Blakeshall and Kinver Edge (NT). (15 February, 2015)

I started from Blakeshall carpark which is on the junction of Gipsy Lane and Blakeshall Lane. On the carpark is an information board showing the different trails you can take: Nuthatch, Woodpecker, Robin and Coal Tit. I didn't follow any particular one, just walked in a direct line to the ridge which passed through conifer plantations.

On the ridge, I walked south for a quarter of a mile which gave magnificent views to the west of Kingsford and beyond.  I then back-tracked and walked north along the ridge and on into the National Trust part of Kinver Edge.

The National Trust have been doing a lot of conservation work recently by taking out non-native trees and restoring it to its former habitat - lowland heath. I have got to commend the NT for their bold task (there has been a lot of criticism of what they are doing some believing they are destroying what is there) as this will attract back lowland heath bird specialities.

Birds of note on the walk included a mistle thrush in full song by Blakeshall carpark. On the NT part a flock of lesser redpolls flew over giving off their rattling calls and a green woodpecker was being vocal with its laughing call, known as 'yaffling'.

This time of the year, there isn't much in the way of flowering wild flowers, but the gorse was beginning to flower with its delightful yellow flowers. If the flowers are picked and crushed they give off a slight almond fragrance.

I took the same route back and had delightful views of a goldcrest.

Island Pool (8 February, 2015)

Island Pool (8 February, 2015)

The weather has been cold of late with overnight temperatures down to -6c. Today, though, it turned a bit warmer and after a misty start to the day the sun came out at midday, making it a fine day for walking.

Island Pool is on the A449 and comprises of a pool and a stream that feeds it. The pool, stream and boggy area above has well established alder and willow.

The public footpath runs alongside the pool, continues on through a much drier area that is covered in hawthorn, wild rose and a few crab apple trees, then passes through a pleasant water meadow and eventually meets another pool at Whitehouse Farm.

Because of the cold weather, the Island Pool was partly frozen over with just a pair of mallards on the ice-free area. As I approached the hawthorns, a pair of bullfinches flew off giving off their characteristic call.

The water meadow is a pleasant area and in the past has attracted grey wagtail, which looks enchanting in spring-time alongside the forget-me-not with their blue flowers.

It was at this point, near the metal gate that enters the meadow, that a water rail was feeding on the edge of the stream. For such a secretive and shy bird, it seemed to tolerate my presence with only the occasional run back to cover when a pair of crows few over calling, 'croak' 'croak'.

With such good and prolonged views, I was able to appreciate its plumage: brown above with black to the centre of the mantle feathers, grey and white lined rear flanks, partly red bill, and, the most striking feature, buff and white undertail coverts.

Adding to the ambience of the moment, a skylark started singing high above me, the first I have heard this year.

Windsor Holloway to Whittington Bridge (7 February, 2015)

Started of by parking by the bridge on the Stour. Had a look down stream but could only see a few mallards, I have seen goosander here in the past. To the east of the Stour is a small sewage works which processes sewage from Kinver and surrounding area. It's a great place to see wagtails - pied and grey - which get on the sewage beds looking for insects. It's entertaining to see them dodging the sewage outlet pipes as they circle round the circular sewage beds discharging their effluence. They ride on the pipes and then take a flight down to catch their prey. Even though there were only about twenty pied and two grey there I have seen a lot more than that in the past.  Standing on the bridge that over looks the plant is a good spot to see goldcrests and if lucky a chiffchaff which has been wintering there. I saw the goldcrests today but not the chiffchaff, perhaps the cold weather has pushed it out.

Chiffchaffs are summer visitors to our shores and spend the winter in the southern Mediterranean and north Africa. Some, though, stay for the winter and a few birds arrive here from the east which are of a different race known as Siberian chiffchaff.  The one, or two, in question here could be of this race, or one of the Scandinavian races, but they are difficult to see and get a positive identification on them. A couple of weeks ago I tried tape luring them by downloading their calls from the Internet and putting them on my ipad and syncing it with a small potable speaker I had purchased from Tesco's for twenty quid. It didn't work. O well the idea was there perhaps I will try again soon.

Talking of soon, spring will be here in no time as I saw, from the same bridge, snowdrops in flower!

I took a short walk along the canal towards Kinver and had good views of great spotted woodpecker. At Whittington Bridge there were a number of mallards on the canal.

Whittington Bridge

Whittington Bridge

The Wilderness

The Wilderness and Vermin Valley.

The Wilderness, owned and managed by the Woodland Trust, is located near Compton, Kinver. It is a 7.5 hectare site of Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland and an SSSI. Compton Brooke runs through it and it is bisected by a public footpath running from North-East to South-west.

The wood contains a variety of woodland types and habitats. There are two former pond sites that are now colonising with willow and alder. Oak and ash predominant the northern part with field maple, hazel and crack willow also present.

Ground flora is typical of woodland species with some uncommon plants such as thin-spiked wood-sedge, stinking helleborine and violet helleborine. The site has a problem with the invasive species, Himalayan Balsam.

Vermin Valley is attractive to raptors. Red kite, hen harrier, peregrine and goshawk have been recorded there. Ravens are a common sight as they fly over giving their deep croaking calls.

18 January, 2015

A male kestrel was hunting in Vermin Valley along with 20 meadow pipits.

