The Pink Foot and the Barnacles.

24/01/16-

Hi readers, here I am back with another post to fill your eyes with all things birding. There hasn't been a post from the valley in a while so I will be sure to do one soon but this weeks post covers a visit to Doxey Marshes a reserve I don't get to go to as often as perhaps I should do. The list was prompted by a sighting of a Pink Footed Goose on the reserve which drew us in to have a look around. We walked from the start to the end of the reserve to see fully what was around. In the brick hide was where we began looking around and managed to see two Little Egrets looking around for some food in the water. As well as this we had three Reed Bunting showing well in front of us, in addition a Kestrel was hunting over the marshes and showing quite well throughout our sit in the hide.

We promptly moved on to the far hide hoping the in hope of seeing the goose there. We arrived and were given what we wanted to see. The Pink Footed Goose was sitting with another Greylag goose and showing reasonably well, it was doing a lot of preening so difficult to see its face but it gave us a few decent glimpses that concluded the ID. I noticed the bird was a little smaller than the Greylags which for me was an important observation. We stuck around in the hide for a little longer to see what else may have been around we managed to see two nice looking Barnacle Geese which were showing well also amongst a group of Greylags. In addition we had a few Goosander around the pool. Another nice bird that we managed to see was a female Pintail which showed well conveniently quite near to the Pink Footed Goose. So success! we got what we came for which left us pretty chuffed with the trip out. On the way back we were treated to a high pitched call which I had never heard before which turned out to be a Water Rail calling in a way I hadn't heard before as I'm used the the pig squeal they do. The bird showed very briefly but also very well as it sneaked through the reeds.

The Pink Foot is on the right. 

Thats your lot for this post, probably the best afternoons birding of the year so far this. With University I don't get to go out birding quite as much so we often just go for an odd twitch lately. We still visit Sandwell Valley as often as possible, but even there its less often than I used to. Next time we go to the Valley I will be sure to do a post on the visit it has been a while since I posted about being round there so its due a posting I'm sure. Thanks for reading and there should be another post coming up soon. 

Thanks for reading and good birding all- WB 

I'm Back!

29/11/15-

Hi readers, I return for another post about my birding experiences in recent times. The latest twitch was afoot recently and it cam quite locally with a  west midlands and national rarity turning up just up the road in the form of a Hoopoe. We headed up to the area where the bird had been seen with little knowledge as to where it actually was. However we asked a couple of passers by and found our bearings pretty quickly and made our way across the muddy field to see the bird. On arrival to a group of birders the bird was not in view and hidden away in some long grass. And then.....

A rather innocent looking man came with his binocular and small digital camera and flushed the bird up, this rather annoyed some birders but we weren't to upset this time as it got us to see the bird and actually really well as well. However the bird didn't sit around for long it flew up and landed on a fence near to where it was residing. Again it didn't stay there long either and flew up into tree overlooking a few gardens. The bird resided here for a while sheltering from the wind and gave us some good views until......

The return of Binoculars Camera Man! Yes this time I initially thought he'd flushed it by accident but then when he looked up to the tree where it was sitting he had to have known where it was, I thin field craft needed to be considered more here, this time the flushing was a little annoying because it put the bird out of view. So our half and hour or so visit to the Hoopoe was over, we had brief but good views of the bird so I can't complain, it has been a while since Ive seen a Hoopoe, the last one I saw being the Clayhanger bird that I believe passed away, still one of my favourite birds to see so we were well chuffed to see it! Below is a picture of the bird although as of writing this I haven't seen the picture and I know it isn't brilliant so you may just see an orange blob on the screen that looks minutely like a Hoopoe.

20/12/15-

The years end was near so we decided to get one last bird in for the years birding to end on. So we decided to have a afternoon look at the Great Northern Diver that was residing at Upper Bittel Reservoir. The bird had been there around for quite a while and we just hadn't had the chance to have a look at it but today was the day. We arrived at the reservoir and things were pretty easy it was there as soon as we arrived and showing very well. There is little story to tell for this one but I do have a few pictures of the bird for you to look at to tell the story in a better way.

