Pond life and Bee Orchids

I've been making regular visits to the Trinity Park pond as part of the Wildlife Trusts' #30DaysWild challenge. On the 19th of May, 2016 I visited the pond and saw "3 black fuzzy Moorhen chicks clambering and tumbling around in the reeds".  Nearly a month later, I returned to see how the family were getting on. This apparently predictable area was to give me a few surprises.  First - as I approached the pond, I saw a small mammal, a vole or a mouse, run into the vegetation near the pond.


Moorhen and young.

Almost a month after I last saw them the moorhen family were doing well. I saw two of the young birds with a parent, which was carefully ushering them round the edge of the pond. The youngsters were larger and now soft-looking rather than fluffy. I spent some time sketching the scene, which was almost absurdly "chocolate box" with white water lilies in the foreground.

Female Mallard and ducklings.

While I was sketching the Moorhens, I also saw:

• two Coots
• a second adult Moorhen
• four male Tufted Ducks, two of which had rather grubby looking white markings and was being chased by a more dominant male, whose white patches were clear and bright
• a female Tufted Duck, keeping company with one of the males with clear white patches
• a female Mallard with 3 well-grown ducklings.
• two male Mallards.

Reedbed, where Blue Tits and Reed Buntings found foot and nesting material.

The water birds often hid in the feet of the reeds. While I was watching them I noticed small birds going to-and-from the shaggy reed mace (also called bullrush) catkins.  A Blue Tit was digging deep into the catkins, maybe searching for insects.  I managed to get a good look at a small brown bird gathering nesting material. I think it is a female reed bunting. 

Blue Tit at the mouth of its unusual nest.

I was baffled when, walking past the office building near the pond, I heard a lot of excited twittering. I looked up and around but there were no birds nearby. Then a bird shot out of a slot between bricks immediately above the carpark. In a tiny gap in this hard and hostile-looking surface, a Blue Tit was bringing up its family.

Bee orchids on vacant plot.

In early July, Edith wrote that:

"Miss F. gave me some Bee Orchids this afternoon, which she had gathered growing wild in Berkshire."

I've found Bee Orchids on the Trinity Park business park, which is only a few miles from Edith's home. There are some on a rough piece of grass by the bridge that cross the railway to the NEC, on the waste ground that I explored in my previous post and by the pond where the moorhens live. 

Bee orchid near the NEC bridge.

On my way from the office to the station, visitors to that week's Gardeners World Live show were amused to see me scrambling round taking photos of these little flowers. One lady, whose fondness for orchids was evident from her purchases was pleased to see someone else taking an interest in them, and pointed out some that I had missed.

A postscript - an article in the Birmingham mail tells us that the Bullring's last traditional flower-seller, Kate Kelly,  has died aged 89. She had worked there for 47 years alongside her two sisters.  The article says:

The well-known siblings came from a dynasty of traders who first pitched up to sell blooms at the famous marketplace more than 150 years ago.

I wonder if Edith ever shopped in the Bullring because, if so, she would have seen these flower sellers.

Saw the First Wild Rose in Bloom

In the June 15 entry for her 1906 journal, Edith Holden wrote:

It is very pretty to see the House Martins sitting in the roadway, collecting mud for their nests. Their short feathered legs look as if they had little white socks on.

I was quite surprised to come upon a bank of beautiful purple Fox-gloves today, - fully out. These are the first I have seen in flower.

On my journey to Birmingham on Tuesday the 14th of June 2016, I had made a point of noticing the wild flowers on the road side and railway embankments as noted on my Uckfield, Sussex blog.  The Virgin Pendelino had outrun the rain and cloud and, on my walk to the office, I was treated to glimpses of sunshine between heavy clouds.

House Martins under a heavy sky - June 14th.

Above my head a group of House Martins treated me to the most tremendous aerial ballet.  Over the next two days I checked the nests on the outside of the Arden hotel a few times but there was no signs that the birds were attending them. That said, the weather was so foul that I didn't stay out for very long. Last year I saw them taking an interest in the nests from 3rd June.  I discovered them because I had been checking out wildlife near the hotel as part of the Wildlife Trust's #30DaysWild challenge, which I am repeating this year.

After work, the weather outlook was very uncertain so, having got rid of my laptop, I explored a piece of waste ground close the hotel.

Hemlock - pretty but deadly.

Between hotel's carpark and one of the offices there is a stand of intriguing wild flowers. They looked very much like Cow Parsley but were much taller and had blotched stems.  This is Hemlock, which has been deadly to ancient philosophers and children, who made peashooters from the stems, alike.

Elder flower on the edge of the hotel carpark.

As I left the hotel grounds, I found some Green Alkanet, which was providing a free buffet for Common Carder and Early Bumble Bees. There was one, rather feeble looking Foxglove and an Elderflower bush catching the last of the summer rays.

Wild roses and office buildings.

I had also noticed wild Dog Roses blooming. They had just started on my previous visit, two weeks before, suggesting that they are a little ahead of those that Edith described on June the 16th, 110 years ago. 

Saw the first Wild Rose in bloom, - a fine pink one, on the top of a high hedge; also Blackberry in blossom. The Roses and Honeysuckle are full of bud, but they are late in bloom this year, owing to the long spell of cold weather.

Red-tailed Bumble Bee on Weld.

