Sutton Bingham - Fri 10 Nov

A slight change of plan this week due to unforeseen problems at work on Wednesday meant I finally got my half day today and managed to spend almost three hours at Sutton Bingham. The Egyptian Goose that was present briefly at the weekend was back today and was associating with Canada Geese around the Sailing Club.

Off the dam the Wigeon flock had increased to fifty-four birds and two Tufted Duck were also present. Gull numbers increased as the afternoon progressed but other than a few Common Gull which were the first of the winter there was nothing unusual amongst the gathering flock.
A walk along the reservoir's western edge was not overly productive, with just a couple of Redwing seen around the car park.
I then spent a good hour working the area at the extreme south of the reservoir which turned out to be the most profitable part of the patch today. A roving flock of Long-tailed Tits contained a couple of Chiffchaff and a Goldcrest, but nothing rarer. A Raven was "cronking" overhead. Ten Teal were flushed from the water but the highlight of the day were two, possibly three, calling Water Rail. These were my first on patch since 2014 and a very welcome patch year tick.
Sutton Bingham year list 2017 now at 110 species.