This Sunday we decided to bird watch where we very often do, Sandwell Valley was on the agenda. On arrival things were as usual lately very quiet in the hide the odd Great crested Grebe and a single Little Grebe were around. Also a few winter ducks were around including Shoveler and Teal. But otherwise things were quiet. So I decided it was the perfect time to focus on Gulls like I had been round the reserve a lot lately.
So the usual gulls were about mainly made up of Black headed and Lesser black backed Gulls. Which was making me feel like Gull searching was going to be a failure today. But luck had it and for the second time round the reserve a Med Gull popped up into my view. I'm thinking the bird is the same adult winter plumage bird that has been round for a few weeks but even though its been around for a while its still nice to see.
It was also nice to see the return of the Snipe to the reserve, one was occasionally appearing on the main island for a short while. We also counted a great 67 Lapwings on the main island, I have to say that is a good number. But it's a shame they didn't do so well in the breeding sector this year and again due to predation as common with a lot of species around the reserve every year. Here's the main sightings from the reserve,
RSPB Sandwell Valley- Med Gull x1, Gadwall x1, Shoveler 5+, Teal x3, Mute Swan 5+, Stock Dove x1, Little Grebe x1, Great crested Grebe x4, Jackdaw (heard), Pochard x1, Tufted Duck 5+, Coot 20+, Lapwing x67, Black headed Gull 50+.
So a good few birds about this morning. I have read online about a bird watching day race yesterday between, Belvide, Upton Warren, Venus Pool, and for the first time Sandwell Valley. I know the valleys count was 69 which for a day round the reserve isn't to bad. In terms of beating the competition it didn't beat any of them but the main thing is places like Sandwell Valley are now beginning to take part in in events like this. In my opinion the valley is a great place full of habitat but compared to massive reservoirs like Belvide and wader paradises such as Upton Warren the Valley really struggles to pick up the numbers.
Although the reserve is a great place this year it has struggled to attract new species such as more waders. But I'm sure it will quite soon, and with the rise in Interest from more bird watchers more species will be seen in the future.
Now moving on, after a morning round the valley we decided to get over to Upton Warren as we usually do once a month. And it turned out to be a good was to end the birding weekend. We began at the sailing pool where we saw a few Swallow, Mallard, and on the return journey from the flashes we had. A Grey Wagtail. The Flashes were looking good with the waders, with two Ruff feeding continuously a few Green Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper and a good number of Curlew were also around. It was quiet otherwise but the Ruff gave us something to watch while in the hide.
We then moved on to the Moors where we saw p,entry of House Martin presumably feeding up for the long journey ahead. We also had a short view of a Water Rail, and a fly past from a Kingfisher. Again things were quiet really. Moving on to the hide on the other side of the moors we managed to get a eclipse plumage Pintail which was interesting to see and something I haven't seen in a while. A couple of Snipe were also about.
The reserves escaped goose population seems to have risen, at first we assumed it was the escaped Ross's goose we were looking at but a lady pointed out to us that it had no black wing tips and on looking in more detail it was slightly bigger. In addition to the new escaped good there was another hybrid Canada Goose that was also around, the bird was white with some grey marking on its underside. So the reserve is becoming a hotspot for farmland escapees. Anyway here's the main sightings from the visit,
Upton Warren-
Sailing Pool- Grey Wagtail x1, Swallow 10+, Coot 5+, Mallard 5+.
Flashes- Ruff x2, Lapwing 10+, Common Sandpiper x1, Green Sandpiper x2, Curlew 5+, Teal 6+, Shoveler x1, Stock Dove x2, Pied Wagtail x2.
Moors Pools- Water Rail x1, Kingfisher x1, Little Grebe 5+, Hybrid Geese x2, Greenfinch x1, Snipe x2, Lapwing 20+, Greylag Goose 10+, Grey Heron x2, House Martin 5+, Great Crested Grebe 5+, Black headed Gull 50+, Cormorant 5+, Pintail x1.
So not a bad afternoon of birding really, and a good end to a great birding weekend. Now Summer is over we have the winter migrants to begin looking forward to. I may add a couple of photos to this post later on depending on picture quality so look out for that later on. There should be a post next weekend now most likely a visit to the valley again.
Thanks for reading and have a good week all- WMBB
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