10/01/16-

Into the new year now we are almost caught up on the birding of the past month or so. Today was the first proper says birding I had the chance to do this year, although it was quite a way through January that is the truth. We decided to head over to Kinver and take a look at the Pink Footed Geese that were hanging around, however the geese were not around on arrival and we looked twice and there were no geese in sight. Goose failure led us to our second birding adventure that being just down the road to where a large group of Brambling and associated finches had been residing for the past week or so. On arrival it looked like another dip which would have been devastating for the day as a whole,  we drove up and down the street a couple of times an then bang a stunning looking Brambling turned up in the bushes, and after that a tone more turned up and showed very well, a mixed flock of finches appeared including Brambling, Linnet, Lesser Redpoll, and Chaffinch. The Brambling were the stars of the show and showed very well throughout the visit. In the fields surrounding we also had a group of three Skylark calling which was a surprise and also a single Sparrow-hawk. 

You are all probably surprised to be reading this post, I know it has been a while since I have posted, becoming a student has changed my life style a little bit so birding and posting hasn't perhaps been happening as much lately. I do want to change this, birding has and always will be an important part of my life I am just trying to balance this with other things that I am being introduced to so bare with me this blog will always be active its in my opinion a life project that I will continue for as long as possible.

Thanks for reading and sticking around and good birding to all- WB

Catchup Post!

27/09/15-

Hi readers I'm back for another post, it has admirably been a while since I've posted I have been pretty busy with getting set up for uni but I will still try my best to keep posts coming up on the blog I haven't forgotten about the blog don't worry. This will be a shorter post there hasn't been to much time for twitching lately but a few visits to Sandwell Valley have been on the agenda over the past few weeks (sometimes I've been nursing a slight hangover). So last Sunday it was a pretty positive visit to Sandwell Valley with quite a few good birds seen throughout the visit. The best bird of the day went to a visiting Med Gull which turned up mid morning and then disappeared bellow you can see a record shot of the bird taken with my phone.

So as a whole that was the best bird seen. The two escapee Muscovy Ducks remain in the ramp still bringing in the odd question from visitors. A single Little Grebe remained around all morning showing pretty close to the hide. A good number of Cormorants were also around throughout the morning showing well. We had a passage of 10+ Swallows come through ,throughout the morning most likely birds flying off to Africa no doubt. A good passage of Jay also happened throughout the morning a fair few passed by. We also had a couple of flyby views of a Green Woodpecker also. In migrant news here are increasing numbers of Shoveler on the main lake as well as Teal and also three returning Wigeon were also on the main lake showing pretty well. 

That's your lot in terms of birds for Sunday. I did attempt to experiment with a couple of time lapses using my phone something I've been enjoying doing at university a little more if they have uploaded onto the post correctly they should be on the blog to watch through if you are interested. Hopefully if they turned out good enough I will keep putting them up on the blog as I find gem really interesting to watch for some reason. 

4/10/15-

Our Sunday began as usual at RSPB Sandwell Valley with a few little highlights the birding wasn't to bad especially seen as we were just sitting in the hide all morning. The first bird of the note was the eclipse or young male Pintail that was on the lake throughout the morning and into the early afternoon. The bird didn't show to well but stuck around and gave us something to keep an eye on. A few  Snipe were showing well on the right hand raft to the left of the hide also. A single  Great Spotted  Woodpecker flew by mid morning and calls from a Green Woodpecker were heard a few times through the morning. Shoveler were in good numbers throughout the morning and were spread out across the lake and near the island, there was however no sign of any wigeon. A single Kingfisher also showed on the number 7 post for a short while before making its way up the main lake. A single Cettis Warbler had been heard by many visitors throughout the morning although not by myself. The bird had been around for a few days and seems to have been favoring the bank opposite the hide. And as ever was pretty elusive but pretty loud at the same time apparently.

During the afternoon we paid a quick visit to a field near Bartley Reservoir where my Dad had seen a couple of Stonechat the day before. Naturally we decided to have a look again and loan behold the birds were around. A stunning looking Male and female Stonechat were showing very well on top of the fences along the field, we watched the birds catch flies and had great views of them. I suspect they will be off on migration at some point soon and are feeding up, it was great to see the birds so well especially the cracking looking male bird. It is likely a couple of terrible record shots are bellow just to show the birds.

 Stonechat

Stonechat

25/10/15-

Another Sunday dedicated to some birding as usual. We decided to mix things up a little this week by going up to the Malvern Hills to have a gander at what was around including a Snow Bunting which had been knocking around for a week or so now. So we arrived on location and began the very, very long walk across the hills. The Bunting was on the North Hill so we embarked on the walk to there. On the way there was big numbers of Meadow Pipits pretty much everywhere probably 50+ birds in total. On the walk Meadow Pipits were pretty much all we saw other than a few stunt planes along the way.

