The return of the black-heads

5th July 15           dawn till early             mid section

cloudy,  11-15°c,   1018mb,   SE-S 4 mph

No unfortunately i'm a teenager no longer, a single black headed gull flew over the Barleyfield on wednesday but today 24 including a youngster of this year were resting on Compton playing field. When I was a teenager we had to take a trip to the seaside to encounter any sort of gull. How times change, many of the gulls we regularly see now have never been anywhere near the coast. In fact B H Gulls breed locally at places like Clayhanger Marsh and Mere, Brownhills. The bigger gulls we see over and around the valley are mostly lesser black-backed gulls with the odd herring gull thrown in for good measure, some of these actually nest in the city. Black headed gulls will be around now through the winter and will leave for their breeding grounds next march.

Mallard	1 brood	♀ + 8 almost f / grown imm Prefab,
Moorhen	1+ 3 imm Wetlands,  pr + 4 imm Prefab,  1+1 imm Prefab weir,
Black Headed Gull	24 ( 1 imm )	Compton Field
Lesser Black Backed Gull	8 ( 4 imm )	Compton Field
Herring Gull	1 ad	Compton Field
Swift	odds over	Barleyfield
Wren	14 singing	mid section
Dunnock	3 singing	mid section
Blackbird	4 singing	mid section
Song Thrush	3 singing	mid section
Mistle Thrush	2	Wetland Fields
Whitethroat	1 singing	Shrike Bushes
Garden Warbler	1 singing	Top Roses
Blackcap	8 ( 7 singing )	mid section
Chiffchaff	5 singing	mid section
Jackdaw	odds over	mid section
Chaffinch	1 singing	Meccano Br
Greenfinch	2 singing	Barleyfield
Goldfinch	2+ ( 1+ imm )	Top Roses
Bullfinch	3	♂ Top Roses,  pr Paddocks
Reed Bunting	1 ♀	flew from Top Roses to Barleyfield Annex,