Now thats a Great Reed!

17/05/15-

Post time! Hi readers it's time for another post on last weekends birding experiences. Sunday as usual was the day for birding, we began the day as normal over at Sandwell Valley in the hope of getting a few good birds in. It's turned out to be a quite quiet morning overall the usual suspects turned up. Now two pairs of Common Terns are nesting on the island, the two Oystercatchers remain however haven't as far as I am aware been successful in nesting again, this was most likely caused by the trampling Canada Geese who are in much smaller number this year, the cause of this drop is most likely egg spraying which the council have been carrying out even in the RSPB island which they are not supposed to do. The geese are a nuisance and are causing issues with other breeding birds that are much smaller in number, they do need to be dealt with and it is clear numbers are much lower but attention needs to be paid to other species and their disruption, could the egg spraying have disrupted the Oystercatchers it is possible. In addition to the birds mentioned there was three Lapwing chicks hanging around throughout the morning as well as 4 possibly 5 Little Ringed Plovers. 

Swift were in great numbers flying low around all morning with good numbers of House Marting and the odd Sand Marting hanging around to. A single Common Sandpiper also remains feeding around the island. The larger gull species are also increasing in number Lbbg and Herring Gulls were around in good numbers which is perhaps worrying for the younger birds that are around. A pair of Great crested Grebes have a total of 2/3 chicks remaining and their size is getting to a good level now so hopefully they should make it to adulthood. A single Kingfisher also flew by a couple of times throughout the morning and also a couple of Buzzards showed as usual. 

With Sandwell under our belt we decided to head over to Middleton Lakes for our second visit in the last few weeks. We were hopeful of seeing the Wood Sandpiper and Garganey that had been around for the last few days or so, neither of which we actually managed to see in the end. Plenty of Cettis Warblers we calling throughout our walk around which is something Middleton always manages to produce. Early on into our walk the reeling of a Grasshopper Warbler burst out. We caught up with John and Sharon Holian on our walk around and together we stood and stared at a bush for half an hour to get the bird in the bag. They could perhaps be one of the loudest but most difficult to see warbler species then UK gets to see. After a while we managed to see the bird and very well to, it was low down in a bush calling well and it was great to see the bird seen as they are a difficult species to see. Plenty of Sedge Warblers were around throughout the walk around as well as calling Reed Warblers. 

The Grasshopper Warbler was in this bush trust me. 

We made our way over to the hide and had a little sit down in hope of seeing a few birds. 3 or 4 Avocets were around throughout the sit down as well as a great to see feeding Ruff.  An interesting looking leucistic Black Headed Gull was also around which was interesting to see it was similar to the one that we saw over at Chasewater earlier this year. Before leaving we managed to spot two Redshank over on the far side if the pool feeding also. Middleton is really beginning to attract a good series of different Wader species now which is promising to see. Our visit was over and we began our walk back up to the car park, I also decided to buy myself a silver Lapwing pin badge I've found myself collecting quite a few of the RSPB on badges lately I have a fair few in a tin now. 

19/05/15-

A rarity had turned up in an area you know I am familiar with and this was something that I was actually expecting to miss out on seeing. I a text message and saw Tweets to say a GREAT REED WARBLER. I was at home and had no way of actually getting over to see the bird without being stuck at Swan Pool for a cold night. However luck was on side as I received a call from John Holian offering a trip up to see the bird and of course I said yes and got ready straight away. We arrived to a bunch of people wearing very thin swim suits and assumed they couldn't have been birders so began a walk around the pool. On our way around we were told the bird was on the back of the Swan Pool island so quickly made our way round and joined a good group of birders looking for the bird. It was very windy so the bird wasn't as obliging as it might usually be on a quieter day.

On arrival we did quickly manage to see the bird however it was a very brief and bad view of it. You could really hear the loud call of the Great Reed coming from the bushes. With a bit of wait we managed to get some luck the bird jumped up and showed very well for a brief amount of time well enough to be able to personally confirm its ID which is something I always like to do. The bird was then continuously difficult to see after that, I tried to get a photo but couldn't manage it the bird was just to far in the bushes. We had a moment at about 8pm where the bird flew our into another bush but we just couldn't get very good view. I have to say it was a great bird to see in the Sandwell Valley complex somewhere where I use most of my birding time, it was something unexpected so it made the week a little more exciting.

The Great Reed Warbler was in this bush trust me.

That's it for this post there should be another very soon, I have no idea where we will be going but it will be somewhere as usual we find out when we get to it.

Thanks for reading and good birding- WB