End of the road

This is the last post for my Birmingham Diary. At the beginning of the year, I set myself a challenge - to follow in Edith Holden's footsteps and study the wild creatures and plants that inhabit the places in Birmingham where I worked and stayed.  Edith walked through farmland and villages. 110 years later, I explored the areas around the airport, the NEC, offices and hotels. 

Canada geese gliding past Brindley Place

I found that writing my diary gave me the motivation to get out and explore. Instead of languishing at home in a draw, my camera and drawing materials were with me. 

The bright lights of Brindley Place/

Flowering Plants

To end her diary, Edith listed the flowering plants including trees that she found in the Olton area. She recorded 214 types compared to my rather less diligent 80.  Edith and I both found bluebells, although she called them hyacinths.


Bluebells near the NEC halls.

I found some flowers that were not on Edith's list - for example a friend sent her bee orchids whereas I found some just outside the office.

Bee orchids at Trinity Park.

I found some flowers that were new to me such as the dainty field pansy, the rather insignificant blue fleabane and the downright weird common cudweed.



Field pansy on a pile of rubble next to a Trinity Park car park.

Birds

Edith also listed the birds that she saw -  a total of  76 whereas I found 36.  Edith's list included both Song and Missel Thrushes. I found these too, there were Song Thrushes by the railway line near Birmingham International and, much more surprising, a pair of Missel Thrushes in the little garden tucked away behind Birmingham's new library. Edith's list included House Martins, which 110 years later were busily feeding their young in the nests that they had built under the eves of the Arden Hotel, where I often stayed.

Young House Martins leaving the nest.

My list included many more seabirds than Edith's, presumably attracted by the large Pendigo lake near the NEC. Species that I had not seen before included Common Tern and Reed Bunting.

I was thrilled to see a common tern swooping in front of Resort World.

Insects

Bug hunts were a little tricky because I didn't have my macro lens with me and I was only free to explore before and after work. However I did see a number of different types of bees, hoverflies, dragon and damselflies and butterflies. I even rescued a Yellow-underwing moth from a hotel bar.



Azure Damselfly near Trinity Park pond.

Mammals

The area round the offices, Birmingham International station and NEC was heaving with rabbits. I also saw squirrels and some disturbingly bold rats.  There was a notable absence of foxes.



Rabbits amongst the NEC daffodils.

Looking back, it's difficult to pick out the what I enjoyed most but I think it was using a bat detector to hunt for bats. I detected and watched Common Pipistrelles hunting across the Pendigo Lake.  It was not only finding and watching the bats but the encounter various people including two young men headed towards the nearest bar, who were interested in the detector and told me all their wildlife adventures.



Hunting for bats at sundown.

So that's it folks. I had a great time finding wildlife in unlikely places and will go on exploring my surroundings wherever my work takes me.

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.