Sutton Bingham - Sun 15 Nov

I spent most of the afternoon at Sutton Bingham today, arriving at around 2.30pm and staying until dark. Starting off at the dam I counted forty-two Wigeon on the bank, but nothing much else. A single Meadow Pipit was hanging around with a few Pied Wagtails in the horse paddock. There were a good number of commoner "garden" birds around the Fishing Lodge and several Redwing were present. Two Grey Wagtails were also seen around the dam and Lodge area.
I then stopped off for a wander around the outflow stream where a Bullfinch but in a brief appearance, my first on the patch for a while. Singles of Coal Tit and Goldcrest were in with a flock of Long-tailed Tits, but again I failed to discover anything scarcer.
Off then to the southern end of the reservoir and a walk down to Cotton Bridge. Three Snipe were flushed form the water's edge and five Tufted Ducks (one drake and four ducks) were on the water. A further eight Wigeon were also noted, twenty Teal were counted and a single Mandarin was seen. It was surprisingly quiet with regard to smaller birds, with nothing much seen at all.
Back to the northern end of the reservoir and I took a walk from the car park down towards the Canoe Club and back. The single Stonechat was again seen in the field between the car park and Canoe Club and two Meadow Pipits flew over. Surprise of the day came in the form of a rather decomposed corpse:

My initial thoughts were of an auk, but the head and feet were missing unfortunately...in fact it was unfortunate that the bird was long dead. After sharing the pictures on Twitter, Guillemot seemed to be the general feeling, and I tend to agree with this. It is therefore a first for the patch and therefore a patch lifer...but I don't think it fair to count dead birds on one's list!
Rounding off the day with a check of the gulls I failed to find anything unusual amongst the thousand or so birds gathered to roost, so with the light finally gone it was back home.