Birding today

Hi all, me and Dad had a quiet birding Sunday today, we decided to stay local this week. We first took our usual visit to Sandwell Valley and had quite a few good year ticks today. We heard a few Reed Warbler but didn't see any we got good views of a Sedge Warbler calling and most importantly we heard the Cettis Warbler blurting out its loud call. The two Common Tern were still around which is nice to see, along with two Common Sandpipers and two Little Ringed Plovers. Surprisingly there was little in the form of Hirundines today other than a single Swift flying near a couple of Buzzards this is likely to be because the flys and insects the birds feed on will be higher up in the nice weather so the birds follow them. A Lesser Whitethroat was also reported to be calling behind the hide today but me and dad failed to get the bird. We also noticed a mass of Goose eggs on the island that to me looked to be unsuccessful broods, in some ways this is good and bad when talking about Canada Geese because there is so many of them already and the increase in numbers isn't always a good thing. Here's our full sightings list from the Valley,

RSPB Sandwell Valley- Common Sandpiper x2, Common Tern x2, Cettis Warbler (heard) x1, Reed Warbler (heard (not sure in terms of numbers)). Blackcap x3, Willow Warbler x1, Chiffchaff (heard), Mute Swan x2, Cormorant x1, Lapwing 10+, Buzzard x2, Swift x1, Oystercatcher x2.

I must say its good to see so many nesting birds around, it looks as if Lapwing, Oystercatcher, and possible Common Sandpiper could be nesting this year, the Oystercatchers are on a nest so its looking good for them, the same goes for Lapwings as quite a few of those are on nests at the moment (or as it appears). It is highly likely that Common Sandpiper, Common Tern, and Little Ringed Plover will nest this year, the most likely ones being the LRPs and the terns whereas the Common Sandpipers have not been recorded to have nested on the reserve.

Moving on now, after our visit to the Valley me and Dad decided to do some Internet searching, we found that yesterday two Hobbies had been seen at Essington Quarry pool so we thought seen as the site was one of our regular haunts it would be good to try and see the birds. Sadly everything seemed quiet round the pool we only really saw one type of Warbler through the whole visit and that was Whitethroat, they seemed to be everywhere today, the only other warbler we really saw was a Blackcap and that was it in terms of sightings really. Here's our main sightings from the pool,

Essington Quarry Pool- Whitethroat 5+, Blackcap x1, Mallard 5+, Little Grebe x1, Skylark (heard), Linnet 5+, Buzzard x1, Jackdaw 5+, Swallow 5+.

A small list but there is a few good things we saw. After looking round the quarry pool we decided to have a quick look round Chasewater, and quick it turned out to be, we seemed to forget that Chasewater is usually quite quiet at this time of year, and because the lake is so full it would be unlikely that we would see any summer waders there. In terms of sightings Chasewater was very bleak this afternoon, I have always seen the lake as more of a winter Gull watching site rather than a summer bird site. However while walking towards the dam me and Dad noticed a large area of heath land that happened to have a  formed footpath, we decided to have a quick walk around and again had little sightings, but I found my self comparing the area to that of Cannock Chase, and we all know that Cannockchase can be very productive with birds such as Stone and Whinchat so the area we found could be a good place to check out in the future. Here's our sightings list from Chasewater,

Chasewater- Coot 5+, Canada Goose 10+, Mute Swan 5+, Buzzard x1.

You can see from that list Chasewater is very, very quiet at the moment. Finally to end our day we decided to have a quick look at Clayhanger in hope of hearing the Grasshopper Warblers that should be around there now, but again we had little success and couldn't lock on to any. In terms of other sightings we only saw more Whitethroats a Yellowhammer, and a nice Fox, here's our main Clayhanger sightings from today,

Clayhanger- Yellowhammer x1, Whitethroat 5+, House Sparrow x5, Reed Bunting x1, Grey Heron x1, Black headed Gull 20+, Fox x1. 

Well things were quiet today, but I was happy to see my first Swift over my house today, but I am beginning to give up hope of them nesting in our loft this year seen as we have a Starling nest that has chicks, which is still good news, but I vaguely remember Swifts still nesting in our house while Starlings were nesting so it is still possible.

Thanks for reading, enjoy the bank holiday monday all- WMBB