The Wilderness didn't have much bird life, which can be expected this time of the year. There was, though, chaffinch calling and on the approach track a large flock of redwings and fieldfares could be seen in one of the adjacent fields.

Norton Covert

Norton Covert

Norton Covert is to the west of SO88, near Iverley, alongside the Norton Road, Stourbridge, on the A451.

The site is owned and managed by Dudley Council and is designated a Site of importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) for its geology. I am not going into the geology of the site, as more information can be found on the Dudley Council website which has an information sheet on Norton Covert past and present and is very informative.

Oak is the dominate tree species along with birch, ash, sycamore, Scots pine and wych elm.

Birds are typical woodland species, but some scarce species have been recorded such as willow tit, marsh tit and hawfinch. In summer, willow warbler and wood warbler have been seen.


17 January, 2015

As I entered the covert a great spotted woodpecker called from high up in the trees. When in the covert, bird life was very thin on the ground with just a jay calling and a buzzard flew overhead.

As to be expected, the trees were bare of their foliage this time of the year.  Some of the oak and beech trees looked grand, though, as they stood tall and shafts of light from the winter sun shone through them.

As I left the covert, a chaffinch called.

Information board at the entrance

Norton Covert

Norton Covert looking towards the Norton Road

The Hyde and Chance Wood

The Hyde and Chance Wood

From the Stour-Smestow confluence, the river heads away from the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal towards Stourton Castle. It then passes under the A458 where it again rejoins the course of the canal and continues on past Dunsley Hall and travels on to the Hyde.

Chance Wood, owned by the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust, is to the west of the Stour and nestles between Stourton House on the A458 and the Hyde.

Richard Foley built the first iron slitting mill at the Hyde in 1629. There was also a corn mill adjacent to the slitting mill, both being powered by the Stour. Due to an economic decline, following the Napoleonic Wars, the slitting mill industry went into recession. The mill then changed hands and started to produce spades and shovels. It survived as such until 1912 when the buildings became derelict and eventually demolished. Remnants of the building can still be seen today along Hyde Lane and on the Stour at the bridge crossing.

The Stour is deep-sided and fast flowing at this point and so is low on riverine avifauna. Mallard is by far the most 'common' and, with luck, grey wagtail can be encountered with the occasional kingfisher flying past.

Chance Wood was donated to the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust in 1977 by Mr P. Holmes of Stourton House. The wood is named after his wife's maiden name. Chance.

Chance Wood is a 2.8 hectare site dominated by oak and beech - hornbeam, ash sycamore and horse chestnut are also present. Woodland birds include woodpeckers, nuthatches, tree creepers and tits. Ground flora, in spring, includes bluebells, snowdrops and daffodils which is always a delight to see.

11 January, 2015

I started at the footpath opposite the entrance to Stourton Castle which runs diagonal across a turnip field to Chance Wood. At the entrance of the wood a nuthatch called and a pair of bullfinches flew off giving their characteristic piping calls. A great spotted woodpecker was being quiet vocal high up in the oak trees and a buzzard flew over uttering its 'mew, mew' call. There is a small conifer plantation on the left of the footpath and I was surprised to hear a coal tit singing so early in the year. A mistle thrush could be heard singing in the distance, which is about right for mid January as they are early nesters.

It was only a thirty minute walk through the wood and so I arrived at the Hyde. The Stour was running swiftly over where the mill once stood and just upstream I could be seen where it had been diverted. No birds were on the water and I heard another pair of bullfinches as I walked down Hyde Lane towards the canal.

I decided to walk back to my starting point along the canal, past Dunsley Bridge and towards the Stewpony. Buzzards were seen overhead but again nothing could be seen on the Stour as it followed the canal. When I arrived at Stewpony Bridge there was a beautiful grey wagtail by the lock.

Chance Wood

Stour, Hyde Mill Bridge Crossing

Hyde Mill

Hyde Mill Information Board

The Stour Looking Back to Chance Wood

Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal

Dunsley Bridge

Stourton Castle

Whittington

Whittington SF. December 28, 2014

To the east of SO88 is Whittington which covers an area of some 400ha. The whole area was once an haven for birds when the old sewage disposal resulted in spreading the sewage over the fields which the birds, in particular curlew and snipe, were attracted to for food.

There are three farms in the area: Roundhill Farm, Whittington Farm and Whittington Hall Farm. Gibbet Lane is to the north with Gibbet Wood and Roundhill Sewage Treatment Works, which is managed by Severn Trent Water Authority, along the lane. Whittington Hall Lane cuts through the middle from Norton and mets the A449 at the Whittington Inn. Bunker's Wood (owned by the Woodland Trust) is half way along the lane  To the south is Hidden Pool and Southern Pool with the largest pool in the area, Island Pool.

The numbers of birds has greatly reduced nowadays due to the modern method of sewage treatment. The curlew flock, which had an all time high of 340 in December 1975, is now none existent. In summer it was always a favourite place for corn bunting but they, if there are any left at all, are precariously hanging on,

It's not all bad news as arable fields, and in particular set-aside fields, attract a large number of finches and thrushes in the winter months.

And it was these species I saw when I went for a walk along Gibbet Lane, past the Roundhill Sewage Treatment Works, on through Gibbet Wood and across farm land to a set-aside field.

There were redwings and fieldfares in the arable fields and a flock of chaffinches in a large set-aside field.

Grey Alder Catkins - new and old

Set-aside Field

Grey Alder