Sutton Bingham - Wed 26 Oct

A brief early morning visit was very productive, with some obvious visible migration in the form of eight Skylark, eleven Fieldfare (my first of the autumn at the reservoir) and fourteen Meadow Pipits through. A Stonechat was still around the fringes of West Pool where a very late Common Sandpiper was feeding. A single Snipe was also noted on West Pool alongside a Grey Wagtail.
Returning later in the day I had a bit of time to spare so started at the southern end where a Little Grebe was present and Teal numbers had increased to 131 birds (no Wigeon seen today).
I then drove round to the Fishing Lodge and checked out the geese (something I often do...just in case!) and today it paid off with a first-winter type Eurasian White-fronted Goose present amongst the Canada Geese. Amazingly I then found a single Barnacle Goose which was another new arrival. So two quality patch year ticks in the space of a couple of minutes. Unfortunately both geese kept their distance and the Eurasian White-fronted Goose in particular was rather mobile with the Canada Goose flock, I eventually managed to get a little closer as the flock moved to the southern end of the reservoir, but my pictures, taken in fading light, do not do it justice.

 

 

 

Obviously the top photo its the very distant Barnacle Goose, and the bottom three the Eurasian White-fronted Goose hanging around with the Canada Geese. Did I mention it was distant and the light was poor?

Sutton Bingham year list 2016 now at 118 species.