Sandwell Valley (3 Viewers)

hughie king said:

Surprised you left out Salters lane area for its now defunct flocks of Yellowhammers & Golden Plovers along with Brambling in some winters.
Adding to the scarce birds Velvet Scoters, Pec Sand, L T Duck. Temminck's Stint & Spotted Crake amongst others. All on Forge Mill lake.

Cheers Hughie.

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Yeah, the first Spotted Crake I saw was in the marsh, at the time Andy Warren was the warden. Also saw the Velvet Scoters on Swan pool. My own SV list stands at 126, most of which I ticked between 1986 and 2001.

Just for those who are interested list of bird species seen around Sandwell Valley (taken from the book – Birds of Sandwell Valley.

List from book -


1/ Little grebe 2/ Great crested grebe 3/ Red necked grebe 4/ Slavonian grebe 5/ Black necked grebe 6/ Fulmar 7/ Leache’s storm petrel 8/ Gannet 9/ Cormorant 10/ Shag 11/ Bittern 12/ Grey heron 13/ Eurasian spoonbill 14/ Mute swan 15/ Tundra (bewick) swan 16/ Whooper swan 17/Pink footed goose 18/ Great white fronted goose 19/ Greylag goose 20/ Snow goose 21/ Canada goose 22/ Barnacle goose 23/ Brent goose 24/ Egyptian goose 25/ Ruddy shelduck 26/ Shelduck 27/ Mandarin duck 28/ Wigeon 29/ Gadwall 30/ Teal 31/ Mallard 32/ Pintail 33/ Garganey 34/ Shoveler 35/ Red crested pochard 36/ Pochard 37/Tufted duck 38/ Great scaup 39/ Eider duck 40/ Long tailed duck 41/Common scoter 42/ Velvet scoter 43/ Goldeneye 44/ Smew 45/ Red breasted merganser 46/ Goosander 47/ Ruddy duck 48/ Marsh harrier 49/ Hen harrier 50/ Goshawk 51/ Sparrowhawk 52/ Buzzard 53/ Osprey 54/ Kestrel 55/ Merlin 56/ Hobby 57/ Peregrine falcon 58/ Red legged partridge 59/Grey partridge 60/ Quail 61/ Pheasant 62/ Water rail 63/ Spotted crake 64/ Corn crake 65/ Moorhen 66/ Coot 67/ Oystercatcher 68/ Stone curlew 69/ Little ringed plover 70/ Great ringed plover 71/ Dotterel 72/ Golden plover 73/ Grey plover 74/ Lapwing 75/ Red knot 76/ Sanderling 77/ Little stint 78/ Temminck’s stint 79/ Pectoral sandpiper 80/ Curlew sandpiper 81/ Purple sandpiper 82/ Dunlin 83/ Ruff 84/ Jack snipe 85/ Common snipe 86/ Great snipe 87/ Woodcock 88/ Black tailed godwit 89/ Bar tailed godwit 90/ Whimbrel 91/ Curlew 92/ Spotted redshank 93/ Redshank 94/ Greenshank 9/ Green sandpiper 96/ Wood sandpiper 97/ Common sandpiper 98/ Ruddy turnstone 99/ Red necked phalarope 100/ Grey phalarope 101/ Artic skua 102/ Mediterranean gull 103/ Little gull 104/ Black headed gull 105/ Common gull 106/ Lesser black backed gull 107/ Herring gull 108/ Yellow legged gull 109/ Iceland gull 110/ Greater black backed gull 111/ Black legged kittiwake 112/ Caspian tern 113/ Sandwich tern 114/ Common tern 115/ Artic tern 116/ Little tern 118/ Razorbill 119/ Little auk 120/ Puffin 121/ Stock dove 122/ Woodpigeon 123/ Collared dove 124/ Turtle dove 125/ Rose ringed parakeet 126/ Cuckoo 127/ Barn owl 128/ Little owl 129/ Tawny owl 130/ Long eared owl 131/ Short eared owl 132/ Swift 133/ Kingfisher 134/ Hoopoe 135/ Wryneck 136/ Green woodpecker 137/ Great spotted woodpecker 138/ Lesser spotted woodpecker 139/ Skylark 140/ Sand martin 141/ Barn swallow 142/ House martin 143/ Tree pipit 144/ Meadow pipit 145/ Rock pipit 146/ Water pipit 147/ Yellow wagtail 148/ Blue headed wagtail 149/ Grey headed wagtail 150/ Grey wagtail 151/ White wagtail 152/ Pied wagtail 153/ Bohemian waxwing 154/ Dipper 155/ Wren (winter wren) 156/ Dunnock (hedge accentor) 157/ European robin 158/ Black redstart 159/ Redstart 160/ Whinchat 161/ Stonechat 162/ Northern wheatear 163/ Ring ouzel 164/ Blackbird 165/ Fieldfare 166/ Song thrush 167/ Redwing 168/ Mistle thrush 169/ Sedge warbler 170/ Grasshopper warbler 171/ Marsh warbler 172/ Reed warbler 173/ Lesser whitethroat 174/ Whitethroat 175/ Garden warbler 176/ Blackcap 177/ Wood warbler 178/ Chiffchaff 179/ Siberian chiffchaff 180/ Willow warbler 181/ Goldcrest 182/ Firecrest 183/ Spotted flycatcher 184/ Pied flycatcher 185/ Long tailed tit 186/ Marsh tit 187/ Willow tit 188/ Coal tit 189/ Blue tit 190/ Great tit 191/ Nuthatch 192/ Treecreeper 193/ Red backed shrike 194/ Great grey shrike 195/ Jay 196/ Black billed magpie 197/ Jackdaw 198/ Rook 199/ Carrion crow 200/ Hooded crow 201/ Starling 202/ House sparrow 203/ Tree sparrow 204/ Chaffinch 205/ Brambling 206/ Greenfinch 207/ Goldfinch 208/ Siskin 209/ Linnet 210/ Twite 211/ Common redpoll 212/ Mealy redpoll 213/ Crossbill 214/ Bullfinch 215/ Hawfinch 216/ Lapland longspur 217/ Snow bunting 218/ Yellowhammer 219/ Reed bunting 220/ Corn bunting

