Woke to clear blue skies but on the drive down to Staffordshire we passed through grey skies and thick fog and I began to doubt the weathermens forcast of a sunny day.Plans were to arrive mid morning but our plans were thwarted when we got lost and we wasted an hour trying to find the targeted car park at Friers Grave, Cannock chase. Here there is a large concentration of woodland birds as they have been regularly fed by the locals for a very long time. Out in the countryside with rolling heath land and open woodland with no urbanisation I was surprised at the sheer volume of birds coming to feed.

Upon first arriving we clearly heard the yaffle of a green woodpecker which was a good omen for the day to come. Also the weathermen had been right all along as the fog had indeed given way to beautiful sunshine and clear blue skies. At the car park there are three trees upon which are fixed feeders and food is also scattered on the ground below.

It attracts a wide variety of birds such as blue tits, greattits, long tailed tits, coal tits, willow tits, nuthatch, dunnocks, blackbirds, chaffinches and many robins. In fact I don’t think I have ever seen so many robins in one place and have them all feeding side by side without fighting. In other feeding areas I know there is bitter fighting over territory but not here. They all seem to tolerate one another well enough. They are also very tame coming to within a few feet of where we are sat. I felt sure that had we had any meal worms they would have come and eaten out of our hands.

Yellowhammers also visit the site but they are very wary and do not come in close very readily. I had to wait until almost the end of the day before two males and a female came in and I could photograph them

For me the greatest birds to watch were the long tailed tits. These are feisty little birds that seem unaffected by human presence. There was often a flock of about ten birds that regularly visited the fat balls and would also readily feed off peanuts on the ground. Sat in the car, two feet from the fat balls the tits would eagerly feed giving some stunning close up views. Only when watched from so close can you appreciate just how small these birds really are.