Frost Bite on a Sunday!

Hi readers, it's time for another installment from me and my birding experiences. This week we had a lot of success in the Mids going off to Sandwell Valley and Chasewater so have a read through if your interested in this weeks birds. As you may have guessed from the title of the post it was pretty cold today, I mean really cold, I know it was at least 2 degrees down the hide so it was a bit nippy today, don't worry I didn't actually get frost bite so I've kept my limbs for the time being. We start the day of at Sandwell Valley and down the hide again this time. We arrived ready to see what was about and we had a good morning down the hide in all fairness. We had countless views of Kingfisher at one point one was sitting on the number three post showing well, there has to be more than one around unless the one we were seeing was either extremely energetic or just very hungry. The Snipes were around in good numbers, 20-30 birds in all, Pete the Snipe did a Snipe count the day before and had 51 birds on the main island which believe me is a good number for the forge lake island, usually most of the birds are located on the marsh.

The drake Pintail has made a return and was showing well for most of the morning and was confiding with a couple of Shoveler. Two Teal were on the main lake and up to 8 Goosander were also out there. Plenty of Tufted Duck and Pochard were also about throughout the morning. We had two different species of Raptor during our visit these being a stunning and very confiding Kestrel and also a very co finding Sparrow Hawk. Both were around all morning and seemed to be hunting most of the time. After a good but very cold morning in the hide we retreated back to the car not before having a bit of Mald Wine first to warm us up a little.

A Sparrow Hawk goes by the Gulls go up at Sandwell Valley.

Where next I hear you ask? Well we decided we didn't want to go off anywhere outlandish so we moved towards Chasewater but first we stopped off at Engine Lane, the old Glossy Ibis hang out for a quick look over the fields there. I wasn't expecting to much but we actually came back with a couple f good birds, a good number of Teal were residing in the small pools of water in the field and a couple of Mistle Thrush were also around along with a Pied Wagtail. I always like checking through good groups of teal in case a Green Winged turns up out of the blue, you never know what you may find anything could drop in is what I always say. 

So on to Chasewater then, news broke out of a possible Ring Billed Gull in the roost Saturday night, although it was also thought it could have been a Ring billed- Lesser Black backed hybrid, however after seeing the picture of the bird on social media it looked actually quite promising in all honesty. So we headed over to Chasewater to have a good look around, my eyes were fixed on the nearer Gulls for a good half and hour before we went for a quick break in the Train Station. On our return some birders had arrived and let us know that a Great Northern Diver had shown up on the far side, we got the bird quite quickly and had pretty good views of it through the evening. A few familiar faces arrived shortly after so it was good to catch up with a few people and have a look for a few birds in hope of seeing the Ring Billed. In total early in in the roost from about 14:30 we managed to get 3 adult Yellow Legged Gulls all in great plumage and showing very well. After a while of looking through the gulls someone shouted out that an adult Med Gull was showing well, we got onto the bird nicely and it was a good example of an adult winter bird and was showing very well. 

However still no luck with the ringy it hadn't shown up yet, however someone got onto a Caspian Gull at this stage it was impossible for me to see the bird it was to far out but shortly after being spotted it came a lot closer and it showed very well showing a good example of a 2nd winter Caspian Gull. So with a few good birds seen it was time to end the evening for us, but before we left, it was concluded that the Ring Billed Gull was roosting at Belvide tonight, and that it was actually a hybrid gull, the picture looked promising but I cannot argue especially seen as I haven't actually seen one before only illustrations in the Collins bird guide and pictures of it. So although we didn't get the bird we were after we still had a lot of success with a good view of a Caspian Gull, Med Gull, and Great Northern Diver in the bag as well as plenty of Yellow Legged Gulls, what more can you ask for?

You can just see that this is a picture not a black box. ;)

We retreated back to the car for our journey home, however the heating in the car isn't working so we were just cold, continuously cold for the rest of the evening. It's all worth it though when you see a good bird, for me there is still a lot to do and see in the birding world, and I don't mind battling with nature to see things if they help me along in my pathway of birding experience. Who know where we shall end up next week, I know we will be going to Sandwell Valley but in the afternoon we could end up anywhere so look out for a post sometime next week.

Update after post written: So it turns out the Ring Billed Gull was a hybrid, from the image I saw on Twitter it didn't look like one but I am no expert so I could easily be wrong. Sometimes I wonder however what are the chances of a Lesser Black backed Gull and Ring Billed Gull meeting and breeding, often to me when the word hybrid comes in its just an excuse to name something that looks a little odd, not that I mind, if its been confirmed as being a hybrid then who am I to argue. 

Thanks for reading and enjoy the week all- WB