We got the year off to a great start, with our 'Walk It Off' guided walk on Saturday 2 January. Connecting People and Nature Intern, Jenny, joined the group to see what birds would show...
Despite the thundering rain right through the wee hours of this morning, we had a cracking turnout for our first monthly guided walk of the year. And thankfully the weather decided to be kind.Expert volunteers Colin Sedgwick and Alastair Hughes-Roden guided us, whilst I happily tagged along with the visitors. We set off through the wildlife garden, seeing only a dunnock, a few woodpigeons and hearing a robin. We weren't to know the reserve had plenty more in store for us.
We walked along the Tame, keeping keen eyes on both the river and Forge Mill Lake, and quickly the birds obliged. We had helpful hints from Colin on how to tell our teal from our shoveller and our gadwall from our goosander, with glimpses of great crested grebe and a sparrowhawk along the way. The lapwings were pretty and plentiful, as always, and we played 'Where's Wally?' with the snipe on the bank of the island. We also discovered that the rumours about Stumpy the one footed oystercatcher returning to Sandwell early this year, were true.
After a fantastic close up of a goosander making it's way downstream, we headed to the hide to hang out with the cormorants, being serenaded by a song thrush along the way. Along with those who'd already obliged our binoculared gaze, we were treated to a dancing grey wagtail and a kingfisher flying along the bank, most helpfully, in line with the lake's numbered posts. Not to mention, an important looking grey heron.
On returning to the visitor centre, we sipped our hot chocolate and took a seat to enjoy the bird feeder show. Great tits and blue tits, goldfinches and greenfinches, long tailed tits and coal tits, reed bunting and jays, bullfinches and chaffinches. All topped off with perhaps the cutest of them all, a willow tit.
For anyone new to starting a 'bird list' for 2016 (such as myself), it was a pretty brilliant start to the year. And the knowledge and enthusiasm Colin and Alastair have is infectious, making bird watching exciting and enjoyable for adults, experts, children and even for amateurs like me.In total, we saw 45 different species of bird along the way. Here is a list of every single one of them...DunnockRobinMagpieWoodpigeonCarrion crowBlack headed gullShoveller duckTealGreenfinchCootMoorhenGadwallGreat titBlue TitCormorantGrey heronLesser black backed gullGreat crested grebeSparrowhawkMallardLapwingOystercatcherGoosanderPochardWrenGrey wagtailWigeonSnipeTufted duckCanada geeseMute swanMuscovy duckPied wagtailStarlingKingfisherReed buntingBullfinchHouse sparrowSong thrushChaffinchLong tailed titCoal titJayGoldfinchWillow titIf you like to get outside and fancy knowing a bit more about the winged creatures you might see and hear, our monthly guided walks are a brilliant introduction to birds and the local area. They run from Nature's Reach visitor centre on the first Saturday of every month, starting at 10 am. It's just £3 for RSPB members and £5 if you're not a member.
Thanks for taking the time to read our blog and we hope to see you at Sandwell Valley soon.Jenny Stevens (Connecting People and Nature Intern)