BirdGuides

Tucked away between two very busy main roads into the City of Leicester lies the hidden peace and tranquillity of the Aylestone Meadows. A sizeable, verdant green wedge along the Rivers Soar and Biam and encompassing the Grand Union Canal thoroughfare, it is Leicester’s richest wildlife habitat, a mosaic of ancient flood meadow, mixed woodland, and wetland areas plus some rough grassland. Fortunately for me it is literally across the road. It has been my local patch for a long time and I’ve always loved it. During those lockdown periods the city suffered; it was my escape and I grew to appreciate it more every day. That first period, with no traffic noise, was a revelation. Not only were the two major roads silent, but also for the first time I realised just how much unwanted noise we gained from the inner ring road and motorways at the southern end of the site. The dawn chorus was simply stupendous with enhanced clarity and almost deafening volume. At the northern end of the site lies Freemen’s Weir, flanked to the east by the King Power Stadium, home of Leicester City Football Club. The rivers merge here, widen before dropping over a large weir, and passing through the city as the Grand Union Canal (GUC). It is the largest body of water on site and one of the best areas for waterfowl and gulls, especially during hard weather, when relatively large gatherings can occur. A favourite patch moment was watching goosander, regular here, hunting for fish under ice at close range: exquisite pink-flushed torpedoes propelled by scarlet feet – literally mesmerising. Walking south along the towpath crossing over the Biam at the point it rejoins the Soar is a great place to pause to scan – a good bottleneck for migrants and one of many great places to see kingfisher well. Continuing, the MY URBAN PATCH By MARK ANDREWS lock at St Mary’s Mill and the large, dilapidated factory buildings, last survivors of the once heavily industrialised area are favoured spots for kestrel, grey wagtail and occasionally the much scarcer black redstart. There are many choices of route from this point. I often follow the path beside the Biam, a lovely gravel- bottomed river, clear in summer as it passes through the floodplain meadow. Walking the east side along the boardwalk, useful when the area is waterlogged, is productive at any time of year, but during the breeding season, a lovely place to sit and watch a nice variety of breeding warblers. Nowadays buzzard and red kite are regular overhead, and scanning the pylons will often reveal a watching peregrine. One of our newest additions I would never have predicted to be a regular patch bird, yet I now get a daily dose of raven. These majestic corvids love to sit and ‘cronk’ atop the site’s pylons and have an ongoing arial ballet with anything up for a challenge. The southern section, with ancient ridge and furrow, grazed horse paddocks and the large natural floodplain meadow, is a joy for most of the year but can be very bleak in winter. The River Soar meanders through, roughly parallel with the GUC, joining the canalised section at a medieval crossway. A daily search of the winter-grazed fields to the east of the canal is a must in spring, offering the best chances of finding the ‘Holy Trinity’ of urban birding: ring ouzel, wheatear and redstart. This stretch of canal, an open straight flanked by the grazed fields and mature hedgerow, is favoured during summer mornings by the neighbourhood swifts. Screaming avian scythes that descend, usually a couple of hours after dawn, with heat rising and the canal, mirror-like at its stillest, they come in low, like well-rehearsed jet fighters, angel-winged, with open goatsucker mouths to skim across, lower bill momentarily ploughing the water’s surface – a joy to watch from only a few metres away. Magical moments, always appreciated, never taken for granted. Of course, as birders we’re always trying to find something unusual, something rare. Even inland, put the time in and you may be rewarded. A group of gannets passing low over the trees heading east was a shock I’ll never forget but my best so far, a Siberian waif in the form of a dusky warbler on 24th December last year, made a wonderful early Christmas present. Keep birding wherever you are! MARK ANDREWS IS A wildlife artist and TOUR GUIDE Artwork by Mark Andrews