The above list was taken from the Birds of Sandwell Valley book I cannot confirm all the species in the list are all correct as I wasn’t there or have any personnel input into the list.

If anyone can update with the 7 maybe 8 that are missing it would be great for everyone who is interested.

The area the list was taken from includes the following –


Ray hall sewage works / Redhouse park / Newton meadows / Crematorium / Dartmouth golf course / Forge mill farm / Arthur’s field / RSPB Sandwell valley pool / Brown’s field / Forge mill lake / Rspb Marsh / Rspb island / Sot’s hole / Owl field / Jubilee mound / Grebe pool / Handsworth golf course / Swan pool / Hill top golf course / Handsworth golf course pool / The paddocks / Hill top / Park farm wood / Ice house wood / Ice house lake / Cascade & cypress pools / Allotment wood / Gun emplacements / The orchard / Dartmouth park / Sandwell park golf course / Golf course wood & finally Handsworth cemetery

These are the names of the areas on the map from an earlier thread 161

Hope this helps everyone and maybe help with the next all dayer

Thanks Ade - what was the year of publication?

Immediate comments as follows:

- I doubt there was an accepted wild Snow Goose at SV (or anywhere in the West Mids)
- Ruddy Shelduck is no longer deemed countable
- Yellow, Grey-headed and Blue-headed Wag are all the same species
- Pied and White Wagtail are the same species
- Siberian and Common Chiffchaff are the same species

However there is some obvious missing stuff like Raven?

Hi Phil

The year of publication was 2000 many thanks for the info but as I did say it was taken directly from the books list

I did notice also some of the old names just wondering is a Black billed magpie really just a common magpie or am I really thick. lol

Thursday Birder said:

Hi Phil

The year of publication was 2000 many thanks for the info but as I did say it was taken directly from the books list

I did notice also some of the old names just wondering is a Black billed magpie really just a common magpie or am I really thick. lol

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Yes, Black billed Magpie is just a Magpie.

I can confirm that all your list has been included in the excellent Birds of the Sandwell Valley by Pete Forbes, Pete Hackett & Tim Hextell. Although it stretches the imagination to include Razorbill & Corncrake but the authors were meticulous in their research.
How times change when even Yellowhammer & Tree Sparrow are missing from the Valley from the last decade.

Cheers Hughie.

many thanks for the info Hughie times do change as des the environment but these along with many other species do seem to be missing from many midland locations over the past decade a shame really such wonderful birds

New species with accepted records since 2001 include Little Egret, Cetti's Warbler and Yellow-browed Warbler.

Many thanks Phil

Top man :t: Thanks for the checklist I knew someone would get it.

