The Last Couple of Weeks Birding.

Hi readers, it's been little while since I last posted so I decided to compile the last couple of weeks birding into one single post. It has been a little quiet recently but with the migration kicking in we should begin to see some exciting migrant birds pretty soon, with family commitments also on the agenda for the last two Sunday's birding has taken second wind as it should in those circumstances so we haven't had as much chance to spread our wings and travel a bit further than usual. Anyway on with the birding I will start by talking about 5th and then on with the 12th.

5/04/15- So we began our birding at Sandwell Valley noticing the strong development of the new visitor center which will be opening in July, it's looking really good now, it's clearly developing well, each week it gets closer and closer to being finished. We made our way down to the hide for the morning to see what was around. Already our annual breeding birds are succeeding the Oystercatcher pair were celebrating Easter well with at least three eggs in he nest, it's great to see them nesting again. An LRP was also still around feeding on the island as usual. Near the two electrical pylons view able from the hide I noticed to distant birds of prey initially I couldn't really tell what they were due to their distance but on closer inspection and by judgement of their behavior it was clear the pair were Peregrines hunting Pigeons aggressively by the pylons. We had plenty of flybys from a Kingfisher throughout the morning, I believe it flew by at least 5 times which is great to see. The Great crested Grebe pair were also still around and I believe are also nesting. A few Shoveler were still knocking around as well as Teal and Gadwall. The highlight of the morning had to be the great views of a returning Swallow the first I had seen all year, the bird flew by and had turned up the day before so it was great to see it. 

After Sandwell Valley we decided to head over to the Clent Hills (Walton Hill) we hadn't been up there for a long while so decided to go and have a quick look around. It was pretty unproductive as a whole, we hoped for a few migrant birds such as Ouzels or Wheatear but no sign on the day, we did hear a distant calling Raven but couldn't seem to find it by scanning the trees, two Meadow Pipits also showed very well quite near to us but overall that is all we had.

12/04/15- Another week has past and another day for birding has emerged. This Sunday we literally visited the same locations as last week so we started our day of with Sandwell Valley. This week was very good for migrant birds passing through and we managed to see a lot of stuff that hasn't been around for quite a while. So to begin we arrived down the hide to seeing still 9 Goosander on Forge Mill Lake as well as 3 or 4 Teal to the left of the hide. In addition to this a Common Sandpiper had dropped in perhaps the first of the year for the valley and defiantly the first for me this year. Hirundines were passing through in very good numbers 5 Swallow turned up and were around all morning as well as a couple of Sand Martin and before we left the first House Martin of the year all we need now is a few Swift, not long now. In addition to this 4 LRP were around two to the left of the hide and two on the main island, the Oystercatcher pair still remain and are still sitting on the nest. We also managed to see a few scarcer birds for the Valley that don't turn up as often as others, a group of 5 Linnet dropped in very briefly mid morning before flying off, there was only I think one sighting of this species last year so it was good to see them. We also got two Meadow Pipit something we don't see to often from the hide either, Ian had seen them before we arrived but they returned later in the morning for us to see.

Common Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Lapwing

LRP

Meadow Pipit

On leaving the hide it is clear the summer warblers are returning, one male Blackcap showed by the gate as well as a single Willow Warbler which was singing and showing well in the same area, we did hear a few of these around on the walk back to the car so things are looking better on the warbler front. Migrants are piling in now numbers are increasing as we are seeing a few different species popping in. 

With news of a Ring Ouzel showing up in Walton Hill we decided to go and have a look up there again to see if it was around. The wind was very bad up there and we couldn't manage to see the bird however we did have a couple of Meadow Pipit and also a single Chiffchaff on our walk around, we did a full explore of the nearby footpaths to see if we could relocate the Ouzel but there was no sign, my best guess is that it had ever gone or it had sheltered from the wind but who knows. That's it for this post there should be another post soon depending in what we end up seeing later this week, hopefully a few more migrants to add to the year list that would be very positive. 

Thanks for reading and good birding- WB