Rudy's Big Bird Watch

Over the Easter weekend, Rudy de Groot a Coventry schoolboy (aged 6) has been undertaking a bird watching marathon in the West Midlands to raise money for Freddie’s Friends, a charity which was set up in memory of Freddie Appleyard, the son of Rachel and Nooley Appleyard, friends of Rudy's family. Freddie’s Friends raises funds for specialist equipment, therapies, toys, short breaks and any help possible for local children in and around Hull with disabilities, life limiting illnesses and organisations associated with disabled children.

In the hide at RSPB Sandwell

Rudy put his newly developed bird-watching skills into practice at a number of West Midlands' bird watching sites over the weekend - at Coombe Abbey Park and Brandon Marsh in/near Coventry, and the RSPB sites Middleton Lakes, and Sandwell Valley. Rudy says: 'I absolutely love bird watching - it's so exciting - and I'm getting really good at identifying all the different species! I always try and spot something I've never seen before and I love visiting all the different hides at each site. It's a brilliant and fun way to raise money!'​. As well as being sponsored by many people to visit all four sites, Rudy’s corporate sponsor, MP Locums, sponsored him £10 per species spotted so there was a lot at stake in finding as many birds as possible! Here’s Rudy and his mum Helen’s account of their visit to the RSPB sites:

At Middleton Lakes, we undertook a massive walk around this sprawling RSPB reserve and were rewarded with a bumper crop of bird sightings (47 species spotted in total). We started well with spotting our first Chiffchaff very near the carpark at dawn, swiftly followed by our first Song Thrush. In the woods I hand-fed a very friendly robin and Rudy shared his trail mix with two nuthatches. We saw a tiny treecreeper in the wood too and a resplendent pheasant with his two 'wives'. After a long walk to Middleton's very posh Top Hide, we were assisted by friendly birders who helped us to spot some avocet, a little egret, goosanders, pintails, little ringed plovers and a couple of Mediterranean Gulls, amongst other birds.

Moving on to Sandwell Valley (which richly deserves its title as a inner city birding oasis), and despite the fact that we were flagging after a weekend of walking and watching, we were greeted warmly by Alex and the RSPB staff at the visitor centre. Alex had a bag of sweets waiting for Rudy and a very welcome sugar rush got him back on his feet. We were also pleased with the tipoff she gave us about the feeder where we could find bullfinches and we went straight there to find two males sitting in a bush waiting for us.

The hide on site was the friendliest we had visited so far – volunteers were on hand to help casual birders and even provide teas and coffees! Even though it was difficult to add new birds to our total at this stage in the weekend (we had already seen shovelers, teal, heron, great crested grebes, and oystercatchers – though very exciting to hear about their eggs!!) we added a pied wagtail and a starling to our total. Another long walk around another lake saw our final new spot of the day: two swallows diving around on the bank of the river opposite the hide (our first of the season). Sadly, the famous Sandwell parakeets were nowhere to be seen, nor did we see any kingfishers, but we had a fantastic time and have raised a lot of money thanks to everyone's generosity (£1570 so far). There is still time to donate via our Just Giving site: https://www.justgiving.com/rudysbigbirdwatch - we have been absolutely blown away by the generosity of other bird watchers that we’ve met this weekend.

Here’s our full list – the letters after indicate which of our four sites the birds were seen at:

Avocet (M); Blackbird (C, M); Black Cap (C); Black Headed Gull (C, B, M); Blue Tit (C, B, M, S); Bullfinch (S); Buzzard (M); Canada Goose (C, B, M, S); Carrion Crow (C, B, M, S); Chaffinch (C, B, M); Chicken (B); Chiffchaff (M); Coal Tit (C); Common Gull (C, B, S); Coot (C, B, M, S); Cormorant (B, M); Dunnock (C, B, M); Egyptian Goose (C); Feral Pigeon (C); Gadwall (B, M, S); Goldeneye (B); Goldfinch (M); Goosander (M); Great Black Backed Gull (B); Great Crested Grebe (C, B, M, S); Great Spotted Woodpecker (C, M); Great Tit (C, B, M, S); Greenfinch (M); Green Sandpiper (B); Green Woodpecker (C); Grey Heron (C, M, S); Greylag Goose (C, B, M); Jackdaw (C); Jay (C, M, S); Kestrel (B, M); Lapwing (B, M, S); Lesser Black Backed Gull (B, S); Little Egret (M); Little Grebe (B); Little Ringed Plover (M, S); Long Tailed Tit (B, S); Magpie (C, B, M, S); Mallard (C, B, M); Marsh Tit (C); Mediterranean Gull (M); Moorhen (C, B, M, S); Mute Swan (C, B, M, S); Nuthatch (C, M); Oystercatcher (B, M, S), Pheasant (B, M); Pied Wagtail (S); Pintail (M); Pochard (B, S); Redshank (B, M); Reed Bunting (C, B, M); Robin (C, B, M, S), Raven (C, B, M, S); Rook (M); Shelduck (B); Shoveler (B, M, S); Song Thrush (M); Starling (S); Swallow (S); Teal (B, M, S); Treecreeper (M); Tree Sparrow (M, S); Tufted Duck (C, B, M, S); Willow Tit (C); Wood Pigeon (C, B, S); Wren (M)

National construction company helps out local nature reserve

Workers from UK construction company, Cold Clad, were on hand recently to help out the RSPB at Sandwell Valley near West Bromwich.

During the construction of the new visitor centre, work was held up by damage that had occurred to one of the storage buildings at the site.

Holly Booker, RSPB representative, said “Our insulated storage building was damaged some months ago by vandals and we needed it to be fixed before building work could continue. This is exactly the kind of building that Cold Clad are experts in constructing, so they were able to mend it for us at no cost to the charity. We are extremely grateful for their contribution to our work.”

Some of the damage

All repaired

A poem of thanks, from rspb Sandwell Valley

In a quiet corner of the valley, known to most as Sandwell,

Is a special place where foxes and frogs and bugs and birds do dwell.

A place where locals come to unwind, relax and walk,

Where the bumblebees buzz and the birds sing and squawk.

We’ve been working hard for many years to give wildlife a home,

A place to explore and discover and where wildlife is free to roam

To make your visit even better, we’ve been busy in recent weeks,

Building a brand new visitor centre, we’ve called it nature’s reach.

Sadly, our progress has been a bit set back,

Someone came along and gave it a thwack, crack and whack

Maybe they though (we like to think) they were helping us out,

But some damage was caused when they gave the building a clout

The damage was a nuisance and came with a hefty bill,

How would we fix our building on top of the hill?

In the last week of February, to our surprise and delight,

Some people came to the rescue, a real life shining Knight.