28th May 2009

Walked to Earlswood during the late afternoon, and was pleased to discover 3 Garden Warblers (Earlswood tick!), 6 Linnets and 1 Green Woodpecker in an area I'd never been to before. There wasn't much of note at the lakes, though Tufted Duck numbers had increased since my last visit. 2 Stock Doves at Windmill Pool were a little unusual, whilst the Mute Swan was still around at Engine Pool.
M.P. Griffiths

P.S. Prior to Earlswood, I'd been walking through SP07X, a tetrad I've recently taken on for the present bird atlas - just doing my tiny little bit for this important project. As can be seen in the OS map below it includes part of my local patch including all of Fulford Heath and parts of Tidbury Green and Little Clowes Wood, but roughly half of the area lies in Worcestershire (west of the River Cole) and I was just familiarising myself with a few spots that I'd never visited before. Anyway, one such spot is Fulford Heath Golf Course and whilst there I was surprised to see 2 Black Swans (probably pinioned) and 2 female Tufted Ducks on one of the two large ponds, and also a Sparrowhawk which had caught something and at one point was seen plucking its victim in a tree.