Sandwell Valley (5 Viewers)

[yamyam]

Brambling

The earliest documented record was in 1952, and has in the past been a fairly easy bird to get to grips with, my first was seen in December 1980. In the seventies flocks of 30+ birds where not uncommon, in the winter of 1984, sixty birds where present in the February. Forty was the max count in 1987 and fifty in 1988. The max count to date was 150+ birds in a regular roost in the woods on the nature trail, I remember there being a large Finch Roost below Ice House Lake which held maybe up to a thousand birds these including Greenfinch, Chaffinch and the Brambling. However these large winter roost have long gone and numbers are a lot less now with a hundred birds being a good roost, In the 1990’s there numbers stayed stable with a handful seen most years eleven birds in 1996 was a good count. In recent years one or two a year is the norm, this year we have had four birds so far, three being fly over birds and the male I found spent a couple of weeks at the old feeding station, so at present this could be a hard bird for any budding Valley birder to add to there list. There is no regular site to find birds. Hill Top maybe the favoured locality but most of the time you just fall lucky.
Good Birding YAMYAM

 

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Salters Lane
Stonechat x 2 and Skylark x3.
Good Birding YAMYAM

 

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Hill Top
Swallow x1, Chiffchaff x2, Raven x1, Jay x6, Blackbird x12+, Redwing x2 and Buzzard
Good Birding YAMYAM

 

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Swanpool
Stonechat x1
Good Birding YAMYAM

 

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Stonechat x 1 in Marsh
Good Birding YAMYAM

 

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Peregrine over Forge Mill and Pintail x2
Good Birding YAMYAM

 

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Also seen today Great Crested Grebe x6, Cormorant x10, Teal x44, Goosander x 14, Wigeon x36, Pochard x14, Snipe x4, Lapwing x38, Gadwall x14, Shoveler x10, Black Headed Gull c230, Lesser Black Back 28, Long Tailed Tit 12+, Goldcrest, Green Woodpecker and Sparrowhawk.
Good Birding YAMYAM

 

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Tufted Duck c58 Forge Mill, x9 on Ice House Lake and x6 on Cascade, Shoveler x 9 on Cascade, Wigeon x 18 on Ice House Lake and Snipe 20+ back of RSPB Island. Per Mike Ixer
Good Birding YAMYAM

 

[yamyam]

Tufted Duck

First documented records where in 1952, but there is not a lot of information on Tufted Duck between the fifties and the mid seventies, birds can be found on any bodies of water and also on the River Tame, there have been some large counts in the past with 100+ birds seen many times the max count being 200 in 1987. Birds do breed in the Valley usually on Forge Mill. I reckon if all the bodies of water where included we could have a new max count!
Good Birding YAMYAM

 

[yamyam]

Salters Lane
Brambling x2, Stonechat x2, Redwing x3 and Chiffchaff x1.
Good Birding YAMYAM

 

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Swan pool
Stonechat x1, Cormorant x4, Great Crested Grebe x4, Meadow Pipit x2 and Goldcrest x1.
Good Birding YAMYAM

 

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Forge Mill

Cormorant x8, Goosander x12, Pochard x11, Wigeon x16, Gadwall x11, Shoveler x8, Great Crested Grebe x2, Teal x3, Pintail x2 Lapwing and Little Grebe
Good Birding YAMYAM

 

[yamyam]

Also seen today in the Valley in very windy conditions: - Grey Heron x6, Mute Swan x18, Buzzard x2, Coot c130 swan pool, Snipe several, Black Headed Gull c200, Lesser Black Back Gull x36, Herring Gull x2, Stock Dove x2, Ring Necked Parakeet x3, Pied Wagtail x4, Blackbird x8, Nuthatch x1, Jay x2, Jackdaw x18, Goldfinch x6, Reed Bunting x2 and Redpoll x1.
Good Birding YAYAM

 

[yamyam]

A kick around Forge Mill Farm, Wigeon x3 in one of the fields, Buzzard x4, Cormorant x2 over, Lapwing x3, Black Headed Gull 60+, Stock Dove x2, Collared Dove x2, Pied Wagtail x3, Redwing x2, Long Tailed Tit x12, Chiffchaff x1, Goldcrest x2, Magpie c50, House Sparrow x14, Starling c120, Reed Bunting x1, Goldfinch x16, Jackdaw x60+, Rook x30+ and Raven x1.
Good Birding YAMYAM

 

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Stonechat x7, four Swan Pool, three Salters Lane, Skylark x10 west, Meadow Pipit x30 west, Redwing x18 and Reed Bunting x2 per Pete Hackett
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Common Gull on Forge Mill today was a good record with there being only half a dozen records this year, Also seen Goosander, Wigeon, Snipe x18, Kingfisher x2, Ring Necked Parakeet x2 and Pintail still present per Pete Carless
Good Birding YAMYAM

 

[yamyam]

Common Gull

The first documented record was in the winter of 1978; my first was in December 1981. There have been birds recorded every year with swan Pool and Forge Mill getting the lion’s share with birds seen on the Football pitches and in Dartmouth Park. Most records are in the winter,birds have been recorded in the summer, there is a small passage of birds in the spring. The max count to date being sixty birds flying north-east in April 1992,
Good Birding YAMYAM

 

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Pintail x2 still present
Good Birding YAMYAM

 

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Also seen today Snipe x36, Lapwing x40, Goosander x20, Redwing x20, Water Rail x2, Redpoll, Fieldfare and Chiffchaff per Valley Birders
Good Birding YAMYAM

 

[yamyam]

Chiffchaff

The first documented record was in 1952; this is one of the earliest returning spring migrants, with the first birds seen in mid March. Birds have wintered many times in the past the best place to find wintering birds is usually around bodies of water, there have been several records of birds wintering around Forge Mill Car Park and also mixed in with feeding Tit parties. There numbers have increased over the years with only three pairs recorded in the fifties. With possibly between ten and fifteen pairs in the valley this year (2014). We have a good spring and autumn passage of birds. They can be found any where with Forge mill being the best site, but this could be because this area gets most cover from visiting birders. Hill Top also gets in fair share of Passage Birds. We have also had records of the Siberian, Scandinavian and Eastern type in the past.
Good Birding YAMYAM