Quick bit of Sandwell...

Quick trip down to the Valley today resulted in me getting hailed on but also picking up a half decent photo!

I walked up to the old visitors centre from the temporary centre and spent some time watching the table feeder, then sheltering from the hail and then watching the table again. The birdlife consisted of mainly great tits - so many great tits - with the odd blue tit and chaffinch thrown in for good measure. There were however lots of bullfinches in the area and I'm coming to the conclusion that they must have had a very good breeding season whilst also be benefiting from what has still been a fairly mild winter. I must have seen about a dozen in my limited travels today whilst another volunteer counted 14 around the table the other day. A marsh tit also put in an appearance for one intrepid birder who decided to watch the table with scant regard for the hail.

I then headed towards the South Bank and had one of those "I'm so glad I had my camera on my shoulder and ready to shoot" moments as a heron flew over the trees and headed straight for me only to veer away and follow the course of the river just next to me.

Grey Heron - RSPB Sandwell Valley - Jan. 2012 - Mike Ixer

After the hail and rain I had high hopes that the snipe would be quite active and I wasn't disappointed. Looking back over the Island I kept counting more and more with each count as my eyes started to get in to snipe-spotting mode. I finished with a definite count of at least 22 but if they had been disturbed I wouldn't have been surprised to have seen at least double that fly out! They were running between clumps of undergrowth and chasing each other which made them almost impossible to keep track of.

Other birds making themselves obvious included gadwall, mallard, goosander, coot, moorhen, 24+ goldfinch, starling, 65 lapwing, black-headed gull, lesser black-backed gull and 23 wigeon.

Wigeon - RSPB Sandwell Valley - Jan. 2012 - Mike Ixer

That was about all to report from this brief visit other than a jay getting annoyed with me on the way back and a mega tame robin which pretty much landed on my foot when I stood still. Oh, and lets not forget about the idiot who's dog decided to go for a run from the old centre down the hill and into the marsh causing everything to scatter. Moron!