Sutton Bingham - Sun 2 Jul

Other than a very brief visit late morning, when I found three juvenile Coot off the northern causeway (presumably dispersed from elsewhere as I've not seen any evidence of breeding at Sutton Bingham this year), I avoided the reservoir yesterday as there was an open day in the meadows!

However, today I spent a couple of hours on site in the morning. Starting at the Fishing Lodge, it was initially pretty quiet other than four Mistle Thrushes on the dam, but then a quick stop at the northern causeway produced the first of three Little Egrets that were present on patch.

I then headed down to the southern end of the reservoir where three Mandarin were on the far bank from the site of the old hide. Off then for a walk around Cotton bridge where a further four Mandarin were seen, indicating that two pairs have bred this year (or one pair have had two broods).

There were plenty of young birds seen today, and a few other birds of interest with a single adult Great Black-backed Gull, a Kestrel and two Linnet.
Butterflies were very much out in numbers also, with ten species logged, including a single Small Skipper, several Ringlet and a Comma. Whilst around a large Oak I spotted what was presumably a Purple Hairstreak.