November 16th – It’s been a while since my Brownhills deer magnet was last functioning, and I `haven’t seen the local ones for ages. As I came up Coppice Lane, they were in the scrub on the left side, on the fringes of the old clay pit and landfill.
About 6 or 8 females, they were quite skittish, and didn’t hang around for long. But it was good to se the girls. Shame the light wasn’t a bit better.
November 8th – The family bonds between the members of the various swan broods hatched this summer seem to be breaking, slowly. I see more and more cygnets out on their own now, or small groups.
This is clearly good, and natural, but it does make me a little sad that I’ll not see anymore neat lines of swans proceeding about the local canals until we get more families next year.
This pair – I don’t think they’re from the Catshill brood, as they were unringed – were loafing and preening at Catshill junction and didn’t seem to mind my presence too much, just occasionally growling and hissing at me.
They really are fine, healthy birds. I’m fascinated in the attention they pay to their undercarriage: the positions they get into while maintaining their feathers are incredible.
November 1st – After Thursday’s blurry rat backside photo, I received a complaint from a reader who’s rat phobic. Sorry, Linda, but I quite like them, and they are a part of our wildlife. I’ll try not to spring rattus norvegicus on you again without warning.
I have suitably cautioned Linda about this post….
Rats and humans have a symbiotic relationship – they are intelligent, quick and scarily versatile adaptors, which has ensured their proliferation and survival, and despite their carrying of disease and filth, it is without doubt that without these guys cleaning up after us the human race would probably have died out by now.
Today I was riding back from the supermarket, and this healthy specimen was just on the towpath near Pratts Mill Bridge in Leamore. Braver than most, it hung around as I took its photo, before it darted for safety into the reeds next to me.
What I hadn’t seen was Mr. Whiskers looking sternly on from nearby. Rat for tea, possibly…
October 30th – The morning commute was marked by the wildlife I encountered on the way. As I left home, a large male fox sauntered towards me in broad daylight, bold as brass, taking the air, before diverting over gardens.
At Jockey Meadows, deer were over the back of the woods, but I had no time to investigate.
At Pleck, I was panhandled by the central Walsall swan family of mum and dad plus two. They always come over and noisily demand food. When they realise you haven’t got any, they lose interest and wander off. Aggressive begging is a persistent problem these days.
Right in the heart of urban Pleck, a grey wagtail was an unexpected delight, bobbin around in the canal side scrub. It was a long zoom in terrible light but such a cute little bird.
While I watched the wagtail, a large rat ran along the bumper rail. He was a big fellow. I only just caught his derrière. He looked healthy, though, so the water must be clean… yes, it’s a terrible photo but it does show the breadth of local wildlife, I guess.
October 27th – A quieter, and altogether more successful hunter was just up the waterway at Bentley Bridge. Initially quite well hidden in the reeds, I clearly put this young grey heron off his fishing stroke too.
I love herons – haven’t had one here for a bit. I still find it remarkable that I now see them in the most urban of areas. A real signifier of environmental improvement.
October 25th – I spotted them by chance as I shot down Church Street in Chasetown – the were on the mown grass in the little park next to the school. Four red deer ladies, out for their constitutional, and looking maybe for the odd carrot.
The were awfully tolerant and posed for me happily for ages. They’re clearly very used to people being around.
The look in good health, and fine condition. So good to see them after not seeing any for ages – they’re beautiful animals.
October 18th – Certainly seeing that family with five cygnets about a lot. They were tooling around the canal, grazing and generally patrolling. I saw them several times during the day, but by mid afternoon, they were loafing and preening in one of the canalside back gardens near Humphries House.
I don’t know why, but these gorgeous, grumpy and truculent birds have me captivated.
October 16th – I’ve come to the conclusion there’s another swan family moved down here, probably from Aldridge. Nipping back into Walsall Wood on an errand, I spotted five cygnets and mum; they don’t seem as advanced in development as the Catshill brood, which are really quite white now, and these seem cheekier, and more unruly.
Looking for food along the embankment at the back of Barrow Close, they were watched by a distinctly unamused bystander, a large, grumpy-looking marmalade cat.
There’s a story there, I’m sure.
September 17th – Recently on Facebook there was some concern over a swan that was found dead in Pelsall. The bird had been decapitated, and many were accusing vandals. The truth is less controversial, but sadly a little more gory.
The swan was, in all probability, killed by a fox. Anyone who’s seen the aftermath of a fox in a henhouse will know that Reynard goes for the neck.
At this time of year, this year’s cubs are driven out of the den by their parents to seek their own territories – that’s why we often see foxes sleeping on roofs and in quiet but open spots in late summer. Quite frankly, these canines are homeless.
The young, inexperienced adolescents are forced to fend for themselves – that includes finding food – and many will attempt kills that are well above them. So it probably was with the Pelsall swan.
Swans are not bright birds. As I came home along the canal, I spotted this usually aggressive lone bird fast asleep, drifting on the water. It had floated into the bank around the overflow, at Clayhanger Bridge, and the thicket nearby is usually host to a den of Brer Fox.
It would be fairly trivial for the fox to sneak up to the bird unseen, and go straight for the neck, which is about the only bit the fox can attack without the risk of being ferociously pecked. The kill, to an experienced fox, would be fast and efficient and lead to food for a week or more.
The fox that attacked the Pelsall bird was probably scared off, or attacked by other swans roused by the commotion, leaving their kill behind.
I couldn’t knowingly leave this swan to a similar fate, so after taking a few pictures, I gently woke it by speaking. I was greeted by wing-flapping, honking and hissing, and the white bird swam away from me.
Job done.
September 11th – Less charming than the sunflower, but fascinating to me, just under a bridge in Pleck, I pull up to a halt to allow a rat to get out of my way. Brown, and in good nick, it loops around the path before diving into a drain hole in the bridge underwall. If you watch closely, it briefly pokes it’s nose back out of the hole.
Rats are a fact of life with canal cycling, and there are lots in urban areas. Previously, I’ve seen them swimming here. Humans have a symbiotic relationship with rats, and we’ve co-existed for millennia.
I don’t find them repulsive, I find them fascinating. Their adaptability and nimbleness are fascinating.
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