May 14th – Bittersweet. Also in the rain, the Brownhills Watermead swan family, I first took pictures of at the weekend – doing well, but down from seven cygnets to six. One will have been snatched by a predator, or may have been weak and died; but the rest look fine and are already growing. Out with mum and dad who were keeping a watchful eye, they were a lovely family.
Such joy and sadness in nature.
May 9th – A big welcome, if you please, to the newest residents of Brownhills, seven swan chicks newly hatched in the last 24 hours or so to the swan couple who have been nesting at the Watermead, just near the Canoe Centre in Brownhills.
The 7 fluffy hatchlings were active, and seemed fit, although I think there may have originally been eight, as I think in some photos there appears to be a lifeless one in the nest. But seven survivors is a good number, and if they can get through the next week or so without being lunch for predators, they’ll be just fine.
Mum and dad were showing their brood off beautifully, and the Canoe people are avoiding them – out of respect for wildlife and also out of pecking distance of the Cob!
We can expect to lose a few of these fluffy chaps – we lost one of the eight at Catshill last year – as at this stage, they’re vulnerable to mustelids, foxes, rats and even herons – which is just natural.
So if you can, get down and have a look at these delightful birds. Please don’t feed them bread, however, as it’s bad for them. There’s plenty of natural food and they’re foraging well.
March 28th – Even on the greyest days, Brownhills has signs of life at this time of year. I set out for a short spin on a grey, showery afternoon, and was rewarded with a herd of red deer at the old clay pit, a nesting swan just by the canoe centre and watered, and a delightful grey wagtail at Anchor Bridge.
It took me a while to work out why the young stag’s coat was grey and oddly textured. He’s been rolling in clay mud. I know deer like to mud bathe, but that seems a little extreme… anyone seen this behaviour before? Is it harmful?
I noted the deer were in moult, and wondered if the mud-rolling was a way of accelerating the shedding.
March 12th – I revised some old haunts tonight to try out the new camera on some familiar night shots. I’m astounded with the improvement in image quality of the TZ70 over the TZ60; the shots are far sharper and less noisy than I’m used to getting. Even the flats on the Watermead by Coopers Bridge are well defined and sharp.
They really let the unexpected beauty of Brownhills at night shine through.
August 27th – A run out mid afternoon on an errand. I headed up the canal from Pelsall Road to Silver Street bridge, then over Clayhanger Common and the new pond to Walsall Wood.
The herons are getting really, really confident; this one was on the canal by the Watermead estate. He wasn’t a bit bothered by what was going on around him.
The Swan family were grazing by the embankment restoration near the Black Cock Bridge. The seven young I’ve followed since hatching are adult-sized now, and the first hints of adult, white plumage are beginning to show. I don’t know what the bank works have disturbed, but these graceful birds were very engaged with eating it!
June 15th – It was only a short run around Brownhills and up to Chasewater, as I wasn’t feeling to clever and it was a dreadfully overcast, grey afternoon.
My mood was lifted though by all the young animals I saw around and about – two families of goslings at different stages of development at the Watermead; a foal grazing on a lush meadow yellow with buttercups at Brownhills Common; the Catshill swan family, still numbering seven, growing all the time.
Inbetween, too quick to capture, I saw terns, a couple of herons, rabbits, squirrels and buzzards.
I particularly liked what I assume to be the foal’s mum, who was wading through the pool in their meadow munching on the lush green shoots growing from it.
I might not have felt any better physically, but the sights I saw cheered me up no end.
May 12th – That cheeky squirrel. I was cruising around the canal looking for the swan family – still nowhere to be found – on my way home from work. I stopped at the hazel thicket on the bend by the Watermead Eastate to answer a call. All the time I felt I was being watched.
It seems Nutkin wants me to move along now, and not make a fuss….
Yet another example of why I’ll never make a wildlife photographer…
December 20th – I’d been out most of the day, Christmas shopping and mooching around Birmingham. I had places to be in the evening, and only managed to fit in a short ride in the early evening, which was just as well really, as the wind was horrid and it was threatening rain after what had been a fairly good, but chilly day.
I took a ride up the canal from Coopers Bridge to Silver Street, and did a bit more experimentation with long exposure. The shot of the apartments by Coopers Bridge, even at 30 seconds, was too dark and grainy, there just wasn’t enough light for the camera to capture. However, near the overflow opposite Tesco the effect was quite good at 15 seconds. I love the shine it appears to give the water.
Think I’m fretting my head around it…
August 4th – By the canal in Brownhills, opposite the Watermead Eastate, there’s a little secret not many people seem to know about. It’s a hedge of hazel trees. I guess they were planted here 25 years ago when the refuse tip that had been on this site was reclaimed. Now mature, and tall, they are covered in dense, beautifully green leaves. I’d never remotely consider eating the nuts considering the previous use of the land below, but it’s moot anyway, as normally the squirrels strip these trees bare of fruit before it’s even ripe.
Sadly, the squirrels will not be so fortunate this year, as in the whole length of the hedge, I spotted only two nuts. It must have been a bad season for these trees.
February 15th – I was off work with stuff to do all day. I slipped out just in the sunset hour, too late for the colour, but just in time for the drama. The going was good and the bike felt fast, and I rode it liquid along the towpaths of Brownhills. The light was superb – just when you think you’ve seen a place in every light possible, something different happens. From Catshill Junction to Pelsall Road, the soft lights of the Watermead to the harsh geometry of Humphries House, the whole of Brownhills seemed to be high on twilight drama.
Brilliant, really enjoyable.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 