TUESDAY 25th DECEMBER

Walk from Castlecroft canal bridge, Wightwick, to Newbridge, following Smestow brook, Staffs &Worcs Canal and old railway track.
A damp, dull, cool Christmas Day morning, clearing to broken cloud, 10.00am to 12.50am.  Very quiet, a couple of joggers and three dogwalkers.

Approaching Castlecroft canal bridge along a short track I was aware of  three Greenfinch and a small flock of Long-tailed Tit in a tree bordering fields by Pool Hall lane (four-plus Magpie had been calling and chasing each other over the lane, possible territorial or pairing behaviour seen in recent days from other small flocks over Newbridge and Whitmore Reans).  Crossing the bridge and walking along the county boundary hedge towards the Smestow brook, I heard Fieldfare calling, and tracked five to a tree next to Wightwick fields.  Three Redwing and six Goldfinch were with them, as were 18 Yellowhammer and a few Chaffinch, dropping down to feed on the arable field the other side of the hedge.  The inevitable Buzzard, a light-plumaged bird, was perched in alders on the edge of Wightwick fields near the canal embankment, and a female Kestrel, in the area for  some weeks, hovered over rough grass nearer the Bridgnorth Road.  A Grey Heron flew from a still swollen Smestow south of  Windmill Lane, and closer inspection of the brook revealed a male Kingfisher perched along the same stretch.  Leaving the fields, I followed the canal towpath under Windmill Lane, and found a single Goldcrest flitting in and out of the hedge below Wightwick lock cottage.  At least five Moorhen grazed on the edge of the Smestow School playingfields, and at Wightwick Mill lock a glance down on to fields bordering the Bridgnorth Road revealed a splended white-collared male Common Pheasant.  Crossing the lock bridge brought me to a copse by the excavated sand fields south of Compton, where I heard a Nuthatch calling and saw four female and two male Bullfinch feeding alongside a singing Goldfinch.  Things were even quieter as mid-day approached, but the harsh call of a Jay came from the northern section of the Wolverhampton Environment Centre.  Feeding finches seemed to be absent from the edges of Compton Park and the neighbouring barleyfield area, but a small flock of  Woodpigeon foraged alongside five Stock Dove.  Nearing the end of the walk I caught a brief view of a male Sparrowhawk  slanting down low over the Smestow brook towards Compton Park, and watched two Coal Tit at a garden feeding station by Newbridge playingfield.  Then it was home to a (non-wild) Turkey.

Happy Christmas!