The Last Two Weeks Birding

Hi readers, its been a while on my standards, exams got me away from posting last week so I'm doing a bigger post on the last two weeks birding all together, I will go through last week first and then today. There will be a good amount of photos again this week.

Sunday 18/05/14- Last week we decided to pay another visit to Middleton Lakes and this time it turned out to be quite frustrating especially a few hours after we left. Overall the day was a good one, a couple of wader yearticks for me in the form of Dunlin and Ringed Plover. On arrival to the pits we heard a nice and as usual very loud Cettis Warbler but as usual the bird did not show its self when we were around. Little Ringed Plovers were plentiful and the same goes for Common Tern. There was good numbers of Greylag throughout the visit something I haven't really seen to much of this year surprisingly, a nice Redshank gave good views early on in our visit which is something else I have only seen at Middleton this year. Shellduck were also plentiful with a few pairs view able from the hide a single Whitethroat was seen and multiple Sedge Warblers were on show throughout the visit.

We had great (ish) views of my first Dunlin of the year from the hide a stunning summer plumage bird with that noticeable black belly. During our hour or two in the hide we were speaking to a birder about the apparent Ruffs that were reported, he mentioned that he felt one of the birds was a little different in the plumage it had and expressed that he believed the bird could possibly have been a Pectoral Sandpiper. So we kept our eyes peeled for this rare Wader to no success, we left the hide presuming if it was a Pec Sand it had gone. Well a few hours later I tuned into Twitter and loan behold a Pectoral Sandpiper turned up at Middleton so it is clear the bird was probably there all day just out of view from birders.

Stunning Sedge Warbler, Middleton Lakes last week.

Flyby Common Tern, Middleton Lakes last week.

So not a bad day overall a shame to miss the Pectoral Sand would have been a surprise tick for me but you can't control what the birds do and where they go, they could either turn up for you or they could choose to hide away like this bird decided to do at least while we were around. 

Today-

Onto today now, it feels normal to be on present day on this blog again. In terms of visits we stuck to our relatively normal haunts with exception of a new area I have never been to before. Firstly as I'm sure you will have guessed already we decided to get over to Sandwell Valley and spent the morning in the hide with a good amount of success today. On arrival I heard shouts of Dunlin it turned out a nice looking summer bird had turned up apparently only the second record for the valley this year so something we haven't been getting much of this year. A mass of Grey herons turned up throughout the morning with a total of 7 birds on the island and flying around at one time. Before getting to the hide we had good but short views of two Ring necked Parakeets near the old center something we don't see everyday.

We got nice views of two Stock Doves from the hide as well as two Oystercatcher's who's chicks should be appearing any time soon. We had two Great crested grebes today, and a nice view of our Great Crested Grebe chick that is swimming out on the water now so progress with that bird. At most there was 3 Common Terns on the island again they surely should be having chicks at some point soon. There was a mass of LRP's  with at least 6 all together, two stunning looking Litle Grebes were showing well on Forge Mill Lake and we have had great numbers of Lapwing Chicks with four all together showing well from the hide. What is interesting is there was still two female Goosander on the lake, these birds should have left by now as I'm sure you are aware its nice to see a couple feeling reluctant to leave. 

Record shot of today's Dunlin, RSPB Sandwell Valley

Bit of black and white experimentation. 

Grey heron, RSPB Sandwell.

Grey Heron RSPB Sandwell.

Grey Heron RSPB Sandwell.

Little Ringed Plover, RSPB Sandwell Valley.

Coming into the afternoon we ended up in Halesowen on Illey Lane, Dad advised me that it was a good little area to look around so we went for a quick walk along one of the fields just off this lane. We began walking along the field and got nice flyby views of a stunning Yellowhammer that continued to call throughout our quick look around, there was a mass of Skylarks around at least 5 all together and the same goes for Swallow. We also stumbled across a real stunner, a bright yellow Yellow Wagtail sitting on top of a foot path post showing very well, so for a quick walk we saw quite a few little gems. We did visit Bartley res but only a few Swifts to note.

Not a bad day overall, a few good birds seen presumably brought down by the bad weather we have had recently. There should be a post next week so back to the usual routine it appears. 

Thanks for reading and enjoy the bank holiday all, happy birding- WMBB