Stubbers Green and Sutton Park

Sometimes its the unplanned random trips that end up being the most rewarding.

So we popped over to Stubbers Green, have a mooch around see whats down there. Saw all the usual beauties; Heron, Cormorant, tons of Lapwings, Canada Geese, Great Crested Grebes etc etc... no oyster catchers this evening.

Then continued on over to Sutton Park... Streetly gate, which to be honest we haven't been to in a long time (I prefer Four Oaks gate :-) )... once we got over the whiplash from the craters in the car park we went for a nice stroll up through the woods and over to the pool.

Didn't see much along the way to be honest, couple of Blackbirds and a Robin was pretty much it. Sat by the pool for a while watching someone's disobedient but extremely amusing dog playing in the pool, saw a few geese fly over.... then as we got up to walk back up to the car we were treated by the Kingfisher flying over the lake and straight in front of us as he disappeared in to the trees. We did have a look around see if we could spot where he landed, but as you probably know they are quick little fellas. Needless to say we continued our journey with a smile on our faces.

Wolseley Centre (Stubbers green / Cannock Chase)

Lovely day today...

Day off work, teachers training day, and rain on the cards :-)

Straight over to Stubbers Green... its generally a quick stop on our way to most places to be honest - Caught the Cormorant doing his morning stretches:

Continued on to Wolseley... parked up... walked straight round to the river and were greeted by this little beauty:

There were a couple of Kingfishers around this morning - putting on quite a show - almost forgot that we were standing in the rain getting drenched :-) . Managed to catch their breakfast anyway:

The Long-Tailed Tits were out playing too... for a wet day it was really quite active - These were just too cute:

A few more happy chappies along the way:

"OOh I think that I found myself a Tree creeper" - not sure if they aren't so common or if I just have poor eyesight, but I don't seem to see many tree creepers and I love it when we see them:

 

On the way back to the car and the little ones were out playing:

All in all been a cracking morning... quality time with loved ones and nature... cant go wrong.

Biddulph Grange / Wolseley Centre

Been a warm one today... great storms last night though so not grumbling...

Took a ride over to Biddulph Grange this afternoon - lovely place, pleasant walk and plenty to see in terms of flowers and wildlife...

Had to be followed by stopping off at Wolseley on the way home though... Last few visits have been a bit unsuccessful as far as Kingfisher sightings go, but this evening made up for them all; must have been at least 4 of them, plenty of flying around as opposed to bobbing on the branches waiting for the fish to pop by. (I wont fill the page up with pics... but i do love to catch them in flight, especially as they are so quick)

Also great to see the Cettis Warblers nest is doing well and the little ones are looking (and sounding lol) very healthy... 

Chase Water - Railway

Evening walk over Chasewater tonight...

Lots of Bullfinches to be seen and some of our Nations favourites "the Robin"...

They don't often sit still, so had to grab a pic of these Damselflies.

Cannock Chase - AONB

 

Muggy day in the West Mids/Staffs area today... too wet to leave your coat at home, but too warm to wear it...

 

Enjoyed a drive over to Blithfield reservoir today, always pleasing views and plenty of wildlife to see, Wolseley Centre on the way back to see if the Kingfisher was around but sadly no luck, followed by Cannock Chase (Brocton area) on the way home, a nose around Freda's grave and the German Cemetery.

 

Seems like only a couple of weeks since we were last at Wolseley Centre, but everything seems to have doubled in size and overgrown... sign of the diverse weather we have had.

 

Here are a few shots of some of the birds captured today. 

 

 

 

Stubbers Green drive through

Very quick blog... this week has been too busy really for us to get out and do much...

But its as if nature knew that and wanted to treat us anyway...

Driving through Stubbers Green and feeding there on the grass right by the road was a Great Spotted Woodpecker...

For newbies like us these are always a treat...

Cannock Chase with Grandad

Had a bit of a change today...

Nan was out, so took granddad a ride over Cannock Chase...

Love to share these beautiful places with the ones I love, love it even more when they love it too.

Nice drive around, parking up in a few favourite places to show him some of the regular birds:

Yellow hammers
Chaffinches
Robins
Pheasants
Great Tits
Blue Tits
Jackdaws
Crows
Magpies
Mallards
Chiffchaff singing from the tree tops

Had a slow drive round by Brocton Nurseries to see the Deer too... always a great sight.

Its great to have nice experiences, but its even better to share them...

only one way to top this evening off really... Chinese on the way home :-)

Aldridge airport / Cuckoos Nook / The Dingle

Love how there are such lovely places so close to where we live...

Wonder how many of us take for granted the beautiful places nearby because we are just used to them being there...

I know I have for along time, and its only been recently that ive really started to think of them, or to take notice of the public footpath signs and think "I wonder where that takes you?"

Anyway... been for a little walk closer to home today and went over to Aldridge airport... cut through the woods and along the farmers field to get in to Cuckoos Nook and the Dingle...

Lovely round here... gone from boiling hot along the fields to pure coldness in Cuckoos Nook... great...

Lots of Swifts and Swallows around today... great to stand and watch along the fields... like being at natures airshow, the red arrows of the birding world... Caught a snap of a goldfinch which is always pleasing. Didn't see a woodpecker but saw some evidence that he may have been around here...

Mental note to spend more time learning about the areas that we live... save on some carbon footprint too if not taking the car out ;-)

Fradley Junction, Burton Upon Trent

Drizzly day, but not enough to stop the birds being out in full flow. Nice walk along the canal and over the bridge to the nature reserve. Sightings for today included:

Moorhen
Coot
Mallard
Blue billed Mallard
Robins
Tree creeper
Blue tits
Blackbirds
Pied Wagtails
House sparrows
Tree sparrows
Great tits
Long tailed tit
Dunnocks
Wren
Chaffinches

Driving along the A38 on the way home and see the usual Buzzard family that live amongst the trees of the Lichfield A5 island.