Sutton Bingham - Mon 31 Dec

My final visit to the reservoir of the year and an hour on site mid-afternoon produced two drake and one duck Pintail off the Fishing Lodge in the company of three Teal. The Wigeon flock was dispersed in to three groups, but still totalled eighty-four birds and the Canada Geese seemed to be split up a bit too, with a few small groups and a total of seventy birds. A single Mediterranean Gull was picked up in the gathering gull roost but I failed to find anything else. It was encouraging to count ten Greenfinch at the Fishing Lodge.
Finally, I'd like to wish all the followers of my blog a very Happy New Year and a prosperous, healthy, and bird filled 2019.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 26 Dec

An hour on patch late-morning provided a surprising range of birds with a very unexpected Red Kite flying north over the reservoir. A Little Egret then flew over heading east and then a flock of eight Egyptian Geese flew in from the north heading south, followed by a lone Lapwing...all this within about 15 minutes! As I walked back to where I had parked I saw the Egyptian Geese had settled on the water, so I grabbed a quick shot of all eight, the highest number I have ever seen together at Sutton Bingham.

 

I could only muster up fifty-four Wigeon today and four Teal. The Canada Goose flock numbered some thirty-nine birds.
Sutton Bingham year list 2018 now at 117 species.

Sutton Bingham - Fri 21 Dec

Back on patch this afternoon and a Shelduck was near the dam, though not viewable from public rights of way.

West Pool hosted a pair of Shoveler and three pairs of Gadwall. Three Tufted Duck and five Teal were off the Fishing Lodge along with fifty-seven Wigeon.

Lanzarote - Thu 13 Dec to Thu 20 Dec

A family, so strictly non-birding, holiday to Lanzarote to get some winter sun was really relaxing and enjoyable. Although it was not a birding trip I did of course manage to get some done and had taken my 'scope and bins "just in case"! Having visited Lanzarote in 2009 there were not any target species to go for as I had cleaned up first time round, but it was still good to see some species I'd not had the opportunity to view for a few years.
The plains north-east of Playa Blanca, the resort where we stayed, produced three Cream-coloured Coursers a few Lesser Short-toed Larks and some Southern Grey Shrikes.
A trip to Timanfaya National Park for a camel ride and to see the volcano was good for Rock Dove and Trumpeter Finch, plus a bonus Barbary Falcon.
I did manage a couple of trips to the salt pans and lagoon at Salinas de Janubio. This was great for birds, with good numbers of Black-winged Stilt, seventy Black-necked Grebe, a Spoonbill, Knot, several Ruddy Shelduck, loads of Sanderling and Ringed Plover, etc. I also had three Teal here, but light was dreadful so I could not rule out Green-winged Teal.
Other highlights of the holiday included several Berthelot's Pipits, a Hoopoe and a Laughing Dove.
All in all not a bad little haul for a family holiday, just 37 species for the week, but we fully recharged our batteries.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 12 Dec

An adult winter Little Gull, amazingly the third on patch I've found this year, was present in the gull flock this afternoon, rather too distant for a photo, but I tried nonetheless.

It was in fact quite a good visit today, with a decent flock of one hundred and twenty Wigeon and a total of eighty-one Canada Geese. Just a single Teal today though. A Skylark flew over whilst also amongst the gulls, a third calendar year Great Black-backed Gull and an adult Mediterranean Gull. A Peregrine was on a pylon at the southern end and a Kestrel was also seen. It was nice to find a Marsh Tit and two Ravens were noted. Three Bullfinch were also seen and a nice flock of thirty Chaffinch was a good total.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 5 Dec

The only birds of note this afternoon in heavy rain were a flock of forty-nine Wigeon and a single drake Gadwall off the Fishing Lodge, nothing else about at all.