Friday, January 4th, 2013

Wightwick Mill lock, Staffs & Worcs Canal
Calm, high broken cloud, warm, 14.30 to 15.15.

A phone call from West Midland Bird Club recorder Kevin Clements interrupted a late lunch, but no matter!  He'd found a flock of 12 Waxwing fly-catching from a line of canalside poplar trees just  above Wightwick Mill lock.  So, a quarter of an hour later, bacon sarnis in hand, I was high-tailing it along the towpath from Compton to see if the birds were still there.  I saw Kevin in the distance going away towards Newbridge, and soon afterwards found local birder Jefney Ashcroft and her husband near to where the birds had been seen. They told me they had seen the flock eating rosehip berries by the canal, but the birds had flown off towards the Wolverhampton Environment  Centre at Castlecroft.  I continued along the towpath to the lock, but no joy, the birds had vanished.    Another birder from Castlecroft joined me, and as we discussed how best to look for the flock, a male Goosander flew past us, turned and came back over the Smestow School playingfields.  It then flew low back along the canal, disappearing round the bend above Wightwick lock.  We thought it may have landed on the canal, but with the lock cottage in sight, there was no sign of it. It was now late afternoon, and after another quarter of an hour scanning the area we had seen nothing of the Waxwings.  Best call it a day, I thought, but suddenly, the flock of 12 descended from nowhere to land in a canalside tree opposite us, on the edge of the school playingfields.  A brief sighting, for after a couple of minutes during which they were harrassed by a Magpie, the birds flew off towards the Bridgnorth Road  and were not seen again.
       
Kevin was on a "Footit" trip from his home, supporting a campaign to encourage birders to visit their own neighbourhoods.  Cars, buses and penny-farthings are banned, and already avian enthusiasts from Scunthorpe to Scandinavia are walking their local patches to see what they can find.  So, if you want to see why birders are losing weight, lean forward from your sofa and click on to the Footit websites.
The campaign  is already benefiting the Smestow Valley.  Kevin walked to Dunstall Park yesterday (December 3rd) where he found a Green Sandpiper by the lake, the site's first-ever winter record  for the species.  A pair of Gadwall were still present after a stay of at least 10 days.  
(NB.  Dunstall Park is a closed, commercial site.  Access is restricted).

















birdwatchers from Scunthorpe to Scandinavia are checking out their local patches.  So, check the Footit website and see how birders are getting slimmer).