Sutton Bingham - Sun 2 Aug

Nothing out of the ordinary today, but worth a Blog posting simply because there were a total of sight Green Sandpipers on patch this morning, three from the northern causeway and a further five at the southern end. There were also six Common Sandpipers present.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 1 Aug

A late afternoon visit today and Green Sandpipers had seen a rise in numbers to a total of seven birds. There were also seven Common Sandpipers present. After a chat with the Ranger I found out that he had seen a Wheatear first thing in the area near the Sailing Club. So on the way home I stopped at the northern causeway to check the newly mown field immediately to the south of West Pool thinking that this would be the most likely area for a Wheatear...and I was right!

Having not had the opportunity to search during the lockdown in Spring it was great to get this addition to the patch year list.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2020 now at 104 species.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 30 Jul

Despite checking most of the reservoir it was the southern end that produced all the birds of interest. A male Kestrel was seen and my fourth Dunlin of the year was present with five Common Sandpipers and four, possibly as many as five as they were rather flighty, Green Sandpipers.

A handful of Mandarin were also seen at the southern end.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 29 Jul

Not much change over the last few days, with Common Sandpipers numbering some half a dozen birds and four Green Sandpipers being seen. What was presumably the Coot seen a few days ago was again present, this time showing much better off the northern causeway.

At least six Little Egrets and seven Grey Herons were present.

Sutton Bingham - Mon 27 Jul

A few trips to the reservoir over the past few days failed to produce anything of note, and it looked like it was going to be more of the same today initially. However, after much scanning of the southern end I was able to find a total of three Green Sandpipers and five Common Sandpipers and then I stumbled across a Wood Sandpiper! It was favouring the back of the "pond" that has been formed by the drop in water levels. Unfortunately it was always very distant and was last seen in flight in the company of a Green Sandpiper...the latter returned to the same area but I lost the Wood Sandpiper and was unable to relocate it.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2020 now at 103 species.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 23 Jul

I got a message early morning from Bob Buckler telling me of a Coot at the southern end of the reservoir, he had seen two off the Sailing Cub earlier in the week (which I didn't see!) so this was a much needed year tick as this is a really hard bird to get at Sutton Bingham nowadays. After arriving on site at 8.30am it took me over an hour to finally locate it!

It may only be a Coot but it was my one hundredth species for Sutton Bingham this year. After popping back home quickly I was back to the reservoir by 10am for a family walk, this time the Coot showed immediately! A total of six Common Sandpipers were also at the southern end.
As I headed home for a second time I made a quick stop at the northern causeway where I found a juvenile Little Grebe, another year tick and another bird that is getting harder to find on patch.

I've no idea where this bird would have been hatched, but it certainly wasn't here. Checking West Pool there were a few Little Egrets at the back of the pool, and quickly scanning with my 'scope I was stunned to find a Cattle Egret, a Sutton Bingham life tick.

A quick return visit late afternoon and the Cattle Egret had moved closer to the road, but behind a tree!

An absolutely belter of a day on patch, three additions to the year list one of which being a patch tick. It does not get much better than that!
Sutton Bingham year list for 2020 now at 102 species.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 22 Jul

Looks like there was a bit of a clear out overnight, though the Green Sandpiper was still present but only six Common Sandpipers today. The only real bird of interest was a juvenile Common Gull present off the dam.


This is a very unusual plumage at Sutton Bingham with the youngest birds usually being first-winters. No idea where this bird would have been hatched, I'm not aware of any breeding Common Gulls nearby.