MUGGED STARLINGS, MORE SWANS

AND A WINTERING WARBLER . . .

 

Dunstall Park

Saturday,  16th November

Mid-morning, dull, cool, damp, calm.

Well, the Mute Swans are still here, and now there are more of them.  Three adults and six youngsters were on the lake on November 9th, and since then one of the juveniles (its plumage was slightly more advanced then the other five) has departed, and at least two more adults have arrived.  The water level is still high, so perhaps they'll stay.  The Gadwall pair first seen at the start of the month are still here, sharing the water with five male and a female Shoveler and seven male and five female Teal.  At least three Coot are still present (adults and youngsters seen during the summer will have joined wintering rafts of their species at reservoirs such as Pool Hall, Gailey, Belvide and Chasewater), a young Moorhen picks its way along the base of the island, where at least six Snipe rest and preen among the rocks.  Thin notes from three Dunnock show how the lake's flourishing waterside vegetation is starting to attract small passerines,  a single Rook calls from the top of a tree near to where it and others of its species now nest by the Staffs & Worcs Canal,  six Goldfinch tinkle and twitter by lock 20 on the Birmingham Canal, and at least 25 Redwing arrow across and drop down over Aldersley, perhaps spooked by an unseen raptor.  On the central grass area 20 Lesser Black-backed Gull and two adult and one first-winter Herring Gull rest and preen, while some of a group of c.150 Black-headed Gull forage with a flock of at least the same number of Starling.  Closer observation shows there's a darker side to the Black-headeds' activities, for every few minutes a Starling will fly up and away from its feeding companions, with a gull hot on its tail.  The smaller bird tries to escape with a small worm or some other food item it has found, the gull won't give up the chase, the two species twist and turn, eventually the Starling loses its pursuer (one Starling flies to the top of a floodlight pylon and hides among the lamps), and the gull glides back down on to the grass to look for another potential victim.  I've seen Black-headeds do this to foraging Redwing on a playingfield, taking advantage of the smaller species' ability to find food. 

  

Dunstall Park

Tuesday,  19th November

Winter's here now, the leaves are turning and falling, the wind's in the north west, it's cold, with broken cloud.  Two of the Mute Swan adults have left the lake, and it seems the two that remain are parents to the five youngsters which are feeding quietly along the edges of the beds of aquatic grass.  The six Shoveler are still here, at least five Teal are visible (accurate counts of such a wary species can often only be made if  the ducks are frightened into flight), and two Snipe sit  motionless at the base of the island.  Coarse calls from trees and bushes along the south western side of the site bordering the former Valley Park School come from a loose group of c.40 Crows, typically worked up about nothing much, and 35 Canada Geese are foraging on grass by the all-weather track with two Greylag Geese, one of which flies off towards the city, its cackling call failing to persuade its companion to follow it.  A Buzzard lifts off from trees just south of Aldersley canal junction, a striking male Bullfinch sits at the base of a hawthorn, and, towards the top of a silver birch, a small shape hovers hummingbird-style under the crisp orange leaves, a Chiffchaff, my first warbler for the valley this winter.  Suddenly, the morning seems warmer . . .       

Dunstall Park

Saturday, 23rd November

Frost last night, morning mist clearing, the slightest of breezes from the north east, and sure enough, at least half the lake covered by thin ice.  Ones, twos, fives and threes, foraging Snipe are flushed, scratched alarm calls as they slant low across the stiff white-edged grass and over the wire fence towards the shelter of the shoreline and island, at least 20, their numbers having dramatically increased in recent days as the temperatures dropped.   On the lake are one adult and one juvenile Mute Swan, presumably the only ones of the family of seven to have stayed.  Six male and a female Teal are still there, four Coot chug along the ice-free passages, two Mistle Thrush rattle their way over the lake towards the Farndale estate (one was singing on Friday by the canal at Dimmingsdale near Pool Hall), and at least 25 Fieldfare and a handful of Redwing move noiselessly north eastwards across a dull sky.  The trees may still spell autumn, but it's winter now.  

(Dunstall Park is a closed commercial site.  Access is strictly controlled.)