We arrived on the North Hill and I have to say it was one of the steepest hills Ive ever had to walk up, it was pretty much vertical. Two Raven were around throughout the walk up the hill and a single Kestrel was also showing well but its presence made us a little worried about seeing the buntings. We got to the top of the hill and noticed a couple of birders looking at something so obviously we were naturally interested. And loan behold there were two stunning looking Snow Buntings showing very well. We kept out distance but could have only been around 10ft away on the path. The birds flew and almost landed a foot away from me which game me a surprise. The birds showed well for about half an hour and then seemingly disappeared probably feeding deep in the grass somewhere but it was such a great bird to see I couldn't be happier to get one. On the walk back we managed to bag ourselves a Stonechat to add to the days tally. Bellow is the best record shot that I got of one of the buntings.

Record Shot of one of the two Snow Buntings

Raven Flying by. 

Thanks for reading and bearing with me in the long gaps between posts, I will try my best to keep the blog updated as much as I can so keep a check on here and on Twitter for when new posts come out.

Thanks for reading and good birding- WB 

Birding Recently.

Hi readers, here is a post over viewing  the last couple of weeks.....

9/08/15-  something pretty different turned up at Sandwell Valley on Sunday so I thought I would do a post on it. Yes we opened up the hide a little later than usual but were surprise when three waders were walking around with the Black headed Gulls in the form of three Ruff this was something a little different for the valley which I thought I would start the post on. The rest of the day was a little quiet as a whole although a single Common Sandpiper was around all morning a single Buzzard flew over and there were a few Pochard around. Bellow are a few pictures from two weeks before this date of a few attempts I made trying to photograph flying Hirundines.

Swallow in Flight.

House Martin in flight. 

23/08/15- So another Sunday spent in the Sandwell Valley hide was on the table and this week a few interesting birds were around. For starters the three Ruff were still around! Yes and apparently if they stayed around until the the following Tuesday they would be the longest staying Ruff the reserve has ever had. The Ruff were residing all around the reserve and interestingly enough were not really sticking together and actually were some ding most of their time speared from each other. I was told two of the birds were females and the other was a male due to its slightly darker colour. Another interesting bird that was also near to breaking a record was in the form of a Little Egret the Egret was showing very well and very near to the hide another bird that if it stays around until Tuesday will break a record for the longest staying bird apparently. In addition to the Egret the Kingfisher seemed to be showing very well and appeared very close to the left of the hide but just about not long enough to get a shot of it. And finally a single Common Sandpiper was also around all morning.

Wintering ducks were also increasing in numbers with three Shoveler feeding to the left of the hide and a single Teal on the main island. An increase in Starling numbers was also clear with a small flock of the birds beginning to form. The same goes for Black headed Gulłs as an increasing number of the birds were turning up on the reserve again presumably returning from breeding grounds at Middleton and various other places. A single Oystercatcher resided on one of the rafts and three Common Terns also remained with the young birds still taking food from the parents which is odd seen as they are as big as their parents and could feed themselves by now. 

Little Egret 

Little Egret

Little Egret

Little Egret

Little Egret 

Ruff

Thanks for reading and there should be another post up soon as usually I will tweet out when a new post is up so keep a check on my Twitter.

Thanks for reading and good birding- WB

A Week in Norfolk!

Hi readers, as we do most years I went on a family holiday to Norfolk and again as usual we stayed over at Caister Beach. I brought my scope, camera and bins with me and I any free time I had got some birding done. Norfolk is such a magical place when it comes to wildlife and I always love to soak it in whenever I can. Sea watching is so peaceful and I love doing it, on occasion it can be difficult with the distance of the birds but still very interesting and you never know what may turn up. So as I usually do I will go through each day individually to hopefully give you a good overview of the weeks birding, enjoy!

1/08/15- The first two days of the holiday were pretty short in birding terms there wasn't enough time in the day to go birding as much as I may have liked. However on the journey to Great Yarmouth I bagged myself a Red Kite over the motorway which got me geared up for the weeks birding. On arrival I kept my eyes on the gulls o the beaches and as usual there was a good number of Med Gulls scattered around the beach. So with the settling in done on day one we move through to day two.

2/08/15- Day two was pretty quiet as well I again had little time for birding so did a small stint on Caister beach late afternoon. However before that we needed to stop off at the local Tesco for supplies and while driving there I noticed a probable Spoonbill flying over the road! Now this was a lifer for me so I was taking it pretty seriously and was naturally very sceptical of what I had seen but noted it down anyway. Late afternoon I paid my first visit to Caister Beach and had a good look around, birding was pretty quiet however, I managed to get a few Common Terns flying by and a big group of 20+ Med Gulls that briefly sat out at sea before flying off again.

