It was then back towards the northern end of the reservoir and I parked near the Canoe Club and walked along the water's edge to the car park. I spent a fair bit of time around this area and just as I was about to head back to the car I heard a Long-tailed Tit calling...and as it was a year tick I hunted out a small flock. I then saw a Chiffchaff which looked exactly the same as the bird I saw a few weeks ago, all buff with black bill and legs and pale wing bar, the probable Siberian Chiffchaff. My attention was then drawn to another small bird and I couldn't believe when I lifted my bins and found myself looking at a Yellow-browed Warbler! This is the second record for Sutton Bingham, the first was the bird I found back in October of last year. So a few frantic phone calls followed as I got the news out.
The flock of feeding birds moved along the water's edge back towards the small bridge at the back of the church and then vanished. A single Chiffchaff was seen and was another year tick, this bird was the typical greenish variety! As I returned to the car park a female Reed Bunting flew from the vegetation.
I spent half an hour at the end of my visit checking the gulls. Not many around tonight, but I did head off for home before dusk so I expect most of the gulls had not yet come in. I did see a single Common Gull amongst the more routine fare. A small flock of a dozen Wigeon were present off the dam. All in all a brilliant start to the year on patch.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2014 now at 36 species.
Patchwork Challenge
This year I am taking part in the Patchwork Challenge, a friendly competition to see how many species occur on your local patch, so understandably I've picked Sutton Bingham Reservoir. The area I'm covering is as follows and is well within the three square kilometre limit:
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