Cheylesmore and Quinton Park

A treat to see the remainder thriving. Thank you for the pictures, hope we can see some more before long.

No problem Coventry49 and Dreamtime , it's a mini- nature reserve nowadays. Bizarrely among all the Canada Geese, probably a few hundred, there's one white goose it seems to get on with the others fine though

That's very interesting OL. We have lots of Canada Geese here over wintering on our estuary and for many years one white one was amongst them. It was a Himalayan Goose, a little off his beat! Maybe he's joined up with the Cheylesmore gang?

Finally got a shot of the heron today and the solitary white goose, I think it's a domestic goose coventry49 rather than your exotic one Apologies for the picture quality but it was cold, misty and I was using a small hand held camera.

Thanks OL, we are lucky to witness such a variety of birds. Domestic or not the goose seems to have made himself at home.

Thanks for the photos OL. There seem to be a lot more trees around the pool than there used to be. Is there still a smaller pool nearby?

Certainly looks like it, I never go there.

Yes coventry49, the smaller pool is still there. It's completely surrounded by trees though. It's home to a few moorhens and ducks. A number of years ago there were some turtles there as well presumably dumped after the craze for them had died out, you'd see them sunning themselves on floating logs

Thanks OL. It was a bit overgrown when I last saw it in the very early 1990s. Terrapins are in some our ponds and lakes too! The latest craze apparently is to dump snakes anywhere.

To change the subject slightly I was interested to see Heathite's aerial view of Quinton Pool. I see that the site of the old Cheylesmore Pub is now an Asda! On the accompanying map the roads are clearly visible. My paper round took in Woodstock, Montault and William Bristow Roads for the princely sum of 22/6d a week, morning and evening rounds too! The Sunday morning round was so heavy I had to do it in 2 stages.

That's a long round coventry49 especially during the days when most people had the daily and evening papers and some of the Sundays often consisted of four papers and a book, also most of these houses have got separate entrances or driveways. Add to that the slope on William Bristow and I reckon you earned your 22/6! The Cheylesmore pub had been struggling for many years and despite constant reinventions it eventually closed. Several ideas were put forward for its use including flats and a Community Centre and like a lot of empty buildings it mysteriously burnt down when there was a problem with planning permission. I think the land was vacant for about four years before the Asda was built driving of the foxes who had taken residence there.

A quick picture I took today whilst giving the swans (and everything else) their pre-Christmas lunch. By the time I'd finished I was totally surrounded.

Thank you OL, lovely to see all of the birdlife thriving and all celebrating like us on this special day. Hope your Christmas lunch went down well.