A Big Thumbs Up

Thursday Birder, thanks for the update and gratitude to Phil & Hughie for their input I would hope SV gets the recognition it deserves its still a great patch to visit despite its disreputable past:t:, Cheers & Happy BirdingB ,

It is , an example of which is 1st winter Med gull on causeway at 12:30 today before being flushed by people feeding ducks and not picked up again . It's had and still has some top birders that visit from time to time

Steve Sutton said:

It is , an example of which is 1st winter Med gull on causeway at 12:30 today before being flushed by people feeding ducks and not picked up again . It's had and still has some top birders that visit from time to time

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Hi Steve.
Looks like there may have been two Med Gulls at Forge Mill today. At approx 1. 45 I picked up an Adult winter on the water in the middle of the lake. It stayed for 5 mins before circling round and disappearing. This looked like the one I saw last weekend. A white winger with no black at all in the wings.
Ben and Bob two RSPB vols were in the hide at the time.

Was the 1st w a classic of its age?

Cheers Hughie.

HIi Hughie , interesting there being 2 Med gulls today, yes was a classic 1st winter bird, can be easily overlooked though , cheers Steve

Has Phil said Snow Goose, Ruddy Shelduck, Grey Headed Wagtail, Blue Headed Wagtail, White Wagtail and Siberian Chiffchaff are not really countable on the list so we minus six birds. Phil also pointed out Raven was missing and Little Egret, Cetti's Warbler and Yellow-browed Warbler where to be added. Using the checklist in the ‘Birds of Sandwell Valley’ this Gives us 218,not forgetting The Avocet this puts the list at 219, I did a little searching to see what was missing and came up with the following records, Manx Shearwater was found not far from Handsworth Cemetery in September 1988 (accepted by the County Recorder), White Stork in 2005 (accepted by the County Recorder) and A Red Kite spent 3 days in the Valley in April 2006 (not sure if submitted to the County Recorder), but seen by several observers. Putting the list on 222. List to follow, hope this helps.
Good Birding YAMYAM

Hi Yam Yam.
. Thanks for publishing your Valley list & for your input in to the Valley Life List thread. How would you explain a long time birder from the Valley " Mr Valley " life list of 244 which includes Monty's, Nightjar & Collared Pratincole amongst others. Do we dismiss these?. What is official and what is not? Who decides? Presumably the County Recorder.
About time an official list was drawn up.



Cheers Hughie.

Forgot to say thanks to Thursday Birder & Phil Andrews for their input as well.

Cheers Hughie.

hughie king said:

Hi Yam Yam.
. Thanks for publishing your Valley list & for your input in to the Valley Life List thread. How would you explain a long time birder from the Valley " Mr Valley " life list of 244 which includes Monty's, Nightjar & Collared Pratincole amongst others. Do we dismiss these?. What is official and what is not? Who decides? Presumably the County Recorder.
About time an official list was drawn up.

Cheers Hughie.

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For an "official" list I think one would have to dismiss anything that hasnt been accepted by the relevant body (County Recorder / BBRC).

Dave Saunders' list (234) on BUBO includes such interesting entries as Snow Goose, Lesser Canada Goose, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Duck, Manx Shearwater, Night Heron, Honey Buzzard, Montagu's Harrier, Goshawk, Crane, Collared Pratincole, Great Skua, Ring-billed Gull, Nightjar, Bearded Tit, Woodlark, Aquatic Warbler, Bluethroat, Nightingale and Richards Pipit.

Phil Andrews said:

Dave Saunders' list (234) on BUBO includes such interesting entries as Snow Goose, Lesser Canada Goose, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Duck, Manx Shearwater, Night Heron, Honey Buzzard, Montagu's Harrier, Goshawk, Crane, Collared Pratincole, Great Skua, Ring-billed Gull, Nightjar, Bearded Tit, Woodlark, Aquatic Warbler, Bluethroat, Nightingale and Richards Pipit.

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I know Dave visits this site, in particular the Sandwell Valley section, because he replied to one of my posts a while ago. I'm surprised he hasn't commented on this thread.

But Phil is right, the checklist should only include sightings accepted by the county recorder.

As regards the Goshawk record, I'm pretty certain that there were sightings by several people of a bird in the Priory woods area for about a week about thirteen years ago. Whether this was a misidentified Sparrowhawk Ive no idea, but I know it was talked about in the RSPB centre. Tried as I did I never saw it.

Hughie raised some good points with his three questions first, do we dismiss these? Well Phil answered that one. For an "official" list I think one would have to dismiss anything that hasn’t been accepted by the relevant body (County Recorder / BBRC).
What is official and what is not? Again we have to have a Benchmark to work from so if it’s not accepted by the relevant body it’s not official. Who decides? Well for listing purposes we have to give all records a chance hence a County Recorder but if birds are not submitted that’s up to the individual. So at the end of the day Phil is right, the checklist should only include sightings accepted by the county recorder. As regards Goshawk there is only one accepted record 26th Feb -30th March 2000 per Birds Of The Sandwell Valley. hope this helps
Good Birding YAMYAM