Sutton Bingham - Sat 23 Jun

A bit more wader migration this morning with two Common Sandpipers present at the reservoir. Also this morning, a couple of fly-through Stock Doves and the two Little Egrets were still milling around. The female Mandarin appears to have lost one of her brood as I could only count four ducklings today.
A drake Tufted Duck was present last night but there was no sign this morning.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 21 Jun

Despite several short visits to the reservoir in June there has been nothing much to report other than a singing Skylark near the Fishing Lodge, a couple of Little Egrets and a Mandarin with five ducklings (plus a further two adult birds)...hence the lack of postings. However, a little bit of interest this evening with what was presumably a family party of Lapwing on West Pool, two adult birds and three juveniles. So a little bit of wader passage and something to pique my interest after what has been a tough month so far with regard to birds on the patch.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 30 May

A quick stop at the Fishing Lodge before work produced a female Teal, a somewhat surprise find given the time of year. Also this morning, four Swift over the Fishing Lodge and a pair of Canada Geese have a single gosling.

Isle Brewers - Tue 29 May

An after work twitch today as I headed up to Isle Brewers to see a first summer female Red-footed Falcon. It turned out to be the most obliging Red-footed Falcon I have ever seen with amazingly close fly-by views before it alighted in to a poplar tree right in front of me. Unfortunately, it had the light behind it and it was raining, so the photos below are not that good...but then again I know the reader does not expect anything amazing from me when it comes to pictures of birds!

What a great little trip out, really made my day.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 24 May

I had a day off work today so spent a couple of hours at the reservoir this morning. Again it was fairly quiet but a Peregrine was an unseasonal find at the southern end of the reservoir, sat atop one of the pylons. My first patch Coot for a couple of months was seen near the car park where a few Swallows were rather obliging. 

 

On a hunch I decided to check out the path up to the church and it proved to be a great call as I found a Spotted Flycatcher.

The photos are terrible I know, but I had to "digi-bin" the bird and it had the sun behind it, nevertheless, you can make it out to be a Spotted Flycatcher...honest! Hopefully this bird will find a mate and hang around, I've never found evidence of Spotted Flycatchers breeding at Sutton Bingham.
Sutton Bingham year list 2018 now at 104 species.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 23 May

Pretty quiet at the reservoir this afternoon, though a Hobby was again over fields to the south of West Pool, presumably the same bird that I saw at the weekend.
At the southern end of the reservoir there were three sub-adult Mute Swans today.

The Great Crested Grebes are looking pretty awesome at the moment, though obviously my photo fails to do them credit!

There were a couple of "new" singing Whitethroats today though.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 19 May

A few brief stops over the past few days have failed to deliver anything new, a couple of Common Sandpipers have passed through and a drake Tufted Duck was present yesterday. However, I did manage to get an addition to the patch year list today with a Hobby over field to the south of West Pool. Hobby is an expected May addition, though two weeks later than normal this year.
Sutton Bingham year list 2018 now at 103 species.