Sutton Bingham - Mon 28 Mar

Storm Katie had hit with force overnight, so I had to pop along to Sutton Bingham to see what goodies it had dropped off...the answer was a resounding none! Four Lesser Redpoll were seen on the northern causeway and two Siskin were at the Fishing Lodge, a sign that Winter has not left yet. There were at least three singing Chiffchaffs on site, so a small arrival of Spring migrants. A single Meadow Pipit flew north and a drake Tufted Duck and a drake Teal were at the southern end of the reservoir. At least two hundred Sand Martins were feeding over West Pool and the main reservoir.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 27 Mar

A late afternoon visit produced my first Chiffchaff of the year on the patch. A very flighty female Wigeon was also present and a female Siskin was in the car park.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2016 now at 77 species.

Ham Wall RSPB - Fri 25 Mar

In lovely sunshine I paid a visit to Ham Wall RSPB this afternoon. The pick of the birds were five Great White Egrets, but other than them it was not overly busy...especially with regard to Spring migrants. A Marsh Harrier was noted and a single drake Pintail was amongst the wildfowl. I counted half a dozen Black-tailed Godwit and at least ten Snipe, with a higher number of Lapwing also present.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 24 Mar

A quick visit in the rain this afternoon added my first Swallows of the Spring, with three over West Pool in the company of seven Sand Martins. A few fleeting visits over the past couple of days have only yielded a couple of Tufted Ducks, and a pair of Teal.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 20 Mar

A quick early morning visit produced the first Sand Martin of the year over West Pool...that was it!
Sutton Bingham year list for 2016 now at 75 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 19 Mar

So far March has been a pretty slow month, with the only addition to the patch year list being a near adult Yellow-legged Gull that was present in the gull roost on Tuesday of this week. That all changed today when I found myself with enough time to pop in to the reservoir on the way to work this morning. Parking on the northern causeway I scanned the West Pool...nothing, scanned the main reservoir...nothing, checked the pontoons off the Sailing Club..."insert expletive here" an Avocet! I certainly was not expecting that this morning, a patch tick (and I think only the third record for Sutton Bingham and first for about thirty years). I quickly sent out text messages to the usual crowd but to the best of my knowledge only one connected before the bird was flushed by the arriving sailors and flew south just before 8.00am. Needless to say I tried to get at least some sort of record shot with the rubbish camera on my phone (a bad workman and all that!):

 

Anyway, I could not hang around as I needed to get off to work, but what a start to the weekend, an Avocet on my local patch...result!

Sutton Bingham - Sat 12 Mar

A thirty minute visit before work this morning produced a couple of semi-decent birds. The pick of which was a female Shelduck that was seen in flight over the northern end of the reservoir before it circled West Pool and was lost to sight as it headed off towards the misty Fishing Lodge. Shelduck is by no means an annual bird at Sutton Bingham, so to have another record this year (after three birds in January) is pretty good going. Another new bird in today was a drake Shoveler on West Pool.
West Pool also held a single Little Grebe, looking splendid in it's breeding plumage. I could pick out three Wigeon off the dam, there were none present at the southern end of the reservoir, so it certainly looks as if the wintering flock has indeed dwindled considerably since the start of the month. The only other bits and pieces around this morning were a pair of Mute Swans near the Canoe Club and my first Kingfisher for several weeks.

Sutton Bingham - Fri 4 Mar

It does not get any better on the patch, ten Tufted Ducks at the southern end this evening (with another two on West Pool) and twenty-one Wigeon still hanging around. That's it folks!

Sutton Bingham - Thu 3 Mar

Yes, I know, my blog has been rather quiet of late...so here's a whistle stop round-up of some local twitches that failed to merit a blog posting of their own:
24 Feb - managed to connect with the first-winter Ring Ouzel at Larkspur Crescent in Yeovil.
27 Feb - three Lesser Redpoll and fifteen Wigeon at Sutton Bingham.
28 Feb - Cracking views of the Pallas's Warbler at Portesham.
3 Mar - Found a Siberian Chiffchaff at Sherborne Sewage Works.
And we're up to date! So a quick visit to the reservoir on my way home tonight produced a pretty good number of gulls considering the time of year. Highlights being seven Mediterranean Gulls but ten Common Gulls were also amongst the six hundred or so Black-headed Gulls and Herring Gulls. Just half a dozen Lesser Black-backed Gulls were noted. It really is quiet at Sutton Bingham at the moment!