Rocks. :)

The view out at sea. 

3/08/15- Day three turned out to be a lot more productive than previous days. I decided to spend and hour or so on Caister Beach again to see if the birding picked up a little more when compared to the previous day and it actually did. 5+ Med Gulls flew by which I always like to see, often when I see them in the Mids you don't get to see them flying around so much they are usually packed into a group of Black Headed Gulls but at Caister you get to see them a lot better. distantly a single Common Scoter flew by which got the birding going a bit more. The usual few Common Terns flew by as well as a Ringed Plover. I decided to scan the more distant Terns to see if I picked anything up after a couple of minutes I caught something different going by that caught my eye it was quite distant but close enough for me to see what it was and that was in fact a Black Tern flying by near a group of Common Tern. I followed the bird for a good ten minutes watching it and it appeared to be an adult summer to winter bird which was interesting for me to see and it made the hour or so spent on the beach a lot more worth it.


4/08/15- By far day 4 was the best birding day of the entire week. I felt like spreading my wings a little more this year and decided to get dropped off at a local birding site which interested me and housed a few lifers for me and was actually quite close to where we were staying. This was of course Breydon Water. apparently one of the best places to see waders in the entire of Norfolk so it was worth it to me. On arrival it was clear why it was known as being so good for waders 100+ Avocet were feeding on the shallow water as well as 50-100+ Black Tailed Godwit that were hidden and bunkered down. 10+ Little Egret were also residing around the main wader area of the estuary. Things were already looking great! And then I looked out and spotted something a little different well in fact two somethings. A couple of Spoonbill were sitting on one of the islands offering great views which had already made the visit worth it. There were plenty of Curlew with 50+ birds, after a while a nice group of 20+ Golden Plover flew up and showed very well something I haven't seen for a few years so I was pretty chuffed to see them. Looking at the Golden Plover led me onto my next bird of the day in the form of a adult summer male Grey Plover the bird stood out like a sore thumb with the Golden Plover flock of which it was kicked out of. I observed to bird pretty well I watched it fly round with the plover flock for a good 20 minutes and it was great to see the bird so well. Eventually the bird just disappeared out of view and presumably flew off as the Golden Plover flock did soon after the bird disappeared. After seeing the Golden Plover I decided to look through the Redshank group to see if I could find another species I was looking for. And surprisingly enough I managed to find the bird pretty quickly as it was showing so well, of course this is in the form of a Spotted Redshank an adult non breeding bird there was at least one Spotshank but there was probably another I could see tucked up in the Redshank group as well.

My view of Breydon Water. 

More of my View of Breydon Water. 

I have to say Breydon was worth the visit and got me a good number of good waders that I've wanted to see for a while and there was no shortage of birds to look at throughout the visit.

5/08/15- Today was a quieter one I paid a quick hours visit to Caister Beach and managed to get a single Ringed Plover and a single Oystercatcher going by on the sea.

6/08/15- For the entire week I had noticed a lack of Sandwich Tern going by especially when compared to last year when I would get 20+ on some days going by and possibly more. For the entire week I hadn't seen one and speaking to a Norfolk birder at Breydon he had also noticed the lack of the species this year. However on the 6th this changed and finally a few Sandwich Tern flew by mostly young birds but the odd adult did go by as well. About 10+ birds went by throughout my stay on the beach so I was pretty happy to finally see the species for the year as I was worried they wouldn't turn up. 10+ Med Gulls flew by throughout my sit on the beach still something I couldn't help watching go by even though they actually seem common in Norfolk. A single Ringed Plover was also around on the beach. The usual abundance of Common Gull were also still flying by a single Cormorant flew by and also 20+ Common Tern. 

Common Tern Flying by. 

A couple of Common Gull on the beach. 

7/08/15- The 7th was a quieter day when compared to others a single Sandwich Tern flew by as well as a Cormorant, Common Tern. Three Med Gulls were on the beach for a short while and two Oystercatcher flew by. 

