal. With many mallards now on second broods, I noticed this industrious moorhen building a huge nest on the canal at Pleck.
She was very busy and the structure contains some interesting items. I’ll be intrigued to see if she uses it.
May 24 – I ‘m convinced that whatever gave rise to moorhens and coots existing had the plans backwards. Baby coots – featured here last week – look, as Phil Griffin put it ‘Like badly knitted moorhens’ – and he’s right. On the other hand, apart from the remarkable feet, these moorhen chicks could easily thought to be coots.
The antics of both are hugely comical, however. So nice to see.
May 22nd – Also growing well, and still at the original 9, the Watermead swan family were out on a constitutional.
Those little balls of grey fluff are growing well, and mum and dad are very good parents, keeping them close and rounding up any explorers who stray.
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.
May 3rd – The swans who’ve nested on the Walsall Canal at Bentley Bridge seem very house proud. The sitting partner today was busily removing debris and weaving new reeds into their huge nest, while their mate was finding suitable pieces from further afield to improve the construction.
I love how busy they are, and how they work in careful partnership. Magical.
April 16th – Heading up the canal toward Newtown, on the bend just past the old mill, a relaxing couple on a sunny afternoon. I’ve not seen the swans do this on the canal bank here before, and this one has me a little puzzled, but they were utterly relaxed and convinced the spot was just right for them.
A lovely sight, but I know the one that was ostensibly asleep was totally aware of my presence.
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 26th – Ah, spring’s escapement lurches, and the wheels of the season click forward a notch – the swans are nesting again at the Watermead Estate in Brownhills.
They seem to be in the same spot as last year, which is pretty well protected from vermin and out of reach of all but the most determined threat; I can’t be sure it’s the same birds, but it seems likely as a pair have nested here near the houses and canoe club for a good few years now.
Last year’s brood was large and successful – let’s hope for the same this year, and mum seems to be sitting already!
March 24th – I keep seeing this fellow about the canal recently. I’m assuming it’s the same bird – I’ve seen him up by Newtown in Brownhills, and today by Clayhanger Bridge at the rear of the Maybrook Industrial Estate. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crested grebe on the canal before.
I suppose there’s no reason why not, but I do wonder why these delightful birds – common at Chasewater – are not seen on the canals much if at all.
A mystery.
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.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 