Back to Normal? - A visit to Kinver Canal and the River Stour

We decided on the 25 minute drive to Kinver for a walk on Monday and kept our fingers crossed for a Kingfisher or anything else for that matter.

The weather was better than expected and the canal looked lovely:

Just a few yards to the right is the River Stour, so the canal path makes it's way between the two, although the river does diverge away in places as rivers do.
After about 15 minutes we were due for a coffee and sat on the first convenient bench overlooking the canal, up to this point we had already seen a female Blackcap and Goldfinch, plus some more common birds. As we sat Tina noticed some movement just 4 or 5 feet from us and spotted this female Mallard in the narrow strip between the path and the waters edge sitting on eggs!

 Further down the canal where Horse Bridge Lane comes down to the canal, there are always some Helmeted Guinea Fowl (domesticated of course), in the gardens of the large house next to the bridge usually along with plenty of Mallard. The ducks aren't daft, they know there's going to be plenty of food put out for the Guinea Fowl.

 Further on at Whittington Lock we came across our first Grey Wagtail of the year, although on close inspection you can see it's in a sorry state, but still collecting food for its young.

 We normally see Goldcrest around here but not today. Although we did see a very busy pair of Nuthatch from the bridge over the river.

Further on there were a couple of Canada Geese families on the opposite side of the canal.

 Plus one of the two or three Buzzards of the day being attacked by a crow.

There were a number of butterflies about but only this Tortoiseshell let me take a photo.

At our usual turning point at the Staffordshire/Worcestershire border, where there's a convenient bench in the shade no less, for another coffee of course, we watched another Nuthatch. Last year we saw Treecreepers here tending a nest, but not this time sadly.

On the return, the some of the distant sheep had come down to the river for a drink

 and one of the many Chiffchaff that we had heard but not seen put in an a brief appearance.

It was a lovely few hours strolling gently in the sunshine, 23 species of bird were seen, adding a pair of Jays near the end of the walk. I will go into a bit of a rant now about cyclists; there were many more on the towpath then we are used to seeing and obviously a lot of them don't normally do this and have no consideration for people on foot, so if walking along canals beware idiots cycling way too fast and giving you no warning! So tempted to knock them into the canal!!