Sutton Bingham - Wed 30 May

A quick stop at the Fishing Lodge before work produced a female Teal, a somewhat surprise find given the time of year. Also this morning, four Swift over the Fishing Lodge and a pair of Canada Geese have a single gosling.

Isle Brewers - Tue 29 May

An after work twitch today as I headed up to Isle Brewers to see a first summer female Red-footed Falcon. It turned out to be the most obliging Red-footed Falcon I have ever seen with amazingly close fly-by views before it alighted in to a poplar tree right in front of me. Unfortunately, it had the light behind it and it was raining, so the photos below are not that good...but then again I know the reader does not expect anything amazing from me when it comes to pictures of birds!

What a great little trip out, really made my day.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 24 May

I had a day off work today so spent a couple of hours at the reservoir this morning. Again it was fairly quiet but a Peregrine was an unseasonal find at the southern end of the reservoir, sat atop one of the pylons. My first patch Coot for a couple of months was seen near the car park where a few Swallows were rather obliging. 

 

On a hunch I decided to check out the path up to the church and it proved to be a great call as I found a Spotted Flycatcher.

The photos are terrible I know, but I had to "digi-bin" the bird and it had the sun behind it, nevertheless, you can make it out to be a Spotted Flycatcher...honest! Hopefully this bird will find a mate and hang around, I've never found evidence of Spotted Flycatchers breeding at Sutton Bingham.
Sutton Bingham year list 2018 now at 104 species.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 23 May

Pretty quiet at the reservoir this afternoon, though a Hobby was again over fields to the south of West Pool, presumably the same bird that I saw at the weekend.
At the southern end of the reservoir there were three sub-adult Mute Swans today.

The Great Crested Grebes are looking pretty awesome at the moment, though obviously my photo fails to do them credit!

There were a couple of "new" singing Whitethroats today though.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 19 May

A few brief stops over the past few days have failed to deliver anything new, a couple of Common Sandpipers have passed through and a drake Tufted Duck was present yesterday. However, I did manage to get an addition to the patch year list today with a Hobby over field to the south of West Pool. Hobby is an expected May addition, though two weeks later than normal this year.
Sutton Bingham year list 2018 now at 103 species.

Sutton Bingham - Mon 14 May

Another day, another couple of flying visits. Another Common Sandpiper was present today, again on the northern causeway first thing whilst over the fields south of West Pool a total of three Red Kites were present early evening. This brings my Red Kite count up to five individuals this year, more than I have managed in the previous fifteen years of birding at Sutton Bingham. Several Buzzards were also riding the thermals this evening.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 13 May

I had a text from John Rickards last night saying that a Whitethroat was singing at the reservoir, so a quick trip after breakfast was needed to finally get this bird on the patch year list. Two weeks later than the norm I did indeed get Whitethroat with a very vocal male singing in the scrubby area just south of the car park.
Not much else seen during the brief visit, though a Kingfisher carrying food was encouraging and a Raven passed over.
Sutton Bingham year list 2018 now at 102 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 12 May

A couple of quick stops to and from work today and a Common Sandpiper was present on the northern causeway first thing with the two sub-adult Mute Swans again on West Pool.
An equally quick stop on my way home from work produced my first patch Swifts of the year with two viewable distantly from Hyde Farm.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 10 May

A very quick stop on the way home from work tonight produced a couple of terns flying around at the northern end of the reservoir. I was convinced they were Arctic Terns but were always just a little bit too distant to absolutely nail. So after dinner I popped back to the reservoir and this time the terns were off the dam, so hot-footing it round to the Fishing Lodge I set up my scope and was able to confirm the identification as they were both rather obliging by perching on buoys. The photos below are of the bird with the paler bill, the second bird (which was more distant) had a really dark red bill that looked almost black from a distance.

Arctic Tern is not an easy bird to get on the patch year list, so this was a welcome find and also represented my 100th species of the year at Sutton Bingham.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 9 May

A quick visit this afternoon which produced very little. My second patch Willow Warbler of the year was present at the extreme southern end of the patch and another (or possibly the same?) male Kestrel was seen. A couple of Stock Doves were also noted. The two sub-adult Mute Swans were also present again.

Sutton Bingham - Mon 7 May

Considering it was a Bank Holiday weekend I simply didn't seem to have any time to do any birding at the reservoir, some fleeting visits and today was no different. A couple of Common Sandpipers were on the northern causeway today but no additions to the year list.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 5 May

It's been a very slow start to May, with a drake Tufted Duck present on West Pool yesterday and a couple of sub-adult Mute Swans which spent a few days also on West Pool. I did manage to add something to the year list today during a brief early afternoon stop on my way home from work with a nice, albeit distant, male Kestrel over the north-eastern end of the reservoir. Also today, my second Red Kite of the year with a rather ragged looking individual viewed from Hyde Farm.