Introduction

I have been inspired by the many wildlife blogs that I read and I have a desire to engage people with nature. So I thought it was about time I started writing my own blog. 

Worcester is an intriguing place to live with lots of historical and cultural interest. However, for me the thing that I get fascinated about is its wildlife. There is so much going on within the city boundaries and indeed in the area surrounding the city. I will endeavour to share my explorations in and around the city as I go in search of the wildlife with my family in tow. In addition to Worcester city I  regularly go birding at Grimley, a few miles to the north of the city centre. I will include my adventures and findings at Grimley in this blog. 

Last weekend we were without a car so had to remain in the city. On both days of the weekend we set off for a long walk around the city. Saturday we walked along the canal to the river, around the area known as Cherry Orchard Nature Reserve; which is near Diglas bridge and then along the river into the city centre.  One of the highlights on this walk were the tufted ducks on the canal. Whilst not exactly an exciting species to come across, they are not often seen here. It was great to watch them for a few minutes as they tried to take on male mallards; I assume fighting for territory. 

The city nature reserve was very quiet, only the odd dog walker and there was plenty to see. This included lots of finches; Bullfinches, Chafinches, greefinches and goldfinches, unfortunately nothing more exciting. 

However, we did come across a fox who initially did not see us. I tried to get a photo, but, just as I put my camera into position he ran off into the undergrowth. Along the river the wildlife continued with Gulls, Cormorants, Pigeons and Kingfishers. 

When we arived at the Cathedral we thought we would attempt to spot the Black Redstart that has been present for some months now. It only took a couple of minutes to locate the bird. According to the RSPB web site the UK has approximately 500 wintering birds a year so it is quite exciting that there is one of them wintering on Worcester Cathedral. 

Sunday we decided to try the fields just to the south of Diglas bridge in the hope of finding Finches and Thrushes. We were fortunate to spot all the Thrushes but very few Finches were around. However, there were huge numbers of Wagtails. In one field there was perhaps 100. It was a very successful weekend with a total of 37 species of bird.  The clear point is to look up and you never know what you might find.