Smestow Valley Birding

Friday 11/10/13 - Moderate NE, overnight light rain, clearing : Barleyfield "vismig"

A frantic day on the work and home front yesterday meant that I was left to read about the tens of thousands of Redwing that had reached Britain on favourable winds.

An incredible 33,082 were recorded over "The Pinnacle", Sandy, Bedfordshire, in just four and a half hours yesterday morning!! A more modest 2,600 had passed over Black Bank in Staffordshire.

I hit the patch this morning, knowing that winds were more northerly and were likely to halt movements, but still wanted to get some idea as to whether the valley had witnessed some of this event.

It was immediately clear, on arriving at the Barleyfield that birds had got this far West. There was a "movement" of birds west, but aside from 3 groups, the largest holding 35 birds, the rest were grounded birds that were lifting from overnight resting places.

A one hour vismig produced the following, before fading:

Canada Goose  37 SW
Mallard - 5 SW
Cormorant - 4 High SE and 1 soon after heading South - all adults
Black-headed Gull - 65 SW
Woodpigeon - 19 SW - apparently still too early for migrants on the favourable NE
Pied Wagtail - 4 SW
Meadow Pipit - 4 grounded birds, lifted off the Barleyfield and headed SW
Redwing - 150 - c50 on migration West and the other c100 were grounded birds, lifting and heading low West. 55 of these were around the Lower Alders.
Song Thrush - 1 South
Blackbird - 6 coping remarkably well heading West on the cross wind.
Starling - 10 local birds SW and 7 presumed migrants heading West.

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Wednesday 18/9/13 Cool, drizzle with brief interlude between 07:00 and 07:45 allowing short vis-mig from top of Barleyfield. Light NW.

Brief Highlights of recent visits to the valley (vis mig info is from top of Barleyfield):


21/8/13 - Calm dry overcast light SW

24 Greenfinch SW
1 Swallow
9 Swift
Collared Dove South
2 Stock Dove Barleyfield
5 Adult and 2 Juv Pied Wagtail Meccano Bridge Playingfields
Nuthatch Graisley Culvert
Willow Warbler singing SW corner Barleyfield
Blackcap fledged at top of Barleyfield, as had Common Whitethroats but apparently left nest site area immediately
31 Jackdaw S. Peters Playingfields

22/8/13 Dry calm morning, light Southerlies

57 Canada Geese SW
14 Greenfinch SW with 6 local birds at top of Barleyfield
FEMALE/JUVENILE REDSTART, seen briefly as it moved up the Western Border of the Barleyfield. It then flew off South over Compton Hill Drive
5+ young Bullfinch Graisley Culvert area
6 Swallow feeding high over the Barleyfield for over half hour in the warm calm conditions
2+ Coal Tit at Prefab Weir
Common Whitethroat calling Graisley Culvert

Painted Lady sunbathing near Compton Lock




29/8/13 Cool calm, dry clear Light SW increasing

89 Canada Geese SW
23 Greenfinch SW
2 Swallow South
3 Swift South plus 1 South over The Paddocks later
2 Starling SW
Adult and Juvenile Nuthatch Western Border of Barleyfield (dispersal birds, since Nuthatch have been scarce/absent in mid-section this Spring and Summer)
3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers around South end of Barleyfield
Female Sparrowhawk over top Barleyfield
3+ Blackcap at The Barleyfield Crossings and 2+ at Hanging Gardens
Common Whitethroat, Willow Warbler and Juvenile Chiffchaff at Graisley Culvert area
3 Chiffchaff singing at The Crossings
1+ Chiffchaff singing 2+ juvenile Blackcap, Juvenile Willow Warbler and Juvenile Common Whitethroat in main Paddock
Chiffchaff singing at Tennis Club
Painted Lady in Canopy near Station
Small Copper near The Crossings

1+ Coal Tit at Compton Lock
Kingfisher off the Brook and over Compton Lock with 2+ Goldcrest nearby.
11 Pied Wagtail, mainly juveniles at Artificial Pitch and track at The Academy

