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
Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker
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
The Sherbrook Valley, a classic example of a glacial valley. That's the geography lesson for the day.