Down in the Park

In the mid-80s, while I was a student at Birmingham University, my local patch was Edgbaston Park – not hugely exciting, but rewarding for a poor young birdwatcher with no transport. As well as the usual woodland birds, back then it had regular Ruddy Ducks among the wildfowl on the lake, and occasional surprises such as Brambling and Crossbill. By 1986 I had graduated from the university, but was living and working nearby, still visiting the patch, and still seeing student friends regularly. One night in the Mason Hall bar, I got talking to one guy, a friend of a friend I’d not met before, and he showed a bit of interest in going birdwatching, so I invited him to join me that weekend.

So we met up on Sunday morning, 4 May, and nipped into the park through the usual gap in the fence opposite the halls of residence. A pleasant walk down through the woods on the west side later, we arrived at the small bridge over the spillway at the southwest corner of the lake. There, in a small tree right by the bridge, was a pair of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers! A lifer for me, on patch, and a bird I had really wanted to see. I knew they had been recorded in the park occasionally before, but not for years. And now, in front of me, not just one but a pair! Even better, they appeared to be investigating a hole in the tree, perhaps as a potential nest site. I watched, rapt, as they showed extremely well for several minutes, then suddenly flew off into the wood. I was over the moon!

We moved on and saw a nice selection of the other birds the park had to offer too, then, the morning’s visit over, my companion and I went our separate ways. I never saw him again – I can’t even remember his name –so I assume he decided that birding wasn’t for him. I guess he didn’t realise just how lucky he was – the one time he goes birding and he sees that! Given the amount of time we as birders spend looking for Lesser Spots every year, it hardly seems fair, does it?

Sadly, I never saw the Lesser Spots again either – presumably they similarly thought that tree wasn’t for them – it was very close to the path, after all. But for me that brief encounter is one of those memories, little cameo moments in my life as a birder, that will live forever.