Shenstone Birder: Tues 30th Nov - Shenstone & Waxwings (yet again)

At Captains Pool today there were c.20 Siskin (the first this winter) and c.20 Goldfinch feeding in an alder on North side of pool near boathouse. Also a single Grey Heron in an adjacent alder. A small tit flock passed through. As well as the usual Blue Tits and Great Tits, the flock also included a Coal Tit, 7 Long-tailed Tits and a Goldcrest. The pool itself was mainly frozen over except for an area kept ice free by circling Mallards. In total there was the c.70 resident Mallards, 1 Canada Goose and the single drake Shoveler. 15 Black-headed Gulls were also present (TS all sightings).

Due to the conditions on a number of the lanes around the patch I decided to just visit Stanklyn Lane (its on the flat and is the most well used). I parked up and started by walking the beet field. Here I had c.80 Linnets, 55 Skylarks, 4 Meadow Pipits and 1 Pied Wagtail. A single Lapwing flew over heading West. Along the edge of footpath between the beet field and the small field (carrot field as I call it....well the farmer grew carrots there last year and I have to give these places names!) there were c.20 Chaffinch feeding on the ground with 3 Yellowhammers (2♂). At the back of the carrot field was a large mixed finch flock containing many Chaffinches, Greenfinches, 40+ Linnets, 10 Goldfinches and a single ♀ Brambling. 4 Redwings were in the Hawthorns along Stanklyn Lane.

Yellowhammer & Chaffinches - 30th Nov 2010:

Just a brief update on the Waxwings in Kidderminster. This morning there were 4 Waxwings feeding between the Wood Street back gardens and Perrett Walk. On returning from the patch, this number had increased to 8 Waxwings which were present until 1:50 pm when they flew off towards the Bewdley Road. I was unable to re-locate them after.