A good days birding

Hi readers, me and Dad had a good days birding today, we first took a usual trip to Sandwell Valley and had quite a bit of luck. In fact I had two site year and life ticks today which I would say is quite good. Here's our full sightings list,

RSPB Sandwell Valley- Snipe x3, Raven x1, Shellduck x1, Tufted Duck 10+, Wigeon 5+, Green woodpecker x1, Lapwing 10+, Oystercatcher x2, Gadwall 5+, Black headed Gull 50+, Herring Gull x1, Lesser Black backed Gull x2, Bullfinch 5+, Greenfinch 5+, Little Grebe x1, Great crested Grebe x2, Goosander 5+.

You can see there is two unusual birds on the list, Shellduck and Raven, these were two birds that rarely turn up on the Valley, although Shellduck are reasonable common they very rarely turn up at Sandwell. The bird was around the main island area and was feeding well. The Raven was near the North island and it is the first I have ever seen on the valley but is the second I have heard of, I first noticed it because it was larger than a Carrion Crow, it was also being mobbed by Carrion Crows near two Pylons that can be seen from the north island. We then heard it call and that proved that the bird was a Raven. I noticed that the bird was quite intelligent, it hid away from the crows in a confined area on the Pylons and it looked as if it used a stick as a weapon (possible).

I am thinking that the bird was just passing through but it would be nice if it became a regular visitor to the valley. A little later on in the day we decided to have a look for any good Gulls at Bartley Green reservoir, we had little success like the gulls we had a Chasewater last week but we had a few good birds anyway. Here's our sightings list,

Bartley Green Reservoir- Golden eye x2, Common Gull x2, Lesser Black backed Gull 5+, Black headed Gull 50+, Canada Goose 5+, Fielfare 5+.

The list was small, but the weather could have effected things. At the moment I am looking forward to the spring and the arrival of warblers, Little ringed Plovers, and Common Terns. It may be a little while yet and there is still plenty of different birds to look at but I must say my favorite time of year for birding is the spring and summer. I am most looking forward to hopefully getting my first Grasshopper Warbler at Clayhanger this year, I have often come very close to seeing them but have never succeeded in getting views of one, lets hope eh.

Thanks for reading have a good week all- WMBB