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Near Kinver (April 13 2009)

Chiffchaff - silent bird flitting in trees. Heard other bird but not seen.
Canada goose - 2 on the canal.
Jackdaw - several noisy birds.

Sedgley - backyard birding (April 12 2009)

Greenfinch - very encouraging to see the pair of birds (male and female on the seed feeder, albeit briefly)

Midlands gravel pit (April 11 2009)

Greylag goose - 3 on pit.
Great crested grebe - 2 on pit.
Black headed gull - several in flight.

Midlands gravel pit (April 10 2009)

House martin - first of the year. Several feeding birds in the afternoon.
Sand martin - c.250 feeding over pit at dusk.
Oystercatcher - bird landed on one of the islands on the pit. Heard other calling birds (at least 2, but not seen).
Greylag goose - 4 on the water.
Barn swallow - 4 birds feeding over pit.
Skylark - singing over nearby field.
Reed bunting - male in pitside trees.
Total for 2009 - 82

Midlands gravel pit (April 9 2009)

Oystercatcher - single bird in flight, landed on one of the islands.
Sparrowhawk - male low in flight over water.
Greylag goose -7 birds on the pit.
Skylark - bird singing over nearby field, a second bird in flight, dropping onto field.
Cormorant - sightings of 3 birds and 2 birds in flight.
Goldfinch - 2 birds chasing each other in mating style.
Sand martin - several feeding over pit briefly.

Midlands gravel pit (April 8 2009)

Mute swan - 2 birds on water, 1 visiting bird chased away.
Canada goose - count of 31.
Reed bunting - male in pitside trees.
Cormorant - 3 sightings of single birds in flight.
Sand martin - c.50 feeding birds late in afternoon over pit.
Chiffchaff - singing bird in tree.

Sedgley - backyard birding (April 7 2009)

Dunnock - 2 feeding in birds in garden. One singing from cherry tree.
Blackbird - male and female in garden.
Common buzzard - high overhead in flight from NE to SW.
House sparrow - several male and female birds feeding.

Near Wombourne (April 6 2009)

Barn swallow - first one of the year. A single bird in direct flight, travelling north to south.
Bullfinch - male and female bird landed briefly in copse.
Song thrush - single bird in copse.
Chaffinch - male and female feeding in trees.
Mallard - several male and female birds on the canal.
Total for the year - 81

Sedgley - backyard birding (April 5 2009)

Dunnock - bird with nesting material in beak. I have located the area where they are nesting, it's in my backyard.
Blackbird - another nesting bird in the backyard, in a conifer. Male and female bird around regularly feeding.
Herring gull - 3 noisy birds in the area in flight.
Robin - bird singing well into dusk from its usual spot at the top of a mature sycamore in a neighbour's tree.

Midlands gravel pit (April 4 2009)

Oystercatcher - single bird on the shore of one of the islands on the pit.
Chiffchaff - singing bird in bushes.
Cormorant - single bird in flight.

Midlands gravel pit (April 3 2009)

Greylag goose - 7 noisy birds landed on the pit. Always a pair on there, first time I've seen this many.
Chiffchaff - bird singing from bushes. Several others singing but not seen.
Sand martin - c.12 birds passed through at dusk. Still no birds spending time on the pit feeding.
Mute swan - Pair landed and were promptly seen off by the resident birds.
Oystercatcher - calling birds in flight during darkness, but not seen.

Wall Heath (April 2 2009)

Barn owl - Driving on the A449 from Kinver, a bird flew left to right across the road 150 metres from the island by the Kingfisher club. I'm always excited to see a local barn owl but doubly so in this case, because as soon as I got home I did some boundary research and realised that the bird had flown into and over the West Midlands. So a West Mids / Black Country barn owl made me a very happy bunny indeed.
Bird seen at 8.21pm. I travel this road regularly and it's the first sighting I've had.

Near Kinver (April 1 2009)

Green woodpecker - several sightings of single bird in flight, very vocal.
Treecreeper - single bird on trunk of tree.
Chiffchaff - single bird singing in copse alongside canal.
Grey wagtail - 4 sightings of a single bird in flight along the canal. Probably the same bird.
Common buzzard - 3 sightings of single bird in flight/soaring.
Jackdaw - several in the area.

Sheepwash nature reserve, Tipton (March 31 2009)

Robin - 6 singing birds from path that goes from the entrance to lake.
Chiffchaff - 3 singing birds from the same walk as above.
Mute swan - nesting bird on pool.
Great crested grebe - bird on nest on lake.
Goosander - the number of birds has dropped but there are still 3 females on the lake.
Cormorant - On the lake, 2 birds perched on the edge of one of the islands and a 3rd bird on a post in the water.
Lesser black-backed gull - single bird in flight.