Wom Brook Blog

With the weather being rather harsh over in Scandinavia, there has been quite an invasion of Waxwings into the UK!

They are winter migrants and arrive virtually every year in the UK to get away from the freezing conditions of the arctic circle. This year is no exception and luckily for birdwatchers alike, due to the extreme weather facing where they spent their summer up in the frozen north, many more than usual have flown down to the UK to stock up on winter berries (Or tree buds, as it seems the berries have suffered from the extreme cold too!)

The photos above have been taken today (08.01.11), on the corner of Clent View Road and The Broadway in Stourbridge. If you are wishing to see them, they are likely to still be in the area, as locals say that they have been around for the last 2 days. Be patient though, you could be waiting for up to 20 minutes as they have been scouring the area for the best sources of food!

Bird activity goes on around us on a daily basis, often unnoticed, and throughout the year. Often we are guilty of concerning ourselves with our own lives, and perhaps fail to realise that during freezing weather conditions, our local bird population will struggle desperately to forage for food and water. Insects will be difficult to find, and any scraps of food may be welded to the ground by ice, or obscured by snowfall. Water will have frozen solid, and prove impossible for birds to peck through it in order to reach the water lying underneath. At the very least, a few small pieces of bread, but more ideally nuts, thrown out onto the ground could make all the difference to a bird’s survival chances during a cold spell. A container of water placed in open ground ( to provide birds with enough visibility so as to spot a potential predator) would also ease their plight, although this would need to be checked regularly and replaced when the original water has frozen.

Some people invest a small amount of money to buy a feeder (pictured) which can be suspended above the ground, and in turn can attract an interesting variety of birds into their gardens, such as the Blue Tit pictured above.

Recent water life samples taken from the Wom Brook by the Friends of Wom Brook indicate that the water quality of the stream running through Wombourne is of a high enough quality as to support a variety of aquatic life forms. Amongst these species caught and then released back into the Brook were sticklebacks and bull-head fish.

In the photograph above, some of the younger members are assisted in the identification of their catches by the chairperson of the Friends Group, Anita.

Local wildlife photographer and film maker Richard Claxton took this photo of a kingfisher.
At the time, Richard was hoping to film water voles, and fortunately had a camera to hand to capture this elusive creature-rarely seen along the Wom Brook, and then only fleetingly, as a vivd blue streak.

The mostly elusive water vole colony have recently become more visible. The above representative from the Wom Brook colony was observed from the footpath yesterday. Unlike on previous occasions, this specimen paused on the bank for several minutes, before plunging into the cold water of the Brook, submerging and disappearing from view.

For three days in succession, solitary water voles have been seen feeding on plants or swimming in the Brook.

This squirrel could be anywhere-but it was first observed drinking from the muddy waters of the Brook this morning, unperturbed by the human and his dog watching. Throughout the process, even when the human reached for his camera, it continued to drink, watching carefully. As fate would have it, just at the point of taking the photograph, the squirrel decided to scamper at lightning speed up the tree trunk ( above, photographed), returning to the heights and the accompanying  caws of alarmed crows.

This unfamiliar bird was seen regularly in Wombourne and photographed during the recent freezing conditions. It is  believed to be a wagtail. However, it would be appreciated if anyone reading this blog could identify the specific species-is it an African Pied Wagtail?

Do wagtails winter in the UK, and then spend their summers in other countries?

One lone but fearless robin-photographed during the last days of the recent snow event here in Wombourne.

Unlike the more gregarious  blackbirds and pigeons commonly observed along the length of the Brook, robins are usually observed individually, yet despite being outnumbered and smaller than other more prevalent bird species, their courage and tenacity seems unrivaled-pressing home their quest for food, undeterred by larger birds who try unsuccessfully to turn them away.

The usually camera-shy birds observed along the Wom Brook Walk appeared to have cast aside their natural inhibitions lately, due in part to the very cold weather-this male blackbird photographed last week along the Walk seemed to be waiting expectantly for food, its usual source trapped beneath freezing snow, and encased within the concrete-like ground.

The exhortation in the popular song, ‘Feed the birds…‘-epitomised in the Mary Poppins musical was never more important to the survival of local birdlife; apparently birds need to consume a third of their body weight during freezing weather.

Why is this important? Birds are a vital part of the food chain-during the growing season; they eat insects that damage food crops destined for shops and supermarkets.

By putting out some bird seed, ideally in a feeder,  birds are then provided with an alternative food source, and thus their chances of surviving the cold weather are increased.

Link to BBC Black Country: Feed the Birds

The title of this particular blog posting almost suggests a connection with one of Aesop’s fables! However, the antics observed didn’t in any way benefit the cheeky magpie.

There have been one or two sightings of a heron along the Brook recently - usually at dawn; then two days ago, one flew up onto the roof tops of one of the houses close by, and surveyed its territory. It had obviously ventured into an area claimed by a group of magpies. There then followed some interesting behaviour- three magpies literally tried to muscle in on the heron-smaller birds would have been intimidated, and would have departed the scene rapidly.

The heron stoically ignored the attentions of the magpies, who drew ever closer to the majestic bird. One magpie then suddenly darted towards the heron, and with lightening-like speed aimed a quick peck at the heron’s tail feathers, which only succeeded in eliciting a slow movement of the heron’s head in the direction of the rapidly retreating magpie. The big bird continued to look elsewhere, unruffled by the unsolicited attentions of the one cheeky magpie.

Like a child demanding attention from an adult, the magpie twice repeated its quick peck of the heron’s tail feathers. Having failed to attract it’s attention, the magpie lost concentration and flew off, followed by its two other followers. The heron continued its lonley vigil for another ten minutes, until it spectacularly spread its wings, before flying away into the wooded area behind Rookery Road and Redcliff Drive.

No doubt comparisons with everyday life could be associated with the scene described above.