8/08/15- The final day always a sad one, by the end of the week I find myself struggling to leave the beach, before we leave I always get up early to ensure I can get a couple of hours of birding on the beach. And I have to say the beach is always a good relaxing place when there's nobody around and the only real sound is the sea hitting off the beach. I enjoyed a couple of hours birding and managed to get a few good birds onto the list of birds seen over the weeks birding. Firstly two Oystercatchers flew by which I hadn't seen as much as last year, and then distantly out at sea I managed to get something I had been keeping an eye out for all week of course I'm talking about Gannet at least 9 birds flew by and flew by throughout the two hours I was looking out at sea. I wasn't expecting to see any Gannet this year but luckily they turned up on the last morning of birding I got to do! A single Cormorant flew by and just before I was leaving I got a drake Common Scoter flying by quite close up compared to the first bird I had seen earlier on in the week, I got a brief but good view of it in my scope. Finally on the journey home I managed to see another Red Kite near the motorway to end the great weeks birding. 

I have to say Norfolk never disappoints from a birding point of view so many birds that I have wanted to see for a while were seen during the week one of these being Spoonbill, seeing these birds made the birding week well worth the years wait. I will advise a visit to Breydon Water, there was so much to see from just standing in one place. That's it for this post and I hope you have enjoyed reading it just as much as I enjoyed writing it and stay tuned for another post soon. 

Is it a bird? No of course not its a plane. 

Thanks for reading and good birding- WB

Waders, Falcons, and Redstarts!

Hi readers I return again with another post on my birding recently. This post covers last Sunday and also Monday as well. Now I've finished sixth form there's a lot more free time so there could be a lot more posts coming up if I get the chance to head off out anywhere. So I will begin the post with Sunday's birding and then I will move through to Monday.

19/07/15- Sunday began as a normal birding day as a whole. We began by visiting Sandwell Valley as usual to fill in my time as a hide guide for the morning. The new center I must say is looking great there's a new volunteers room with biscuits of course so I can't complain. It was very good to see the old center view restored that being the view of the marsh from the center it reminded me of the old center which had the same view and allowed me to look forward to the many years this center will hold the same view. After signing in it was down to the hide for the morning and already I was told up in the center of a couple of Black Tailed Godwits showing down on Forge Mill Lake so we headed straight down to have a look. The two birds were showing quite well and were in great plumage I must say. At one stage they landed right in front of the hide however quite a few people gave off some "oooooo's" and "ahhhhhh's" which sent them back into flight again before we could even look at them. They stuck around all morning though and mainly resided on the rocks to the left of the hide with the Lapwing. Quite recently the Lapwing have been staying on the marsh but have been scared off by a dragon, someone decided to place a wooden dragon sculpture on the marsh which has quite rightly scared everything off, I guess its something for the kids to look at but not so good for bringing birds into the often very quiet marsh. A single LRP was around all morning which looked like a younger bird which I think has been around all summer, a few Pochard were also still around and we also got a great flyby view of two Kingfishers early afternoon.

Other than that the morning was pretty quiet as a whole. So I signed out at the center and it was off to the afternoons birding. With a few good birds turning up here and there we decided to head over to Upton Warren for a few wading birds, most specifically we wanted to get the Whimberal in the bag. We arrived and there was no sign of it, however there was plenty of Green Sandpipers feeding around a single Ruff also in nice plumage and also a single Dunlin was showing well. And of course as usual there was a good number of Avocet all over the flashes, I think I must argue against the view that scare a lot of wading birds off it is common knowledge that they are hostile birds when it comes to looking after their young but to me there was a good number of different species on the flashes on Sunday so perhaps the birds are working to live together a little better. Plenty of Curlew were on the grass at the far side of the flashes but no sign of the Whimberal whether or not it was well hidden somewhere we shall never know.

So we decided to move onto the Moors pools for a quick look around. As we arrived at the hide a Peregrine flew through just as we were opening up the windows which was great to see. The odd Common Tern including a young bird were flying around as well as a single Oystercatcher as well. The Moors were pretty quiet otherwise and not much else showed, plenty of Mallard were spread throughout the lake and we managed to see a couple of Little Grebes on the main pool also. So that was our days birding done on Sunday quite a few waders seen and a couple of year ticks in there as well which was a positive.

20/07/15- Me and my friend James planned to go up to see the Red Footed Falcon up in Stoke on Monday in the hope that we would get the amazing views people had been getting throughout the couple of weeks the bird had been around. So we headed up there to see the bird, it would be the second Red Footed Falcon I have ever seen but the first in this plumage so I was still pretty excited to see the bird. We arrived after initially parking on the complete wrong side of the colliery at the right place and began to look at the bird actually pretty much instantly. Birders were already on it, initially it was showing pretty badly sitting up in an Ash Tree behind some leaves giving us just about good enough views. We waited around a little and had little luck in seeing he bird any better. We gained some info on the Black Redstarts location which was located in a car park just further up the road so we began the walk up to see if we could bag any good views of that bird while we waited for the Falcon to move around a little. And no luck again the Redstart wasn't actually there but a quick look down the road proved useful it appeared that the Falcon had moved up into the Horse Paddocks it was favoring most.

