And it begins!

Hi readers, time for another post from this crazy young birder from the midlands. I return to the blog after and still having a tone of coursework to do, I have to say there's a lot to do but I know its all worth it so for me putting the work in is not an issue. Never the less the blogging must continue I see it as a break from my coursework because it gives me a chance to right up the fun I have had birding this weekend. So here we go, Sunday was the day for birding as it usually is and Sandwell Valley was the place to be this weekend. After the Phalarope a couple of weeks ago we have been going to a regular haunts over the past couple of weeks and this week was the same. This post covers last Sunday (27/10/14).

So we arrived to Sandwell Valley I signed in and we went down to open up the hide. Before we got there however we were shocked, well I say shocked I already new about it but you know it was shocking to finally see it. The old burn't down center is no more my readers, the building process has begun and the new center is now in progress, its been about 3 and a half years now so its great that its finally started. At the moment its a pile of rubble on the floor with a couple of diggers surrounding it but don't worry at some point it will become a building of some sort in the future, in fact I have a picture of the plans that are posted up on the site you can look at bellow.

Plan on building site fence. 

Anyway on to the bird news now and in all fairness it was a decent morning spent in the hide, only one of the Pintails was view-able but it was the male and I'm sure you will all agree that they are a stunning bird in fact I am going to come out and say it now the male Pintail is at this point in my birding life my favorite duck, there you go I said it. I know for a fact Water Rails are around to, we heard one at least twice throughout the morning in the hide but after hearing it the next step is seeing it and that didn't happen, in the past it has taken me a while to see them at the Valley but eventually I do, next time we go there the reeds will be my priority. Two Grey Wagtails were flying around all morning, offering good views quite near to the hide. Snipe were around in good numbers but most were on the back of the island not view-able to use although hide visitors told us there was a good amount of the birds on the back of the island.

One Kingfisher flew by as usual however it was gone with a flash of blue and didn't stay around for long. Winter ducks were in good numbers a good few Goosander were on the main lake and interestingly two males have turned up one flying off early on in the visit, usually we have at least two males so its good to see them around. Up to 4 Buzzards were around throughout the morning and a single Sparrowhawk flew through a couple of times showing quite well. Back onto Wildfowl again plenty of lovely looking Wigeon were out on the main lake and a good number of Teal were also around and as usual plenty of the commoner ducks such as the Tufted Ducks. Three Little Grebes also resided on Forge Mill Lake throughout the morning as well as two Great crested grebes. 

It was also nice to see plenty of Redwing flying around throughout the morning, they were literally all over the place, but not that I'm complaining they are great birds, its my challenge to get a picture of them during this Autumn/Winter. No sign of any Fieldfare as of yet but they should turn up at some point soon I hope. Overall not a bad morning spent at Sandwell Valley plenty seen and we enjoyed the morning as a whole.

During the afternoon we had two quick visits to Bartley Reservoir with not much luck, the Gulls were turning up earlier because of the clocks being changed so we had a lot more to look at, our first visit lasted about ten minutes we had to get moving somewhere else, plenty of Gulls there though so we were ready for later on. We arrived a couple of hours later for another quick look, if I'm honest I was concentrating as much as I would like to, we were in a rush so I was rushing through the gulls hoping to catch something in my eye, which didn't happen, but the roost size has increased, there was more than likely something exciting out there we just didn't see it.

A good day overall, a nice morning spent at Sandwell Valley in the hide, we are hoping to have a more detailed look at the Chasewater Gull Roost next week or we will end up looking at something else that has turned up, never the less there will most likely be a post at some point next week, I'm sure you have noticed that the posts have been in the week more than on Sunday nights now, that's how its going to be for now on, I don't get chance to get it all done on a Sunday night anymore but I get it done over a couple of days and then put it up, I will keep posting regularly as usual every one to two weeks is the limit.

Thanks for reading and have a good week all- WMBB