May 13th – I’ve heard it said that geese will ‘babysit’ another mother’s brood while she’s busy. What else can explain the Catshill Canada geese suddenly acquiring three brighter yellow, younger chicks? That takes the clutch to 14, a startlingly high number which mum and dad seem to have trouble corralling into order!
May 12th – Slowly recovering from my tribulations, I headed off to Birmingham along the canals and through Sandwell Valley Park for some light relief. It was a dreadfully dark, rain-spattered day but the birdlife I saw was incredible. From the bluetits near Park Hall to the young waterfowl all along the canals of the area, multiplication really is the name of the game.
Glad to see the six cygnets all present and correct at Catshill Junction, and who knew gulls could yawn?
May 11th – Less hard to spot is Mrs. Muscovy, the Newtown One. Now feral, the flock she should have been part of has moved on, and this uncaged canard who escaped and subsequently survived nearly 18 months of canalside freedom is now a permanent fixture of the canal between Middleton Bridge and the aqueduct over the railway at Newtown.
When I passed this rather unique duck today, she was preening and bathing determinedly in the water, and making quite a splash.
And long may she continue to do so…
May 11th – Still in recovery downtime, I pottered out around the canals and commons to try and find the cygnets and deer. I drew a complete blank on the Watermead swans – nothing unusual there, swans possess an almost unique ability to disappear when you’re looking for them – and the dear nearly defeated me too.
I say nearly, as we more or less bumped into each other unawares. I was poking around the scrub on the old rail line near Engine Lane looking for industrial remnants, and these two ladies were heading the other way. I’m not sure who was more surprised, me or them.
A real pick-me-up on an otherwise fruitless journey.
May 9th – A terrible, hurried phone photo, but I noticed that the Canada geese had hatched a new brood in the last 24 hours near Catshill Junction. In the dawn light they were resting, and dad was stood guard nearby, whilst mum had the rest of her clutch under her right wing.
Canada geese get such a hard time from wildlife purists but they’re fascinating creatures. With a very tough day ahead, the sight of this new family really brightened my day.
May 7th – I went to see the swans down at the Watermead, and found them at Silver Street, enjoying the sun and learning from mum and dad how to forage.
They are still very much grey balls of fluff and adorable, and I spent a lovely ten minutes watching their antics as they splashed, bickered and tried to copy their parents.
So good to see this young family grow and develop.
May 6th – Another cheering thing was the discovery that the Watermead swan couple, nesting near the canoe centre in Brownhills, had finally hatched their clutch. Not huge this year at six cygnets, but not a poor showing either, it was lovely to see the little grey balls of fluff out learning how to feed with their parents.
Squabbling, squeaking and flapping around, it’s impossible for these little birds to make you anything less than joyous.
I hope none are predated this year, but with the preponderance of foxes and herons, we may well lose young chicks in the coming week or two, and we should be prepared – most years one or two are lost.
Also, if you go to see these lovely creatures – and what better wildlife sight could you share with young kids – then feed them greens or seed, but not bread. Bread has no nutritional value to waterfowl and can cause health problems. They like garden peas and greens,. and always enjoy seed.
Go and see these wonderful little chaps while they’re young and fluffy!
May 5th On the way home I took the canal from Darlaston, in the hope of avoiding the worst of the wind. Nearing the factories near Pratts Mill Bridge, I noticed this swan, ostensibly asleep but clearly monitoring me on the far side of the canal, nurturing it’s clutch of eggs.
I wonder if it’s the swan couple that in previous years have nested in the old Gasworks Arm and Anson Junction in Pleck? No sign of them up there this year. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch sight of one of the parents leg-rings soon and find out for sure.
May 4th – In the past couple of days I’ve mused on the sudden explosion in the number of herons on the local canals around Walsall, and also noted the amount of fresh waterfowl hatchlings.
In one journey from Walsall to Darlaston this morning, I saw four lurking herons. But only one coot chick.
It was lunchtime before the connection struck me. The herons are finding food in the tiny new lives that have been nurtured in canalside nests in the last few days and weeks.
I can’t grumble – the herons are doing what herons do, and the reason many clutches are so large or certain species are prolific breeders is precisely because of the attrition of new generations by predators.
But it’s a grizzly thought. These very attentive coot parents were very attentive of their offspring – only 10 metres of so from a patient, waiting heron.
May 3rd – Nice to see the herons out and about again. They went a little scarce over the winter and I was concerned we were losing them, but as the spring settled in I started seeing more of these dishevelled, mad looking fishers.
This one, on the canal bank between two scrapyards at Darlaston, was large and healthy-looking and regarded me with interest as I stopped to photograph it.
I love these remarkable and beautiful birds.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 