First Trip to Venus Pool in Shropshire

Following on from my successful day visiting the Night Heron in Shrewsbury, I decided I might as well have a quick look at Venus Pool which was only another 20 minutes or so away. I wasn't really expecting to see much and so it was more of a reconnaissance trip.
 



I'd heard about this place quite a lot from a Facebook friend called Meurig Garbutt and indeed it was he who gave me the directions to get there.

Venus Pool is a largish lake with a variety of habitats including gravel islands, shallow mud areas and a few reeds.  The area is surrounded by fields and arable farmland. There are three hides which are easily accessible from the small free car park, one of which is a feeding station and I believe several others around the opposite side of the pool, but which require a bit of a walk.  Unfortunately there isn't a circular route all the way round.

I didn't have time to walk to the far hides today, so I concentrated on the three hides near the car park.  Here I saw mainly the 'usual suspects' with the addition of a Yellow Wagtail and Common Sandpiper.

As I left the feeding station hide I met a bloke who turned out to be none other than the 'Shropshire Birder' himself, Jim Almond. We had a brief chat about the site before I realised who he was.  When I did, I introduced myself and told him that he was coming to give us a talk at Leigh Ornithological Society next week. It's a small world isn't it?