Some Sandwell Pictures...

Last week I made a couple of trips to the Valley because I had an essay which needed completing and nothing says "Mike has an essay to complete" like me doing everything which isn't it. So having tidied the flat, made copious amounts of tea and spent an inordinate amount of time watching a peregrine sat on top of one of the large buildings (I think the old Natwest building) in the city centre, the only procrastination method left at my disposal was birding.

Peregrine Falcon (digi(phone)scoped) - Birmingham City Centre - Feb.2012 - Mike Ixer

So instead of a blow-by-blow account of each Sandwell trip, I feel a brief summary is in order for this entry. On Wednesday (15th) I spent the morning having a look around and was rewarded with views of some birds that don't visit the Valley very often. First (and most obvious) was the group of four greylag geese which were grazing around the marsh with a large number of Canada geese.

Greylag Goose (1 of 4) - RSPB Sandwell Valley - Feb. 2012 - Mike Ixer

I assume they found some good grazing here because it had just thawed and other areas were still fairly well frozen. Although the greylag is not an unusual species in 'urban' settings, it is no longer resident in the Valley - apparently they were "rubbish at breeding" - and now you only see them a couple of times a year. As you can see from the above photo, the Marsh is also now attracting other waterfowl and we all have our fingers crossed that after the improvement works at the end of last year, it will prove to be very productive this Spring.

The next bird of note was the redhead smew which was still present that day.

Smew - RSPB Sandwell Valley - Feb. 2012 - Mike Ixer

The bird unfortunately departed the next day (Thursday 16th) never to be seen again. However it was a really good record for the reserve and the Valley as a whole and since it was good enough to visit during half-term lots of people were able to see it. The final unusual (for the Valley) water bird to put on a show last Wednesday took the form of a very handsome drake pintail.

Pintail - RSPB Sandwell Valley - Feb. 2012 - Mike Ixer

Unlike the smew, this chap has been good enough to hang around for a little while and was still there on Sunday (19th) when I visited. Final thing of note was a large mixed flock of redwings and fieldfare feeding in the field at the north end of Forge Mill Farm.

Fieldfare - Sandwell Valley - Feb. 2012 - Mike Ixer

So my next visit was a couple of days later, on Friday (17th) as a way of celebrating having handed in the aforementioned essay. It was an overcast day and having walked down to the hide, I was in two minds whether there was any worth in going any further. Having consumed two whole packs of chocolate digestives while finishing the essay, I decided that even if the birding turned out to be rubbish, I was still in dyer need of some sort of exercise - so I set off to do the 'big' circuit. This involved walking around Forge Mill Lake to the farm, down to Swan Pool, around the west shore of Swan Pool, over the bridge at Salters Lane, through Sandwell Park Farm, back across the M5 and into Priory Woods, around the Paddocks, back around the east shore of Swan Pool, back up to Forge Mill Farm, around the lake and finally back to the temporary RSPB centre - a walk which totals over 5 miles.

Photos are a little few and far between because the very overcast conditions led to the sort of terrible light which my camera struggles to cope with. First acceptable photo is of the boom on Swan Pool (the one which I've previously mentioned as being good for gulls).

Gulls - Sandwell Valley - Feb. 2012 - Mike Ixer

As I have also previously mentioned, my gull ID is not particularly good, especially when you get into the realms of juveniles. The juvenile in this photo struck me as being very light compared to what I am used to seeing around the Valley. I've got it down as a juvenile herring gull, but any further input from any of you would be welcome. Just near this boom a pair of great crested grebes were nest building and started shaping up nicely for a 'weed dancing' display - unfortunately just as they swam apart to get the weed a dog charged into the water and they quickly aborted the attempt.

Great Crested Grebes - Sandwell Valley - Feb. 2012 - Mike Ixer

The final photo of the day was of this immature male goldeneye who was quite close to the banks of Swan Pool until I decided to raise my camera for a photo, at which point he dived three times in quick succession and finished much further away.

Goldeneye - Sandwell Valley - Feb. 2012 - Mike Ixer

So you might assume from the lack of photos that my initial fears about there being a lack of birds showing themselves turned out to be true. Quite the opposite was actually the case, the walk produced a staggering 63 different species of birds. Virtually everything you could hope to see around the Valley at this time of year decided to put in an appearance. The only absentees were buzzard (which is amazing in itself), collared dove, kingfisher, water rail and little owl. This was my most productive Valley session ever and I think it will be a long time until I top it.

A final trip on Sunday to build a nest box didn't provide any amazing sightings. However this chap was causing a bit of chaos amongst the geese between the marsh and the lake.

Fox - RSPB Sandwell Valley - Feb. 2012 - Mike Ixer

And here is one final picture to remind everyone that despite the recent dips in temperature, Spring is still definitely in the air.

Feral Pigeons - Sandwell Valley - Feb. 2012 - Mike Ixer