Sunday 22 January 2012

Sutton Bingham - Sun 22 Jan

Back in to a bit of routine today and Tristan's first birding trip with dad! I dropped Ellie off at church this morning and took Tristan with me to Sutton Bingham Reservoir, and he slept pretty much throughout the trip as I carried him in his papoose strapped to my front.
We walked alongside the water at the southern end of the reservoir, flushing a couple of Snipe and seeing a few Teal and three Mandarin (two drakes and a duck). There was a moment of activity and commotion amongst the duck as a Peregrine swept by over our heads, but it did not appear to catch anything.
When we returned to the car we saw a couple of Mistle Thrushes and a Goldcrest was seen singing away. We then hopped in to the car and drove up to West Pool and the northern end of the reservoir.
There were a few Common Gulls and a flock of twenty-two Canada Geese on the water off the Fishing Lodge, but the bird of the day was on West Pool...a Whooper Swan was present (seen feeding with a Mute Swan), a very uncommon bird at the reservoir in recent times. Despite the bird being in the far corner and the wind blowing a gale, I did manage to get one record shot:
Also on West Pool, a small group of thirteen Tufted Ducks and twenty or so Wigeon. Before I knew it our time was up and we had to head back and pick mummy up from church...but a great hour of father and son birding.

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