31/8/13 Dry, clear cool Light Westerlies

18 Greenfinch South with 6+ local
1 Swallow South
2 Starling SW
Green Woodpecker
Male Sparrowhawk East over top of Barleyfield
Presumed family group of 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers together just SW of Barleyfield, where feeding trips were recorded earlier in the year, with another female calling at the same time at the top of The Barleyfield
3 Grey Wagtail, at least one of which was a juvenile, dropped into Graisley Culvert then SW.
5+ young Bullfinch and 3+ Juvenile Goldfinch at Graisley Culvert with a Coal Tit calling there and a Collared Dove over East
Devil's Coach Beetle under log on Railway walk by Crossings
2 Chiffchaff singing, 2+ young Blackcap, Common Whitethroat and 2 Jays at Hanging Gardens

1/9/13 Calm, dry, light cloud cover, light SW increasing

28 Lesser Black-backed Gull SW
Grey Wagtail NE just after dawn
Green Woodpecker Western Border
243 Woodpigeon SW, numbers increasing presumably as more fields are harvested in South Staffs. Birds consistently fly West to meet the valley then turn SW down the valley and can be seen doing this as far as the bins allow to the North.
Sub-adult Herring Gull SW
19 Greenfinch South with 6+ local birds
Pipit Species SW
Male and Female Sparrowhawk briefly in the air together over the Western border
Nuthatch calling from Eastern Border
13 Goldfinch, over half of which were juveniles at last!!
10 adult and 14 Juvenile Moorhen on canal
1+ Coal Tit calling at Meccano Bridge and 1+ at The Academy
Wasp nests just South of Meccano Bridge on canal towpath and another opposite Tennis Club
Warblers in Paddock as per Ian Phillips update and Nuthatch calling there
Meadow Pipit lifted off Barleyfield then South West
Coal Tit calling SW corner of Barleyfield
11 House Martin South
16 Pied Wagtail and 14 Starling on Meccano Bridge Playingfields
2 Stock Dove at Compton Park Wetland

Welcome back to Gareth Clements who provided this update:

"5th sept at dunstall park , 6 teal, 8 snipe, skylark, 1 prob white wag, 1 yellow wag , 1 grey wag, 35 pied wag, 3 shoveler, 1 on lake plus 14 sw cormorant, kestrel, 51  lbb gull, 200 bh gull, 1 green sand, otherwise quiet
Gareth and angus"

Canada goose- 5SW

Black-headed gull – 23 SW

Lesser Black-backed Gull – 2SW

Stock Dove – 1 North

Wood Pigeon – 62 East to North

Skylark – 3 North

Meadow Pipit – 66 NE to North

Grey Wagtail – presumably a local bird heading North along the line of the canal.

WAXWING – 5 birds flew low NE over the Barleyfield at 07:00aring over Compton Park, heading straight at St Judes Church, showing beautifully in the emerging sunlight.

Redwing – 14 North, 2 NE and 2 East

Mistle Thrush – 2 NW, 2 East and 1 West

Fieldfare – 10 NE, 4 North and 1 SW

Rook – a single flew East over.

Brambling – a single NE over at 07:30

Greenfinch – 10 East

Siskin – 1 South

I then had a text from Geoff to say that he had found a Chiffchaff in the station Paddock. As if by magic a Chiffchaff started singing in the South-west corner of the Barleyfield. At last they have arrived!!! I rang Geoff and shared the news. In traditional fashion though the bird was slowly making it’s way North along the railway line, but it was replaced by another bird that started singing in the Barleyfield Annex. This was confirmed when both birds were heard singing at the same time, the first having reached Graisley Culvert by this time. This again shows the importance of Wolverhampton’s linear Nature Reserve. Birds not only fly over the valley in significant numbers, they also move along it, feeding and replacing valuable energy along the way.

Having had such a good start to the day, I decided to cover the patch and see how many species I could Knock up. In addition to the sky watch, I had already added Grey Heron, 2 Green Woodpecker, 4 Great Spotted Woodpeckers (3 chasing each other on the eastern Border whilst a female sat watching the affair from the top of the barleyfield), Long-tailed Tit, Jay and 4+ Bullfinch to the day’s list.

