Alldayer & Sunday bonus birds

 Common Whitethroat

 Greenshank

 Skylark

 Young buck

 Pits never looked better

Distant Cuckoo

Chasing the lifers this spring just hasn’t really motivated me, Savi’s Warbler & Citrine Warbler, both reported last weekend didn’t tempt me as I preferred to watch the lads play in their respective West Midlands Semi Finals (both winning) & I could combine this with a few patch visits. The weekend certainly had some promise as the Squire had found a Black-tailed Godwit & a Greenshank on Friday afternoon then a Bar Owl & Little Egret in evening.

Saturday was the West Midland All Day event, I’m not a great fan of all day birding in one location but the Squire and I thought we would support the event as best as possible but the site would be unmanned for the duration of the afternoon until I returned in the evening. I did the early morning shift and managed to get a few difficult (for us) species out of the way including Red Kite, Grey Wagtail, Green Woody, House Sparrow, All the warblers, Mistle Thrush and our last remaining Teal on the board. Then teaming up with the Squire we added two drake Mandarins that flew past us. As I headed off to Birmingham for Basketball the Squire then added Great Crested Grebe & Bullfinch at Abbots Salford & then greenshank & Common Sandpiper on the main pit. I did do an evening visit but only one addition taking us to a very respectable 73. Middleton Lakes past the 100 mark whilst Upton Warren also recorded a record high.

As per is typical on the Sunday after the all dayer I recorded a Common Redstart on the main pit hedgerow (seen twice) and a Cuckoo both first the site this year. The Cuckoo showed really well but I struggled to take any decent shots without my tripod. Four different Greenshanks were recorded on the main pit, with the shorelines & islands getting bigger lets hope it continues to attract a few more waders.