This morning I started my walk on the Warwickshire side of the A435 opposite Pink Green, and quickly located where the fledgling Alne trickled out of a culvert designed to see it safely under the main road.
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| The not so mighty Alne |
From here I shadowed it towards Aspley Heath and Tanworth-in-Arden, west of which our paths crossed briefly before I circled back to skirt the HOEF land at Trap's Green.
The farmland around here is still dominated by sheep and horse pasture although there was a short wooded section near Aspley Heath from which emerged a Raven. The birds on offer were the typical common stuff, so it was mostly just a case of adding dots to my 1km distribution maps.
However, I did have a couple of mini-highlights when I got to Trap's Green. Firstly a Kestrel struggling with a prey item as it flew away from the newly planted area. I have been finding Kestrels to be rather thinly distributed, especially north of Redditch.
The other boost to my morale came when I diverted away from the bridle path to check out a half-seen passerine and put up a party of 14 Yellowhammers. This was only the third time I have found a double-figure flock in the Circle, and is also the furthest north.
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| The Yellowhammers alighted in trees bordering the road |
They had obviously been feeding in the long grass between the new trees. I did actually see a handful here last winter, and then a singing male in summer, but its good to know that they are still around.
I'm sorry if the birds haven't been particularly riveting lately but I'm enjoying the challenge of visiting places no sane birder would...oh dear!
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