I spent around ninety minutes at the reservoir late morning and concentrated my efforts on the southern end around Cotton Bridge, mainly due to the presence of sailors, canoeists and anglers utilising the vast majority of the reservoir for their various recreational activities.
Quick stops at the Fishing Lodge, Water Treatment Works, northern causeway/West Pool and the site of the hide failed to produce anything and I almost gave up but a stop at the southern causeway produced a flock of twenty-one Common Sandpipers which provided just enough interest for me to decide to explore the southern end.
There were plenty of birds about with at least ten singing Blackcaps and six Willow Warblers holding territory, the latter of which was a marked improvement on the single bird I heard last year. A pair of Marsh Tits put on a really good show whilst overhead a couple of Ravens were seen and a single Sand Martin was amongst the Swallows and House Martins.
Six Teal were still hanging around, will they move on or will they stay for the season?
As I moved round to the far side of the reservoir, there is no public access to this part of the site, I could hear a Lesser Whitethroat singing, albeit distantly. Moving on a few hundred metres I could hear a second bird much closer and within a few minutes it popped out in to the open and showed extremely well for several minutes. This is the first Lesser Whitethroat I've actually seen at Sutton Bingham for a few years so it was good to connect with this often skulking warbler.
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