TUESDAY, 16th APRIL 2013

Compton barleyfield and  Dunstall Park

Strong westerly wind, dry, high broken cloud, 10.30 to 13.15.

They're back!  Magic as migrants return

Short of time today, so park close to the southern entrance to the barleyfield at Compton Hill Drive and nip through to stand close to Geoff's Seat (this listed structure is more imposing and attractive than its name suggests) and look out over the broad sweep of grass sloping down to the hidden line of the Graiseley brook.  In the far distance the outline of Cannock Chase, with the city skyline off to the right and the wooded slopes of Tettenhall ridge to the left, one of the best panoramic views in the Smestow Valley.  A Great Spotted Woodpecker drums from somewhere down near the canal,  14 Jackdaw forage on the top of the barleyfield bank, a Chiffchaff calls intermittently from trees near the old railway cutting, a Buzzard floats away behind the hilltop houses, and a male Sparrowhawk cuts down steeply towards Compton.  A pair of Bullfinch call from near the gardens fenceline, when a small bird suddenly detaches itself from bushes behind the seat and is literally blown across the main entrance path to the top of a small tree.  It pauses momentarily, and shows enough of its shape before it drops out of sight into a stand of raspberries to suggest a warbler, ruff-necked, stocky, upright, perky.  I suspect it's the valley's first record this year for one of its value-for money visitors, and sure enough, a few minutes later there it is, a day later than the average return date locally, a Common Whitethroat.  This one is keeping a low profile deep in cover, most probably feeding up after its long migration through extremes of weather which have seen Sand Martins reach the UK only to perish through lack of food, and Stone Curlews found dead and emaciated in the fields of East Anglia.  A check yesterday for Whitethroats at their breeding stronghold at Aldersley/Oxley proved fruitless, but hopefully they will soon be hurdy-gurdying away from the margins of the grass fields bordering the Birminhgam Canal at the bottom end of the 21 Locks.  This one doesn't want to come out again, and I'm about to leave when from the direction of the railway cutting comes a sound I haven't heard here, or anywhere else in the valley, for three years.  A three-note territorial call rather Wood Warblerish in style, and sure enough (I know there's one about, because both Geoff and Chris have seen it in the last few days) there it is, my bird of the day or the week for that matter, a superb Willow Tit, a species which last bred successfully in the valley in 2006.  In that year birds were reported from a number of valley sites, but by 2009 only one pair was breeding, and they abandoned their nest.  It really seemed as if we had lost them for good, so to see and here this bird telling the world he's here and wants to breed is a special thrill.  Fingers crossed he'll find a mate.

Right, time's tighter now, so high-tail it to Dunstall Park, and as I lock up the car, a shape flicks low over the stable block, lifting and chattering to curve back round and drop out of view, no dout about it, the racecourse's first Barn Swallow this year (I believe the first valley record for 2013 came from Gary Christianson last Saturday, of six birds flying low over his smallholding fields next to Pool Hall lane).  At least three pairs nest annually at Dunstall Park, and this graceful adult, the length of its tail streamers suggesting a male, has made it back once more.  The strength of the wind is now tiresome, but a quick check round the lake reveals two pairs of Shoveler, two pairs of Teal and our long-staying Gadwall couple.  Two Snipe shelter behind brambles on the island, where two Moorhen try to peck each other to piecess (looking on, just for a change, are two peace-loving Coots).  A pair of Greylag geese fly in, at least three Canada Goose pairs are sitting on nests, two Pied Wagtails pick their way along the margins, a female Reed Bunting perches on shoreline bushes, and then, dipping on to the lake's surface with a flash of white rump before it is blown away northwards like piece of paper, a House Martin, another sign that spring really is here.  At last.                   

NB.  Dunstall Park is a restricted commercial site.  Access is strictly controlled.