A Fleeting Visit to Brueton Park

I paid a visit to Brueton Park, Solihull, on Monday afternoon.

As usual there were plenty of ducks and geese loafing around on Brueton Lake

Having a wash and preen

and Canada Goose having a snooze.

Mrs Mallard

Black-headed Gull

Moorhen

Canada Goose

The River Blythe which runs through the park, together with woodland, was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest by English Nature in 1989. English Nature called the Blythe a "fine example of a lowland river on clay".

There are several wooden carvings around the park

The main purpose of my visit was to spend an hour or two wandering round The Marsh Field (designated a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation - SINC) looking for dragonflies and butterflies. The area contains a pond surrounded by marshland, hedgerows, a wildflower meadow and adjoining woodland. This area is on the opposite side of the River Blythe to where I did the Wildflower Survey earlier in the year.

Unfortunately I really should have taken more notice of the weather forecast as within minutes of reaching the area I noticed dark clouds looming on the horizon and claps of thunder could be heard in the distance.

After a few minutes with lightning in the distance and more thunder I reluctantly decided it might be a good idea to return to the car :(

I just had chance to photo a Large White Butterfly (hopefully, its a Large White - I have been known to get my Large, Small and Green-Veined muddled up!!)

Another Visit to Brueton Park and Parkridge NR

I gave my son a lift into Solihull Town Centre at lunchtime today but there was method in my madness as it gave me a good excuse to visit Brueton and Parkridge again!

The birds by the main pool are remarkably tame as they come looking for food. It reminded me of a few years ago when we used to get regular visits from a pair of mallard who took a liking to our garden pond. One year they stayed around for several weeks and used to waddle up to the garage door looking for food. I got that worried about the children feeding them bread that I bought a bag of proper "duck" food from the wild bird food supplier I use. It was interesting that they completely turned their beaks up at this and refused point blank to eat it. Lurking somewhere at the bottom of the dustbin I bought to store bird food is a huge bag of this duck food! Sadly, its probably well out of date otherwise I would take some next time I visit Brueton to see what the ducks there thought of it!

To return to today... Some more photos of

Greylag Goose (and Mallard)

Mallard

Canada Goose

Moorhen

I popped into the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust reserve at Parkridge where there's a surprise round every corner!

A Grey Heron was still standing sentinel by the pool - even further away this time. Too far for the 70-300mm lens so a heavily cropped record shot.

I had a rather nice slice of Ginger cake in the cafe at the Visitor Centre.

Autumn colours are starting to appear

and I saw several jays collecting acorns as I walked round the park.