Sutton Bingham - Mon 1 Apr

A pre-breakfast trip to the reservoir this morning. I had missed a couple of Ospreys that had been seen at the reservoir last night because my phone was on silent and the battery in my pager had run out, so I was on site at 6.30am in the hope that one of the birds would have roosted overnight and would still be present on site. In an hour long search, I drew a complete blank. However, what I did see more than made up for it as I was treated to some stunning views of a hunting Barn Owl between the hide and the canoe club. This was a Sutton Bingham tick for me so I was thrilled to bits!
Also this morning a Kingfisher flew past the hide and two Stock Doves passed overhead, but there was little in the way of migration and a singing Chiffchaff was the only real taste of Spring with a bitterly cold wind making it almost too cold for shorts this morning!
A return visit in the early evening on the off chance that I had simply missed any Ospreys first thing in the morning produced three pairs of Shoveler from the northern causeway and from the hide, a very smart Osprey!

 

The Osprey showed very well for about five minutes before flying north and circling the reservoir, eventually it settled again and so I went to look for it. I relocated the Osprey as it was perched in a dead tree about a hundred metres south of the car park...making some of the local Cormorants rather nervous. So a good end to what was a very profitable day at the reservoir.