Ladywalk NR

As I've mentioned previously we have recently joined the West Midland Bird Club, so yesterday took us an another trip of exploration and we visited Ladywalk NR, one of a number of reserves in the Tame Valley Wetlands. We had a fabulous afternoon, once we mastered the combination lock to the car park, that took us a while! We went on the circular walk talking in all the hides, the weather was great if a little blowy, but the sun stayed out for the most part.

We had some great sightings, especially of a couple of cuckoos that we of course heard before we found them. But I'll start at the beginning or the imaginatively called 'Hide A'. At this hide there were a number of feeders attracting Greenfinch, Reed Bunting, Blue and Great Tits and this wonderful pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers:

We walked from Hide A to the Rudd hide, hearing Cuckoo's along the way and catching a brief glimpse in a large Oak Tree behind the hide. But as we left and headed for the River Walk Hide, one flew past a couple of hundred yards away, and landed behind a bush. We could see it, but it was partially obscured by the bush, I took a few photo's trying to get a focus through the foliage, but to no avail, then a big gust of wind swung the leaves out the way and I managed a couple of shots, one not completely out of focus or obscured:

As we walked on there were butterflies and dragonflies everywhere, absolutely fantatstic, I managed a few photos, that I'll share:
This could be a female Red-eyed Damselfly, but then it might not!!

 On safer ground this is a Comma Butterfly,

 a Gatekeeper Butterfly,

 the Comma again,

 a Red Admiral, if anyone wants to identify the insect flying in feel free!

 A Small White Butterfly,

and a Peacock.

We were having a great time with all the activity, we also saw Grey Wagtail along the river and a pair of Linnet on the pebbles:

The River Walk hide was fantastic with great views over the reserve, we added Green Sandpiper again only visible when the wind blew the reeds out the way. Little Egret, Black-tailed Godwit, a female Mandarin (on the left), sitting alongside a couple of Grey Heron;

There were Cormorants eveywhere;

a few female Teal were about, at least one female Gadwall, Grebes, House Martins skimming through, Lapwing, Moorhen, Coot, Mute Swan, Canada Geese, the list goes on!

We finally carried on to the Bittern hide where we had a very late lunch.We carried on to Hide B then back to the car, with of course a few more photos in between.
Little Egret,

 a Small Tortoiseshell Buuterfly,

 another Little Egret and

 a nice view of a Great Crested Grebe.

We loved it!
In the past we have always gone to the RSPB reserve (Middleton) just a few miles along the river, but this was much more enjoyable, so unless something 'special' turns up at Middleton, Ladywalk is the place that we will be visiting in the future.

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!!