A Caspian's Second Winter

Hello there readers, yes I said hello there, I thought why not spice things up a little seen as I say hi there usually. Another post on the birding post documenting my recent birding fun. I look back on the previous Sunday (30/11/13) the very end of this years November, the month of fireworks, where we enjoy vibrant colors, well this relates to birding in current times, we begin to see the vibrant colors of wintering ducks such as Wigeon which always give you something lovely to look at on a cold morning. Well we had plenty of wintering birds to look at last Sunday which to me is always a bonus when out in the winter, yes the summer has a wide range of great Warblers on offer but it's hard to beat a good looking Wigeon when out birding.

We began the day at Sandwell Valley down the hide as usual and it was a quiet but nice morning in there. Still plenty of wintering ducks on the main lake including Wigeon, Pochard, and Goosander in very good numbers. There was even a report from Mike that two Mandarin were in the main lake earlier in the morning but they had disappeared before we got to see them. We did however get a nice bird in this winter which we had much less of last year. A pair of stunning Goldeneyes were on the main lake showing very well all morning, last year there was a lack of this species in the valley so let's hope this pair stick around for a while longer. We also had plenty of Snipe sticking around all morning and a possible view of a Water Rail very briefly. We also had a total of four Buzzards at one time which is a good number to get in one go. So overall it was a nice morning had in the hide, plenty to look at as a whole the winter birds are around in good numbers now which is a positive thing to see. A stunning Kingfisher also flew by offering very good views.

Flying Grey Heron, from the Hide. 

The newly spray painted Railway Bridge. 

So with a nice morning at Sandwell Valley out the way we decided to head of to Clayhanger seen as we hadn't been around for quite a while it seemed like a good idea to have a good look around Ryders Mere, so exactly that is what we did. It was actually quite productive, Goosander were in good number 5+ birds were around as well as plenty of Pochard, and Wigeon.  We also had good numbers of Teal around and a single Little Grebe, a hunting Kestrel was also around but as they usually do got mobbed by gulls and crows and disappeared. A good Canada Goose flock has been built up in the Mere and consisted of a single Greylag goose trying to get involved in the group successfully. Other than that we just had a nice make Reed Bunting fly by. A nice flock of Lapwing also flew over but I'm not to sure where they landed if they did.

Nice view of Ryder's Mere. 

A few flying Lapwing, over Ryder's Mere. 

Collard Dove on the way back. 

So with a quiet look at Clayhanger complete we headed over to Chasewater for a bit of Gull watching, call me strange but I've really got into "Gulling" over the past few years, it's just weird how it feels great when you see something among st a thousand different gulls on a reservoir. We had a couple of birders by our side this time which was in a sense quite lucky on this occasion. I managed to find a couple of Yellow Legged Gulls that seemed to stand out like a soar thumb wit those weirdly bright white heads. After a while the birders next to us got view of a second winter Caspian Gull a form of this species I hadn't ever seen, and seen as you have to see every form of a gull to know what your looking at it was interesting to see it. The distance it was away from us was way to much for my Scope I had a look through someone else's to get the bird in view, so thank you to that person who got me good views of the bird. We also had plenty of Goldeneye throughout our visit, and probably had the best views I have ever had of wild Goldeneye they always seem to be miles out in the middle of a reservoir so it was good to see them closer in.

Record shot of a female Goldeneye at Chasewater. 

That's it for another post this week folks, hopefully you have enjoyed reading, another post should be along sometime soon, you have probably noticed I am taking more time on my posts, that's so I can sort out the pictures I have taken from days out and make sure they are ready for putting on the blog, but I will keep posting as regularly as I can, study also gets in the way of me posting, I have coursework to do then essays are piled on me, not to mentioned applying for UCAS which some of you may have heard of, but I will keep the posting up, it's something I enjoy doing so It so I will keep posting as much as I can. Next post should be a similar time next week if not before so I will see you then.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the birding people!- WB