The digger was only on site for only a fortnight but boy oh boy did it do some work!

To the casual observer we shifted some mud around but those with a keen interest in wildlife (or even have an 'ology') will note a few more habit specific alterations. Gone has the bund between the Marsh and Lake. Gone is the willow surrounding the Marsh. Gone is the dry areas of the reedbed.

Like everything, habitat changes…

 There have been regular, almost daily, sightings of water rail in the reeds on the bank opposite the hide with up to 3 birds sighted (25^th.). More goosanders arrived during in the month, with a count of 19 (22^nd.) and a pintail paid a brief visit on the same day. Other wintering visitors included numerous redwing, fieldfare, teal and wigeon.

 Flocks of small birds were everywhere including 40+ goldfinc…

This weekend marks the annual RSPB Feed the Birds Day and as usual, Sandwell Valley will be hosting their very own and unique - Fiendish Feeding Frenzy!

Come along to the RSPB nature reserve on Sunday between 11.30 and 3.30 and learn how to make edible seedcake, creepy plate faces and many other halloween themed bird food.

Every year we've held this event it's been a whole lot of fun (and messy) but don't worry, we…

Two goosander appeared (8^th.) marking the return of this wintering species to the reserve, these should be followed by many more. Small numbers of snipe, wigeon and teal have also returned. Good numbers of lapwing have also been moving in with a count of 116 (4^th.).

 Remnants of the summer visitors could still be seen including several warblers, such as lesser whitethroat, chiffchaff, blackcap with young and willow w…

A project soon to get underway at RSPB’s Sandwell Valley nature reserve, on the outskirts of Birmingham, aims to safeguard the future of one of the UK’s most threatened birds.

Thanks to recent funding from The Veolia Environmental Trust (see note 2), made through the Landfill Communities Fund, the Lapwing Recovery Project will enhance the nature reserve's habitat for lapwing - giving them a fighting chance…

 An unusual summer visitor seen on the island in front of the hide was a whinchat (30^th.).

Common sandpiper was a regular sight and other waders on the reserve included green sandpiper, dunlin, snipe and over 70 lapwing.

 Various warblers with their young have been seen regularly, particularly whitethroat, chiffchaff, blackcap, willow warbler, reed and sedge warblers. Lesser whitethroat was also seen but without any…

'...that's what it's all about.' - so said Lee Copplestone the Site Manager of the Sandwell Valley nature reserve as he packed me off to the Sandwell Show in the Sandwell Park Farm arena field.

For the following 2 days I stood, crouched, bent, knelt, barely sat as I talked incessantly to the many hundreds of visitors to our splendid marquee. 

I was very ably assisted by a very willing crew and many thanks…

Here at  Sandwell Valley the big autumn migration is well underway with birds coming and going daily.

The concept of migration, especially regarding birds, conjures up images of travelling great distances, crossing continents, seas and desserts to reach warm wintering areas with an abundance of food. Of course for some birds this is true and here you can find a map showing the satellite tracked journeys recently undertaken…

I have had a couple of requests to publish the reserve year list up to now so people can check what they have seen (and what they may have missed) since January. Bare in mind that more species have been seen across the Valley, but these are just the species which have been seen from the reserve.

Here is my personal list:

Blackbird 12/01/2011 Blackcap 07/04/2011

Brambling 26/02/2011 Bullfinch …

This coming Saturday 27th August, sees a very popular event return to RSPB Sandwell Valley. This free family event takes place on the reserve where staff and volunteers will help you discover more about what some people refer to as 'creepy crawlies' but really are just insects going about their business.

They'll be lots of hands-on activities to get involved with and talking of hands-on, we're borrowing the…

Other successful breeding birds on the reserve not mentioned last month were goldfinch, linnet, dunnock, wren, crow and a small number of tufted ducks.  There have been good numbers of tufted ducklings in previous years and the large numbers of nesting canada geese on the island this year may be a factor in this reduction, 135 were counted around the lake (3^rd.).

 A couple of black-tailed godwit visited for about a week…

Last night saw the reserve host it's annual bat and moth night (or "mat and both night" as I seem to keep saying) under the title of 'Creatures of the Night'.