At Compton Lock, the Goldcrest was picked up, with 2 Long-tailed Tits. A Coal Tit was calling as it moved along the tree tops at Prefab Weir.

The area just North of Meccano Bridge has been productive lately (where Ian had the first Chiffchaff of the year). A Little Grebe was present on the canal and a Treecreeper was making it’s way up one of the Alders. 2 long-tailed Tits were calling and 7 Siskin were calling and passing between the trees on both sides of the canal by the south end of the Paddocks.

At Newbridge, House Sparrow was added to the day’s list. I was conscious of time so I forfeited the search for the chiffchaff that Geoff had found at the old station, so I retraced my steps along the canal.

Everything was performing for me today, and the moment I got to the border between the Tennis Club and The Academy, the resident Nuthatch started singing. I had commented to Geoff that I could do with Cormorant and Goosander today, and I nearly fell in the canal when an adult and immature Cormorant passed West overhead. Everything was on cue!!

I started to try and guess how many species I had seen and became aware that I hadn’t had a bird of prey. So it was over to Compton Park at the North end of the Barleyfield to play the waiting game.

Mother Nature was really playing with me today. No sooner had I got myself positioned with a good view of the sky by Eddy’s Alders, when a pair of Linnet flew out of the hawthorn, only my second sighting of the year.....amazing. I spent 10 minutes watching and waiting, during which time, 3 more single Meadow Pipits, fighting against the now strong wind, headed North, being forced to fly just metres above the ground.

This prompted me to reflect on Kevin Clements’s posting at the weekend. I have this theory that might explain why the autumn migration appears to involve masses of birds, compared to much smaller numbers on the spring return….hormones!!!

In Autumn, most species tend to join feeding flocks, which I suppose has the added advantage of protecting the youngsters through safety in numbers. So when the birds do take to the air, their numbers are impressive. In Spring however, if you use say Little Grebe as a good example (for hormones, rather than migration), we see through both the plumage and leaving dates, that birds get the urge to move at different times. Only in the past few weeks, we have had full Winter-plumaged birds that have no intention of thinking of breeding along-side splendid full Summer-plumaged birds that were ready to jump on anything!!!! Black-headed gulls also demonstrate this variation, showing the various stages that their dark hoods are in.

Spring birds aren’t held back or needing to protect young either in Spring, so they are quite literally free as a bird to fly off to breeding grounds as soon as they get the urge. In Autumn it seems that by 9am it’s virtually a waste of time looking to the skies for moving birds, as most have shifted in the first hour and a half after dawn.

In Spring However I have seen Meadow Pipits, Wood Pigeons and Winter thrushes on the move at any time of day, although granted it still peaks about an hour after dawn.

I don’t really have time to read books on bird behaviour and migration much as a single working parent with my own business to run so please understand, these are only my thoughts. I am sure someone out there has the answers, so if you have, then please, please share. The best way to learn is through sharing and making mistakes!!!

Food for thought??…………more to the point!! How great is our Valley?? Within a mile of the City centre, and here I was, just about to tick off my last three birds that meant a grand total of 50 for the morning, and all wrapped up by 9:30 (and all seen within a linear section of the reserve, less than one mile long).

Just as I was about to give up, a  male Sparrowhawk flew into the lower Alders, and after a few minutes I decided I was happy without having to wait for a Buzzard to turn up so I headed off home across Compton park. A male Pied Wagtail was feeding under the foot-bridge at the wetland and after almost tripping over through looking back for a Buzzard as I walked, one kindly obliged, drifting up from the South and then circling overhead to make sure I had seen it!!!

Governments continue to ignore global warming, favouring profits, and vast swathes of the planet continue to vanish beneath the bulldozer, but for all those people who have profiled, created, managed, protected and enjoyed Smestow Valley, please please feel proud when you read these words. For Mother Nature was dancing this morning and showing her beauty up and down, on and over the jewel that is…..Wolverhampton’s only Local Nature reserve…..Smestow valley.