A common plant on the business park is Weld, which used to be used for making dye.  Here a Red-Tailed Bumble Bee was greedily feeding on the blooms.

Marmalade Hoverfly on stinging nettle.

Following the road round, clumps of nettles provided resting places for hoverflies and 7-Spot Ladybirds.  As I investigated the insects and flowers I heard a loud chatter - a family of at least five Magpies was jumping in-and-out of the bushes. A nearby Rabbit looked unimpressed with their antics. As I looked up at Pine cones in a tree, I saw a charm of Goldfinches fly towards the hotel. As the sky was darkening, I followed them.

Sheltering from the rain - June 14th.

As I was passing the apparently empty House Martin nests on the side of the hotel, the heavens opened. I stood under a tree for a bit, finding the sound of the rain around me peaceful - but was mindful that there had been problems with flooding in Birmingham and that this meant worse was to come.

Ragged Robin on a Ragged Verge

Edith Holden's diary for early June 1906 described several trips in which she gathered wild flowers. For June the 8th she says:

Cycled through Widney, I gathered Lesser Spearwort in the marsh there, also Ragged Robin.

Her watercolours show a multitude of wildflowers including ox-eye daisies, clover and guilder rose.

Day 1 - Roadside flowers

For the first day of the Wildlife Trusts' #30DaysWild challenge I wanted to see if I could find some of Edith's flowers. So on a rather dull Wednesday morning, before I went into work, I set out to find wild flowers on the verge alongside the road leading from Birmingham International Station to Trinity Park.  Because light levels were low, it was mostly the white flowers that caught my attention.

White deadnettle.

Guelder Rose.

I was intrigued to find that some flowers, such as daisies, were closed up, waiting for the light. Other, less delicate blooms such as the Guelder Rose were already open.

Self-heal.

Ragged Robin

My world and Edith's suddenly and surprisingly connected when I found the delicate, pink Ragged Robin in this ragged roadside verge.

The last of the hawthorn blossom.

Later in the day, when my colleagues and I set off to get lunch at the Airport, we noticed a commotion in one of the confers on the business park. A flurry of black-and-white feathers betrayed the presence of magpies - but what was the bulky looking brown bird that left the tree? I circled round and spotted a Mistle Thrush.

Later in the day I visited the Elmdon Nature Park, where I found the field Golden with Buttercups.

Day 2 - Visit to a pond

For Day 2 of #30DaysWild, I sketched the pond near our office before starting work.

Watercolour sketch of the Trinity Park pond.

While I was there I saw the two pairs of tufted ducks that I saw a fortnight ago.

Azure Damselfly male

At lunchtime I took another look and found:

• the two pairs of Tufted Ducks
• Coots
• three well-grown Mallard ducklings, hiding in the reeds
• and a lot of squeaking from the reedbed, maybe the young Moorhens that I saw a fortnight ago.

Having lingered by the pond, I started to walk round it, briskly, and walked straight into a Damselfly. I saw two males and one female on a sunlit bush. I identified them with the help of the British Damselfly Society Identification page.

Meadows were Golden with Buttercups

According to Edith Holden's The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, June 1906 started with heavy thunderstorms. In 2016, I was fortunate to avoid delays to my journey to Birmingham as overnight storms in Sussex, where I live, had brought down trees and blocked roads.

Bright buttercups on a dull evening.

Edith's entry for June 2 said ...

"Many of the meadows are golden with Buttercups, and some of the fields are showing quite red, where the sorrel is coming into flower."

This week, I stayed at the Birmingham Airport Holiday Inn, just across the road from Solihull Council's Elmdon Nature Park. I discovered this park during last year's #30DaysWild and finding out that Edith Holden had walked in Elmdon Park inspired me to start this blog. I am rather nervous about using the iron bridge to cross the road but was pleasantly distracted by finding pretty tree blossoms at eye-level.

June 1st - A form of Whitebeam?

I passed the eccentric-looking old lodge and followed a path through some woodland, which gave way to a large grassed area.

June 1st - Woodland giving way to buttercups.

There were Buttercups everywhere - the flowers bobbing in the gusty wind. Above my head, swifts were gathering a late meal and the clouds were getting heavier and darker.

Only nature could get away with this colour combination.

A path divides the field into two, I followed it for a little way before finding the shocking pink flowers of Red Campion.

Cow Parsley, almost glowing in the gloom.

The lovely froth of Cow Parsley formed a lacy screen between me and the Buttercups. The sky was getting darker and I decided to turn back as there was little point in trying to take more photos.

Watercolour sketch.

Before leaving the buttercups, I perched on a handy seat and used watercolours to sketch the scene.  Surrounded by trees and wildflowers, and with rabbits grazing nearby, all the workday busyness and stress fell away. I felt that only the thunder of aeroplanes separated me from the artist and teacher who diligently made her nature notes over a hundred years ago.

In a later entry, Edith speaks of going out with a large party of friends. Although the passing dog walkers may have thought I was alone, my party of friends is much larger than Edith's. I am one of more than 25,000 people who have registered for the Wild Life Trusts' #30DaysWild. The plan is to do something wildlife related every day. We are keeping each other company by blogging, tweeting and sharing images and videos.  As soon as I had finished my sketch, I shared it using that 21st Century essential - the Smart Phone.