At 9pm, as the rain was beginning to fall, the group of 20+ gathered in the classroom. Morgan Bowers (who you can follow here on Twitter) led the bat half of the evening and gave a very informative 20 min talk about the flying mammals with…

Kingfishers ........ the bird which everybody wants/loves to see but which is all to often described as "that blue thing flying away down the river!". If I had a pound for every time I got asked about them I could happily volunteer the rest of my life without financial concern.

Here at Sandwell Valley I am told that these charismatic "blue flashes" actually used to breed on the reserve only a few years ago…

Believe it or not we exist on the internet beyond just the RSPB website (though this is still the best place to get all the event details!). We have a volunteer managed Facebook page which you can find here. This is a great place to upload any of your Sandwell Valley photos and post your reserve sightings to keep everyone (including us) in the loop.

However, if you are more of a Twitter person, we have a Twitter account…

We've tried all ways to avoid this but unfortunately at the moment it looks like we'll have to keep the SPA building and Lakeside Hide closed this coming weekend. All the eligible RSPB members of staff are away off site and unable to react to matters that may crop up during the day.

We apologise for this unfortunate situation.

Here at Sandwell Valley we host a fortnightly guided walk to explore the reserve and discover the many different species that call it home at different times of the year.

Over the past few months we have enjoyed seeing the varying arrival dates of our breeding birds along with the departures of the winter visitors. One walk which stands out to me was at the end of March when we had a large arrival of Spring migrants…

For the last couple of days we've been pumping water (under licence) from the lake to our Marsh Pool. The Marsh Pool had all but dried completely so we're hoping the current rain continues to fall enabling the Marsh Pool to replenish.

The reedbed at the rear of the Marsh is an important area for a number of our bird species, in particular snipe, which should be returning shortly. Without soft mud to probe for food…

Among more than twenty species so far confirmed as successful breeders on the reserve have been mute swan with 5 cygnets, coot with at least 5 successful nests, willow, blue, great and long-tailed tits, song thrush, robin, chaffinch, greenfinch, mallard, lapwing, moorhen, great-crested grebe, seen carrying young on its back.

Warblers have been particularly successful with young families of blackcap, reed warbler, sedge…

Last week my wife and I were exploring the wildlife in the outer reaches of North Wales. We'd already walked around the Lleyn Peninsula and visited the fabulous osprey centre at Glaslyn near Porthmadog.

Next on the itinerary was Anglesey and in particular the RSPB reserve at South Stack. The sole purpose of going there was to catch a glimpse of the puffins. We were directed to walk halfway down the steps towards…

I had the chance to pop back to 'The Valley' this week and had to comment on how well the place looks.

Walking through the wildflower garden was a delight. Everything in bloom and colours everywhere.

A special mention must go the the Prince's Trust team who worked on the sensory garden last year - come and see the results of your work.

All the bulbs planted by our QAC working party also played their part…

Successful hatchings so far this year have been mute swan with 5 cygnets, canada geese, with several successful pairs, moorhen, mallard, chaffinch, and song thrush. One of the coot pairs produced 4 chicks, but these were unfortunately predated in the following days by lesser black-backed gulls, more coot chicks have since been produced by other birds. The first lapwing chick was noted (31^st) on the floating raft, although…

On much the same date as last year there was an exciting appearance on the lake of a distinctive male garganey (30^th.), this is a migratory duck that comes to us for the summer from Africa. A pair of common tern has also arrived, probably the same successful breeders from last year, although a third tern has often been present. 6 arctic tern were also noted flying over the reserve (30^th.).

 The sound of singing warblers…

Just when we thought it was safe to think about lifting our heads above the parapet, the Birdwatchers Spring Fair event rolls in to town.

This annual event, at Middleton Hall, is a mecca for everything birdy. From binoculars to scopes, from country clothing to wildlife photography. If you've got an interest in wildlife in general and birds in particular then this is the place to be.

Running over the weekend of Saturday…

The regular readers to this blog will have noticed I have been somewhat reticent in my postings of late. This is because I have been sent out on loan to the new reserve at Middleton Lakes. I have assumed the role of Visitor & Promotions Officer and am tasked with organising events and promoting the reserve (just like it says on the tin!)

For those of you who are concerned over the continuation of news from Sandwell…

We've been busy lately making connections with the past and not just because some of our volunteers are of the mature variety!

We were approached firstly by the staff of the Manor House museum to help them create a wildlife experience around their grounds and we did that by installing a number of nest boxes for their garden birds as well as bat boxes for their resident creatures of the night!

Next we were asked…