Sutton Bingham - Sun 16 Oct

Well today I managed two visits to the reservoir, one pre-breakfast and another late in the afternoon.
I started the day at West Pool where there were several birds present, somewhat bucking the recent trend on patch! A Stonechat and at least six Meadow Pipits were feeding on the southern edge of West Pool where six Snipe were roosting. West Pool also held two Teal and a pair of Wigeon. Overhead a Raven was heard and the main reservoir produced a fly-by Kingfisher. The sallows in the corner of West Pool contained a couple of Chiffchaff and a Goldcrest, but nothing scarcer.
I then drove down to the southern end of the reservoir. The long-staying Pintail had moved on at last but there were still fifty-three Teal and thirty-two Wigeon. Four Skylark flew over, as did a single Meadow Pipit.
Finally this morning, I stopped off at the church, but other than a handful of Redwing couldn't find anything of note.
Returning to the reservoir late afternoon, I made straight for the dam where a Little Grebe was feeding just off the tower. Then a real surprise as I heard a Red-legged Partridge calling, only the third time I've recorded this species at Sutton Bingham and a real bonus patch year tick. It called a few times but I was unable to pin it down. A flock of twenty-five Linnet was also noted at the top of the entrance to the Fishing Lodge.
Back then to the northern causeway and a check of the gulls that were starting to drop in. Three sub-adult Common Gulls were the pick.

Black-headed Gulls numbered well over a hundred and at least three hundred larger gulls were present.
Sutton Bingham year list 2016 now at 116 species.