A Cannock Chase Day

To escape daytime telly for the day, I've been out on Cannock Chase today. I have got back in time to see Jasper Carrott's Goldenballs however! I'm getting into that a bit, in a similar way that I got into Noel Edmonds' boxes.

But anyway. The Seven Springs area was the first port of call:

1 probable Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. I accept this is a feeble claim, but a small Woodpecker took off out from the canopy of birches by the car park, and had gone before I could get the bins on it. Honest guv!
2 singing Chiffchaffs, my first this year
1 Yellowhammer, on the walk up to strawberry hill
6 Redwing
3 Buzzard
Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker
Nuthatch
Treecreeper



Good viewpoint at the top of Strawberry Hill, looking back towards Seven Springs.

Onto the visitor centre at Marquis Drive next. I thought I would try the feeding station here. Plenty of Siskin (in fact Siskins were everywhere on the Chase today!) and Chaffinch, plus a pair of Bullfinch. I'm probably a bit late for Brambling now, but the feeding birds did have to put up with a school party pond dipping right next to them.

After some salad and a couple of hot cross buns for lunch, a walk on the heath around Katyn Memorial and Sherbrook Valley produced:

2 pairs of Stonechat
Kestrel
Skylark
Reed Bunting



The Sherbrook Valley, a classic example of a glacial valley. That's the geography lesson for the day.