Sutton Bingham - Sun 8 Oct

Managed a fairly brief visit to the reservoir mid-afternoon, but it was still pretty quiet. The female Tufted Duck was still on West Pool (I noticed it yesterday on my way home from work) but that was pretty much it on the water. A Little Egret was noted in flight and four Raven passed overhead. Also flying through, a Skylark, Meadow Pipit and two Linnet.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 5 Oct

A very brief post-work stop produced two Stonechats on the fence line bordering West Pool, a male and female bird. Don't' see many at Sutton Bingham, so I thought they were worth a blog posting!

Sutton Bingham - Wed 4 Oct

Due to various commitments I wasn't able to spend much of my half day birding at Sutton Bingham today, but still managed about an hour. Highlight was without a doubt a Slow Worm! Not a bird, but a patch tick and the first I've seen since I was a boy in my parent's garden, probably some thirty years ago. It was a bit of a beast too, being around 18" or so in length.

On the bird front it was still pretty quiet, though a Peregrine put on a bit of a show with two Buzzards over the southern end of the reservoir. A trip round to the Fishing Lodge produced a small flock of seven Little Egrets together and five Wigeon. On the dam wall there were at least five Meadow Pipits and several Pied Wagtails.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 1 Oct

Well September went out with a whimper and October failed to dazzle on the first day of the month! That being said there were still a few birds around today and the southern end of the reservoir was the most productive with nine Mandarin and a couple of Teal in with a growing number of Mallard. A Peregrine did a brief fly by and one of the fields adjoining the reservoir held around thirty Meadow Pipits, a similar number of Pied Wagtails and a couple of White Wagtails.
The only other bits and pieces of note today were a calling Chiffchaff, a Kingfisher, three House Martins heading south, and four Wigeon.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 24 Sep

A quick stop at the reservoir on the way home from Arne was fairly profitable. I stopped off at the Fishing Lodge and 'scoped the reservoir from there. The Canada Goose flock had grown to 165 birds and they were joined by three Wigeon. A single Mute Swan was also present. A couple of Common Sandpipers put in an appearance and overhead a Meadow Pipit flew through. A Raven was calling away from the top of a tree and finally there were four Little Egrets still present. Not a bad selection during a 15 minute stop.

Arne RSPB - Sun 24 Sep

Somewhere different today and a trip down to Arne RSPB. I started with a  walk out to Combe Heath where just as I set up my 'scope all the birds went mental as an Osprey flew in, then dived in to the channel and caught a fish before passing overhead with a fish. What a great start to the visit.

 

There were an impressive forty-four Spoonbills in the channel, it was quite something to watch them all take to the air when the Osprey flew in, what a sight and by far my highest count of Spoonbills in the UK. Also in the channel a good number of waders, primarily Black-tailed Godwit and Avocet but a few Bar-tailed Godwit, Redshank and a single Knot. To round off the walk around Combe Heath a Dartford Warbler put on a bit of a show in the company of two Stonechats. Overhead, there was a good movement of Meadow Pipits and Swallows.
After a quick bite to eat in the café I headed out to Shipstal Point where nine Sandwich Tern were feeding in the Poole Harbour. Other than a couple of Oystercatchers there was nothing else of note as I completed the walk back to the car park. All in all though a brilliant trip out and the weather was just ideal.

Sutton Bingham - Fri 22 Sep

A late afternoon visit produced a flock of nine Mandarin at the southern end of the reservoir, my highest single count of this enigmatic duck at Sutton Bingham, a shame this record shot doesn't do them justice.

Not a huge amount else around, with a single Teal and two Wigeon present plus an adult Great Black-backed Gull was seen again after no sightings for a little while. A total of five Little Egrets were noted and a single Kingfisher was seen. A couple of Linnet flew over and there were still several Swallows milling around.