Mother Nature is powerful….but she can’t do it all now that there are billions of us around. She needs YOU!!!!!

This blog is linked to many other sites and also signposts you to organisations that protect our beautiful world. If you aren't already, then please get involved....the more the merrier and the safer our world will be!!

Thursday 21st March 2013

Mid-afternoon: quick stroll across Compton Park, and to Compton Village and back:

Cormorant: 2 South over the Railway Walk at Compton village.
Stock Dove: 2 flew up off the Compton Park Wetlands site.
Pied Wagtail: It looks like our regular pair are back and the 2 of them were feeding around the pools of standing water just East of the Compton Park Wetlands site.
Redwing: 2 at Compton Park by the housing development (last year there were dozens of Fieldfare and over 100 Redwing around Compton Park!!)
Mistle Thrush: a pair were feeding with the Redwings.

Buzzard: ....... no, not two, but the one that was hovering on the stiff Easterlies over a traditional nest site, raised hopes that "number 2" might be appearing soon!!!

After a week at work, the latest session of my Smestow Valley and Beyond Foot It challenge saw me heading out from home before 7.15am with everything still covered in yesterday's snow.

The Staffs & Worcs Canal was free of ice, with single Dabchick both above and below Compton. A male Kestrel was perched near to Wightwick Mill Lock, but a pattering of feet on the canal below the lock revealed a redhead Goosander heading towards the southwest - species number 66 for the month. A pair of adult Mute Swan and a total of 31 Mallard were on the canal at Wightwick, whilst a Sparrowhawk flew across Wightwick Fields.

At Pool Hall, probably the same redhead Goosander was sat with four male and a female Shoveler, 25 Coot and three immature Mute Swan on the only patch of open water. An immature Common Gull (species 67) briefly joined its Black-headed cousins, a Great Spotted Woodpecker called from neaby trees and a flock of nine Skylark flew over.

Further along the canal near Ebstree Lock, some 20 Goldfinch fed in an Alder tree and two GS Woodpecker chased each other through the trees.

Back at Wightwick Fields, at least 20 Fieldfare, nine Yellowhammer and a Kestrel were present and a flock of some 40 Lapwing flew distantly towards the southwest (species 68). A Green Woodpecker (species 69) spent several minutes in a tree by Pool Hall track before flying towards Lower Penn; shortly afterwards, presumably a second bird flew over the fields.

Whilst walking back home along the canal towpath, a flock of three adult and two immature Cormorant (species 70) came from the east before turning above Wightwick Mill Lock and departing northwards. Another pair of GS Woodpecker were in trees at the Dell. Finally, another Dabchick was on the canal by Newbridge Wood.

My original target was 70 species, which I have now reached, but I later revised it to 79 of which I have seen 89%.

15th December  2012
Light-mod SW overcast and drizzle then clearing. Milder.
Barleyfield skywatch 07:45 - 09:50

Cormorant - 4 adult N at 8am then 3 adults and 2 juv SW and another adult N
Goosander - 2 N and 4 male and 3 female SW later
Kestrel - in from NE at dawn briefly hovering over Graisley Culvert area then left to SW
LBB Gull- 126 SW mainly just after dawn
BH Gull - 43 SW,19 upper pitches,22 wetland and c125 at S. Peters
Herring Gull - Adult over barleyfield and Compton Park all morning
Meadow Pipit 4 South
Pied Wagtail - 4 SW
Grey Wagtail - 1 South
Redwing -1 West off Eddys Alders and 2 SW
Mistle Thrush - 1 on upper pitches
Coal Tit - 2 calling just SW of barleyfield
Magpie -90+ ex roost
Starling -  9 SW
Goldfinch -20+ Lower Alders
Chaffinch 5 South and 20+ Lower Alders
Siskin - 1 into Eddys Alders ex North
Bullfinch - 4+ Graisley Culvert area and 10+ at the crossings
Greenfinch -7+ at top of barleyfield

35 SPECIES from one field!! How lucky we are to have this!!!

By the way!! Can anyone tell me where the corvids have gone. Peasley Wood looks dead at the moment!