Sutton Bingham - Sun 13 Oct

I spent most of the morning at Sutton Bingham Reservoir today in an attempt to find something different and cheer myself up as I've been struggling with a cough and cold over the past few days.
I started out by walking from the hide along the water's edge to the car park and back. There was a little bit of visible migration as three Swallows passed through heading south, whilst heading west my first winter thrushes of the autumn, with six Fieldfares and three small flocks of Redwings (a total of seventeen birds). A small number of Meadow Pipits also passed though, but no more than half a dozen birds and a single Grey Wagtail also flew south.
A small flock of eight Wigeon flew in from the north and landed on the water, and some thirty minutes later a flock of twelve flew north (the original eight were nowhere to be seen so I presume they made up the bulk of this second flock).
As I neared the car park a large flock of Goldfinches were feeding on the scrubby vegetation, and a single Siskin was in with them. I then found a bird I'd not seen at Sutton Bingham for years, a male Yellowhammer was calling from a small bush. From the car park a Little Egret was seen on the far bank whilst at least two Kingfishers were interacting and a Chiffchaff skulked around. Returning to the car I flushed a Snipe from the water's edge, counted thirty eight Great Crested Grebes and watched a Kestrel fly north.
My second circuit was round the southern end of the reservoir where I was hopeful something might be lurking. I soon found a large flock of Long-tailed Tits, some thirty or so birds, and mixed in with them a few Goldcrests, Treecreepers, Blue Tits, Great Tits and Chiffchaffs...and then something else popped in to view. It was one of those special moments when I realised that I'd found a national scarcity and a patch tick (in fact I believe it is a first for the site) as a very smart Yellow-browed Warbler gave itself up feeding amongst the bushes and trees. I watched the bird for some five minutes as the diagnostic wing bars and eye-stripe showed brightly against the greenish plumage. What a little cracker!
It was with a real spring in my stride that I headed back to the car and home for a well-deserved lunch.
NB: Unfortunately the Yellow-browed Warbler was in an area of the reservoir that has little public access...sorry.