Wednesday January 4 - The streaming begins

 Towards the end of last year I decided that this year would have a theme, and that would be river valleys...within the Circle of course.

This morning I made a start, at the beginning (nearly) of the River Arrow. It had never really occurred to me, before, that the tiny stream which trickles into the Mill Shrub just north of my Circle is actually the start of the River Arrow.

I decided to pick it up along the Old Birmingham Road just north of Alvechurch. I wasn't able to follow it north towards Lower Bittell as it flows across private land, but a short detour saw me rejoin it on the Canal Dam by the reservoir.

The Arrow as it flows under the Old Birmingham Road

My most unexpected find came in the field which last year hosted the Old Birmingham Road Flash. Today it was dry, but to my surprise it harboured 15 Common Snipe.

Common Snipe(s)

The reservoir proved a bit of a disappointment. A drake Mandarin was presumably the bird present last autumn, but I couldn't see any Teal, Wigeon, or Great Crested Grebes. Just a Gadwall and a few Little Grebes, Tufted Ducks, Coots, Grey Herons, and Mute Swans to move the year-list on. There was a lot of fishing activity.

A Kingfisher was calling from the canal moat which surrounds the reservoir. I then walked along the canal to Alvechurch and looped back to rejoin the Arrow just south of where I'd started.

About 20 years ago I twitched a juvenile Dipper which had been found by Mike Inskip along the road from Cofton Hackett to Bittell Reservoirs. It wasn't well and was picked up and released on the Arrow just north of the Mill Shrub. 

Maybe there is still a pair of Dippers lurking on the streams running into the Arrow north of Redditch. I aim the find out.