Sandwell Valley - December 2014

On Sunday I was back at RSPB Sandwell Valley again for the final time this year. It had been a while since I was last there, due to hectic busy times - mainly involving Christmas preparations and scratching my head over my current Open University module, Oceanography which I think is the most difficult module I've done so far :o( So I was looking forward to getting outside, relaxing in the hide and enjoying the birds!

Alf and I went for our usual walk in the morning, and I got my first look at the newly-muralled railway bridge (formerly drab grey concrete). It looks brilliant!

The bridge.

The bridge.

The bridge.

The bridge.

The bridge.

The bridge.

I recently finally entered the 21st century and bought my first smartphone (I'd previously had a reliable Nokia brick with loads of buttons) so I was excited to see how it could enhance my birding experiences! The results proved to be mixed :oD

On our walk round, I loaded up the Birdtrack app (which I'd installed upon first getting the phone) for the first time and fiddled about, trying to work out how to use it. It turned out to be pretty straightforward and I was soon merrily adding sightings to my list as we walked around. Reading the instructions somewhat belatedly now, the only thing I didn't do was retrieve my existing sites, so my list is just recorded under a grid reference for Sandwell Valley. Doesn't look like I can edit the site for that list retrospectively, but at least I will know for the future! Can anyone recommend any other good (preferably free) birding/nature apps for Android?

On our walk round, things were pretty quiet. The relatively warm weather over winter so far has meant there has been a bit of a dearth of ducks compared with chillier years - there's only been a handful of Goldeneye sightings, and Goosanders and Wigeons have been around but only in small numbers. However, there has been at least one Pintail around for most of the time for a while now, the first time in recent years that this species has been more than a very occasional visitor to the valley. Snipe numbers have been great too - from the south bank on our walk, Alf and I counted at least 42 on the island. 

Back at the visitor centre after lunch, we were about to leave when we spotted another volunteer, Jason, who had been on his way home but had stopped and was intently photographing something out of his dad's car window. We realised that it was a small group of Rose-ringed Parakeets - Alex had mentioned they'd been getting more bold recently and had started visiting the feeders outside the centre. They were up in a tree overhanging the centre; we carefully opened the door so as not to spook them and watched for a while. They did indeed fly down to the feeders and we got super-close views of them feeding. I took a few photos on my usual camera, and on my phone:

Rose-ringed Parakeet (taken using my camera).

Rose-ringed Parakeets from my phone.

Rose-ringed Parakeets from my phone.

Down in the hide in the afternoon it was very quiet visitor-wise - I think everyone must have been off occupied with festive antics elsewhere. We had nice views of Teal, Gadwall and some super-smart Goosanders, and the ever present Lapwing flock. I tried some phonescoping with my new phone but alas the results were rather poor! I might try making an adaptor to see if that improves matters.

About the best I managed with my phone through my scope....pretty dreadful! :oD

And here's the best I managed through my camera....not much better.

I think I would probably get better results outdoors - the hide is very gloomy inside and the lack of light is certainly hampering my efforts. Might try that next time.

Unfortunately I forgot to pack my sketchbook so I have no drawings - I blame tiredness! Looking foward to a good break over Christmas, I am planning to finally catch up on sleep, stuff my face and maybe do a bit of festive birding in and around York and Birmingham :o) Happy Christmas whatever you are doing!