The new week brought a different start that came by the way of a first winter Little Gull. The bird was reported the previous day at Dartmouth Park close to West Bromwich. The benefit for me was this park is just four miles from work so the perfect excuse to leave the desk for a rare lunch break.
Parking by the high ropes course at Sandwell Valley, it was just a case of heading up the steps to the boating lake where the bird showed extremely well. The bird was as close as six feet at times enabling me to get some great footage before returning to work.
Determined not to sit at my desk and waste every lunch time this year by just carrying on with daily duties I headed out on Tuesday the short drive to the back end of RSPB Sandwell Valley. Parking at Forge Mill farm I was pleased to find the reported flock of 32 White-fronted Geese eating well to the north of the farm. I had to be happy to scope the birds from the roadside as the path at the back of the farm was closed due to bad weather.
Pleased with seeing the geese I walked over to the main lake to have a scan in the remaining time of my lunch break. First bird to catch my eye was an Oystercatcher that flew past me. A single Wigeon was feeding under the willows whilst a female Goldeneye was at the west side. Sandwell Valley regulary gets excellent Goosander roosts and I managed to record 30 birds of mixed sexes. The only other species of note were 12 Pochard.
Not a bad lunch break………..
Common Scoter
Ring Ouzel
Wheatear
A quick check on the RBA App paid dividends as I left work as a Common Scoter had been reported at RSPB Sandwell Valley. Despite it being rush hour I flew down to junction 1 in 10 minutes.
Parking by the farm, I only had to walk through to the slope where the locals feed the ducks to see the Scoter 150 metres in front of me. Just as I was trying to get a record shot the wind picked up and delivered a freezing hail storm. After a quick chat with local legend Hughie King I headed over to the other side of the road to the horse paddocks to see my first Ring Ouzel and Wheatear of the year.
I needed to drive over to West Bromwich on Wednesday afternoon so I took advantage to call in to RSPB Sandwell Valley for a bonus session of birding.
First to catch my eye were eight Goosanders, there doesn't seem quite so many around this winter to date and there haven't been any at all at Arrow Valley. These "saw billed" ducks seem to glide around effortlessly making everything else move out of their way. I like their style.
There was a nice selection of water fowl to see including Wigeon, Pochard, Mallard and Teal topped nicely with a flock of 50+ Canada Geese and a couple of Mute Swans. There was a large and noisy flock of Long Tailed Tits at the bottom of Swan Pool which appeared to follow me back to the car.
It was the dreaded return to work and gym on the 2nd January of which both were equally painful. However I did manage the short drive from work to Swan Pool within Sandwell to watch a juvenile Great Northern Diver. There is a great numbers of divers around the coasts and inland at the moment. The sun restricted viewing and the time he was diving seemed very remarkable.
I dropped in at RSPB Sandwell however a blowing cold wind restricted my interest as well as the local dog walkers letting their lovely animals snarl and grunt at me as I passed them. Sightings included 10 Goosander, Tufted Duck, Snipe, Grey Heron, Pochard among others. Certainly not my favourite place to go birding however they do seem to have tried to make improvements to the islands. The year list moved on to 47, hoping for a decent weather day on Saturday !