So we moved down to see what views the Falcon was giving, and quite frankly I was surprised at how close it was. The bird was sitting on some telephone wires giving us all a good look. So I was quite happily watching it sitting on the wires and taking a few pictures of it up there while I had the chance to. And then without me even realizing the Falcon landed just feet away in front of me. Initially I thought it had found something to eat down there which in actual fact it had but it was of course not from the field. Photographers wanting a picture actually brought Locusts with them to get the bird closer to them. Now come on as a photographer myself I at least have respect for the bird and know field craft when bird watching I much prefer to see the bird naturally because then there's a sense of achievement in seeing it. The way I see it the bird isn't a model that is there for a photographers use it is there to be seen and photographed in its natural form and not as if its at a falconry center. I even witnessed one man entering the field which got me a little mad no respect for field craft at all. Trouble was we were pretty outnumbered most people wanted to do it, I was taking pictures but I have my boundaries which I wouldn't cross to get a picture, like feeding it like a pet!

Anyway after the feeding stopped we managed to get quite good views of the bird on the wires for a very long time and I managed to get some shots and views of it that I was pretty happy with. I think the reason the Falcon is quite so friendly it because it it a younger bird so it has a lot of trust in us and has little experience to think otherwise. After a while the Falcon flew up to the Black Redstarts location so we moved up there and you'll never guess what turned up. Yes the Black Redstart was showing very well in the car park and was even view able on the same row of posts as a Red Footed Falcon was. The Black Redstart also showed very well and gave very close up views the best I have ever had of the species before. I have to say it was a very successful day to get such good views of two quite rare birds in the same area that isn't even a reserve, it just goes to show you never know what you might see in some places.

Red Footed Falcon

Red Footed Falcon

Red Footed Falcon 

Red Footed Falcon

Red Footed Falcon

Black Redstart

Anyway that's it for this post folks there should be another soon but I am not sure exactly how soon that will be I will notify on Twitter when a new post is up as usual.

Thanks for reading and good birding- WB

     

Melodious Warbler!

Hi readers, here we are on yet another post on my recent birding experiences, you may have noticed I have started to spread out the time between posts a little more, this is something I feel has made the blog perhaps more interesting if like previously I were to continue with weekly posts I would be writing shorter posts and I would have less to post about if I cover a couple of weeks at a time I've found the posts are becoming more interesting and I am enjoying writing them a little more so this is likely to be the same from now on. So without further or do lets get on with the show.

26/06/15-

So for weeks prior to this cloudy Friday a bird had been residing near Marsh Lane Nature Reserve along Dale Road and we felt it was to far for us to go and look for in one afternoon. The truth is it actually wasn't that far away at all we just saw Coventry on the map and made assumptions that it was a little further afield. So after seeing the bird pop up on Twitter continuously I did some more digging and we found it was worth the shot seen as it was a less common bird that doesn't turn up very often. So we embarked on our Friday drive down to see the bird. The driver decided however that the M6 was a bad option and decided to go down the M5 and then through the M42 on a longer journey which made the drive more difficult. However it was obviously worth it in the end if we were to see the bird.

We arrived at the location and began the walk up the path to see the bird, good information had been posted online of the exact areas the bird favor's which gave us a good idea where to look. However as usual with birds like this a few birders were already in the area watching it. We walked up to where the birders were to see if the bird was around. And it was apparent the bird was there it was calling none stop constantly and initially gave very brief and difficult views. However after half an hour or so the bird popped out and offered some stunning views. I had never seen one before but it was clear how it stood out from other warblers, the clear yellow color on the bird showed very well and to me it stood out from other warblers.

After seeing the Warbler there has been little birding highlights for me to share with you I few visits to here and there have provided little for me to post about. I have to say you may have noticed I've been forced to spell the word colour in the American way without the U I've no idea why but spell check comes up if I spell it the normal way and it annoys me every time it does so I have no choice, any of you out there that are obsessed with grammar please accept my apology. That's it for this shorter post there should be another post soon.

Record shot of the bird. 

Pale female Mallard at Sandwell Valley.

Thanks for reading and good birding- WB