Thursday May 4

Spurred on by another report of the Dipper I headed for Arrow Valley Lake this morning arriving at 06:50. It was cloudy and cool, with a light north-easterly breeze.

I did record a new species for the year, but it wasn't a Dipper unfortunately. A Garden Warbler sang from a thicket although it was outnumbered by numerous singing Blackcaps.

The most interesting discovery was another birder, namely Adey who is a council employee, and quite clearly a keen and knowledgeable birder. He has evidently been birding in the Arrow Valley for years and has witnessed many changes over the last twenty-plus years.

I come to birding through my membership of the West Midlands Bird Club, and thus receive its annual report of birds submitted to whichever county recorder is in office. From listening to Adey, and previously to Mark, it is clear that they have amassed a wealth of valuable records over the years, but I suspect have not joined WMBC and have therefore never been incentivised to submit what they see to the county recorder.

In the olden days (my day) records were either submitted and thus became "official", or remained heresay. Nowadays there are far more avenues available. A myriad blogs like this one have a limited readership, but there is also the social media revolution which gives us Twitter, Facebook, and Bird Forum. Records submitted to the BTO via Birdtrack do get forwarded to the county recorder to get to the recorder that way.

The reason for all this reflection is that Adey told me stuff which was undoubtedly correct, but as far as I know unrecorded in print. He hasn't seen this Dipper yet, but its not the first one to be seen in the Arrow Valley (bombshell). One was seen and photographed along the river in Redditch a few years ago. Willow Tits bred here until 2004. Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, Tree Sparrows, Yellow Wagtails, Grasshopper Warblers, and Skylarks were all part of the local avifauna until recent years.

The local council seems to have cut back its spending on the environment in line with national government policy and this has had its effects. Ironically, the vegetation of the island which has increased since the council stopped paying the sailing club to clear the undergrowth on it has had a beneficial effect in that it is now too overgrown for Canada Geese to nest, and is now more favourable for the heronry to prosper. A pair of Little Egrets was present this morning. Could they breed here one day?

Returning to this morning's walk, I counted seven Common Terns (Adey had 18 yesterday) and consider that there are even more Reed Warblers singing.

Reed Warbler

Common Tern

At least one Common Sandpiper is still present, and a Grey Wagtail carrying food indicates that, not surprisingly, they are nesting somewhere along the river. It looks ideal for them, and perhaps also for a Dipper.