Friday 5/09/14- When Friday began I wasn't planning on doing any real birding, just to check through a bit of coursework and sit around for the day (I know exciting). But early afternoon I got a call from my Dad, he had been out to see Whinchats down Lutley with success, so he suggested we had a look over the area he had seen them in this case The Lutley area. The area in which he had seen them was along Foxcote Lane, a place we had looked over in the past with little success overall. We had a good walk along the fields and saw as usual lately plenty of Goldfinch which seemed to be all we saw, not one Whinchat in sight. We walked along the majority of the field with no success with the chats although two hovering Raven did make an appearance which was something I hadn't seen in a little while.
With no success on Foxcote Lane I suggested we have a look down Wassel Grove Road where they had been reported just three days ago so it was worth a shot. We first looked into a Horse paddock field opposite some sort of business center, again we had little success, just a tone of Swallow and a couple of very hungry and pushy horses in front of our faces. We spent at least half an hour or so looking into that field with no luck. So still motivated to see a Whinchat we continued down the road and noticed another horse paddock field, this time I was more drawn to it because the field was split up by white tape fencing which is something that was shown in one of the images of Whinchat down Lutley so it seemed promising that this was the exact field Whinchat had been seen in.
So we moved up the footpath into a seemingly calm field noticing at least 20+ Starling on power lines. Still at first things didn't look good. But then I looked up the fence further into the field and caught something in my eye, so straight away my Bins were on it and what do you know it was a Whinchat showing very well on the fencing and we kept it in our bins for a while until it was spooked by a dog walker. I did get a picture if it that you can see bellow but let's be honest it is a terrible picture but a good enough record shot for me.
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| In that picture, there is a Whinchat! |
So overall a good afternoon out we got the bird and it was off home and time for me to get ready for a bird race the next day which I shall move to now.
Saturday 6/09/14- It was half past eight and time for me to get a move on an hour and a half bus journey was something I faced so I needed to be up and off. Saturday was the day of the bird race something a few of the local reserves take part in twice or so a year, although we were up against the heavy's of the local birding locations again Sandwell valley was giving it a go. And I have to say the area got a lot of good coverage throughout the day which maximized out chances and meant that as a whole we did pretty well. The two birds that made it for me were the two stunning Pintail that were around all day and showing very well. What's more another view of the Med Gull that has been around somewhat lately was another bonus. Personally I got 44 birds and stuck with Forge Mill Lake only so I missed out on a lot of stuff overall, I know the total for the valley for the day was 76 birds which I think is a very good number, showing the valley has still got it! Bellow is my personal list that I recorded for the day listing the birds I saw,
1. Magpie
2. Wood Pigeon
3. Great Spotted Woodpecker
4. Jay
5. Crow
6. Robin
7. Black headed Gull
8. Teal
9. Moorhen
10. Grey Heron
11. Mallard
12. Chaffinch
13. Blackcap
14. Lesser black backed Gull
15. Blue Tit
16. Cormorant
17. Canada Goose
18. Great crested Grebe
19. Tufted Duck
20. Pintail
21. Mute Swan
22. Kingfisher
23. Lapwing
24. Coot
25. Gadwall
26. Starling
27. Buzzard
28. Shoveler
29. Little Grebe
30. Herring Gull
31. Bullfinch
32. Goldfinch
33. Long tailed Tit
34. Chiffchaff
35. Jackdaw
36. Pochard
37. Snipe
38. Green Woodpecker
39. Blackbird
40. Goldcrest
41. Great Tit
42. Greenfinch
43. Dunnock
44. Med Gull
That's my list, it's not to bad I don't think considering I stuck to one area for the day that being Forge Mill Lake, and the full total for the day from everyone I think is awesome, a lot of good birds seen and a good day had from my point of view.
Sunday 7/09/14- And here we are on Sunday, after a great two days if birding previously I fancied a quieter day this Sunday so we stuck to our usual haunts, meaning another visit to Sandwell Valley sticking to the hide only it was a nice quiet birding day but there was a lot of visitors to the hide so the place was buzzing which is always good to see. Things were actually quite good on the birding front, I noticed a considerable rise in Shovler numbers when compared to Saturday at least 10 plus birds were around. A couple of Little Grebe were also around which was something nice to see. On arrival Tha Pintail were absent and we could find them at all, but at 12:30 (ish) the two Pintail returned to view and were showing very well stunning birds whatever plumage. For the majority of the morning I was staring at the gulls, I had a strong feeling the Med Gull had roasted on the island out of views from the hide, like it was on Saturday late afternoon. So I was prepared to wait and aided by a Grey heron the gulls were spooked up and the majority landed in the water and pretty quickly I was onto the Med Gull the bird had to of roosted on the island, after viewing it for a while it began to sleep on the right hand raft.
We also had brief views of Grey Wagtail and Kingfisher as well as plenty of Teal all around. What's more a single Snipe was on the island briefly, it must be the first to return as one was around on Saturday also. A single Sparrowhawk also flew over the hide early afternoon. So overall Sandwell Valley has been a good place to be this weekend a lot of good birds seen and I enjoyed the two days there a lot, it's a reserve I think I will always love going to, it's indented into my birding mind now!
We paid a visit to Bartley Reservoir in the afternoon which proved to be pretty quiet overall, plenty of Mallard were around which was to be expected, three Great crested Grebe showed as well as a single Cormorant that flew over. Also since our last visit there has a been a clear rise in Turfted Duck numbers which was good to see. We had all of the common Gulls such as Lesser Black Backed, Herring, and Black headed Gull other than that our brief visit was pretty quiet as a whole.
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| Our view of Bartley Reservoir on Sunday. |
Thanks for reading and have a good week all- WMBB
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