Spent the afternoon 1-4 to from and around Bartley...
I have never cycled there so i thought i would try a route from Stourbridge rather than up from Bittell in a car which is convoluted and ends up with us all over the place. 24 miles in total including 3 around the perimeter in glorious conditions. The picnic area is a good scoping point but Brumiggam’s finest with kids called Tyrone and Ronan were intent on providing background noise so i moved on sharply. I saw nothing of note hence the posting here and not on the dedicated thread.
I am glad that people regularly do Bartley and have done since Bill Oddie’s boyhood days but it’s not for me and i shall stick to visiting when something is found hence no visit since the ‘Beast of Bartley’ last Autumn:eek!:
The truth to be told is that i personally find most ‘Razzers’ pretty soulless places often devoid of edge or adjacent habitat and you spend time looking for dots on a large puddle. This is why my Chasewater and Blithers days are well behind me - i also do not like birding for extended periods thru a telescope although i possess 6 ranging from a cute 50mm Opticron, several 60mm and a ‘poor man’s Questar’ namely a mortar-sized Celestron 120mm with a minimum mag of 50mm:eek!:. There are exceptions and i am still fond of Belvide. To me it is about the right size and shape, has lots of habitat and the hides are good:t: I have spent many hours birding and bantering back in the days of Smallshire and Higgo - finishing with the latter in nearby Brewood imbibing in The Admiral Rodney PHB
I noted about 30 large Gulls and some Swifts - could somebody enlighten me as to where waders like these parties of Sanderling favour because i could not work out where the most likely spot would be? I tried to find a view over at Frankley but with no luck despite a public footpath and a coupla gates it led to the inevitable fence:C
It is a pity that a lot of these facilities do not embrace the birding community and allow some sort of viewing area so that scanning can take place - dedicated areas are set aside at UK military airbases e.g. Lakenheath, Mildenhall, Fairford etc etc - i have also had good birds whilst ‘spotting’.
Good birding -
Laurie:t:
Attached: Bartley route.