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

My first visit to Rutland Water, my first White-Rumped Sandpiper and my first blog

Tuesday evening I was faced with a dilemma. Do I visit North Norfolk for a day's birding on Wednesday, or do I head back to Birmingham? On the face of it a very simple decision for any birdwatcher to make, so I probably should give some context to the problem. I had spent a few days at the parents house in Suffolk (near Woodbridge), but had an essay which needed completing and handing in on Friday which could only be finished in the Uni library in Birmingham. So to spare you the pains of my indecision, I decided I had to come back to Birmingham - but with a twist. I would visit Rutland Water in the vein hope of catching up with both the White-Rumped Sandpiper and American Wigeon which had been hanging around.

The journey there was lovely, clear traffic, clear skies and a beautiful Red Kite low over the A1. I arrived at the Birdwatching Centre and was very thankful of the small car - tight car park! But what great facilities they have there! So many hides and a fantastic shop, visitor and education centre.

Anyway, birds! So I found out that the White-Rumped Sandpiper was usually around Lapwing hide - why do these birds always insist on residing as far away from the visitors centre as they can? I set off in a determined manor thinking I will see this bird and then enjoy a leisurely explore, as I have heard it put "Now that's the twitching done, lets do some birdwatching!". When I walked into Lapwing Hide I was greeted by an array of telescopes, thousands of waterfowl and a very bright sun making silhouettes of everything. After a little while listening to people who knew much more than me identifying dark shapes the hide began to empty as the general consensus spread that it wasn't there. All of a sudden, just as I was packing up, a man arrived and announced that it was right in front of Dunlin Hide.

Of I walked again at a determined pace, perhaps this time a more determined pace, again saying to myself "I will visit all these other hides when I've caught up with this irritating little bugger". I walked into Dunlin Hide and scanned around without any luck and after enquiring established that just before I arrived it had been flushed by a Sparrowhawk and nobody knew where it went.

"Ok, this isn't meant to be" was my decision at this point. I stayed and watched a great show from a few hundred Golden Plover, who were very nervous - presumably after the aforementioned Sparrowhawk - wheeling around in the sky before eventually actually departing presumably to either rest or eat somewhere else.

After watching this unfold I felt a new enthusiasm and decided to take another walk to Lapwing Hide to see if the lighting had improved. To my delight it had indeed improved and after a few negative scans through a couple of flocks of Dunlin by the resident birders the call went out that the Sandpiper was in a flock of about a dozen Dunlin in front of the hide. I had a good scan and managed to identify a bird which was slightly smaller and had a generally longer body shape than the accompanying Dunlin. It turned and was briefly lit perfectly showing both the white eye-stripe and slightly streaked flanks.

This rather appalling photo is the best I could get. It is the bird on the left but the photo has been so heavily cropped that most of it's details are lost. All it's really good for is a size comparison between the Sandpiper, the Ringed Plover and the Dunlin.

Left to Right: White-Rumped Sandpiper, Ringed Plover, Dunlin

Brilliant! Though I still wouldn't fancy identifying one without already knowing it was there.

So the day reverted to the original plan of just having a relaxed stroll around the rest of the hides (at least the hides to the north of the visitor centre). It is a really great reserve with so much to see! The final hide I visited, which name escapes me, brought my other highlight of the day - a Kingfisher. It wasn't a close view, but I always love seeing those little flashes of Blue darting around and if they perch it is a bonus.

All-in-all I had a great visit and saw 57 species despite not seeing some common place species which I'm sure I could have found without too much effort. I will definitely be going back for another visit, may be for the Ospreys next Spring if not before.

A slight dampener was the remaining journey back to Birmingham which was a constant stream of irritating traffic and took much longer than it should have. Can't win them all!

Oh, and the American Wigeon was nowhere to be found. Oh well, don't want to see everything too soon, wont be anything left to see...