Sutton Bingham - Wed 31 Jul

It was more of the same this morning, though a fly-over Yellow Wagtail was heard calling. Five Green Sandpiper and ten Common Sandpiper were present and two Raven were also noted.

Sutton Bingham - Tue 30 Jul

Rain overnight and steady drizzle this morning when I arrived for a quick look around before work. The southern end of the reservoir held a single Great White Egret plus a lone Green Sandpiper and five Common Sandpiper. Highlight though just as veer heavy rain started falling were two Common Tern that flew through heading south.
Driving round to the Fishing Lodge remarkably I found another Common Tern, this one sitting on a buoy off the dam.

Another eleven Common Sandpiper were also present.
A stop on the way home from work later in the day produced six Green Sandpiper and a Wood Sandpiper at the southern end.
Sutton Bingham year list 2019 now at 106 species.

Sutton Bingham - Mon 29 Jul

A quick morning visit today produced a Green Sandpiper on West Pool and a Great White Egret off the northern causeway. At the southern end of reservoir two more Green Sandpiper were seen and one of the Wood Sandpiper was still present. I did try and get a photo of the Wood Sandpiper today, but my efforts were significantly worse than the pathetic effort I managed on Thursday evening! A total of eight Common Sandpiper were noted at the reservoir.
A quick stop late afternoon produced two Lapwing on West Pool.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 27 Jul

A couple of hours at the reservoir this morning, starting at the Fishing Lodge where there was nothing of note! On then round to the northern causeway where a flock of seventeen Common Sandpiper were present as well at three others. A single Green Sandpiper was on West Pool.
A check of the southern end drew a blank, though a Great White Egret was seen and five Mandarin were noted.

Walking back to the car park I was sure I heard a Redshank call so hot-footed it down to the northern causeway where the Redshank was stood, a patch year tick! It must have just dropped in as it was not present an hour earlier. The Redshank relocated to West Pool before flying east when a few anglers turned up. Herewith a digi-binned record shot for posterity!

I then had a text from James to say the Wood Sandpiper was showing, so back to the southern end and after a bit of a wait the Wood Sandpiper popped out and showed well for a short while before vanishing again. Two Green Sandpiper were also present and my first three Teal of the autumn were seen.
A return visit in the evening produced both Wood Sandpiper showing well together at the southern end. A check of the entire reservoir produced a total of twenty-six Common Sandpiper.
Sutton Bingham year list 2019 now at 105 species.

Sutton Bingham - Fri 26 Jul

A mid-morning stroll failed with regard to seeing last night's Wood Sandpiper, though it had been seen earlier in the day (and again later). Ten Common Sandpiper were present along with three Green Sandpiper. A Great White Egret was near the Canoe Club and a couple of Mandarin were noted.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 25 Jul

A brief morning visit was pretty unproductive with just five Common Sandpiper present.
However, a text message from Pete Akers early evening informed me of an eclipse Garganey with a Teal off the northern causeway, so I headed out and en route I received another text from Pete, this time telling me of a Wood Sandpiper he had just found at the southern end. So I ignored the Garganey and headed south to stake out the area that the various waders that have been present over the past week have been favouring. There were two Lapwing present with ten Common Sandpiper and five Green Sandpiper. After a bit of a wait I heard the Wood Sandpiper as it flew past but didn't see it, then a few minutes later it flew past with two Green Sandpiper and eventually settled distantly on the mud. My first patch Wood Sandpiper at Sutton Bingham for several years and an excellent patch year tick. Always rather distant, here's a pretty top-quality of it with a Green Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper for comparison!

I did stop quickly on the way home at the northern causeway but failed to find the Garganey or Teal but a Great White Egret was on West Pool.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 24 Jul

Three Green Sandpipers were new in to West Pool this morning, where a Great White Egret also dropped in. Not a lot of interest off the dam/Fishing Lodge with just a couple of Little Egrets, a Kingfisher and two Linnet. At the southern end another two Green Sandpipers were present along with five Common Sandpipers (a sixth was on the northern causeway). Two Mandarin at the southern end were the only other birds of note.

Sutton Bingham - Tue 23 Jul

Hard going first thing this morning with heavy fog covering the reservoir, though it did start to clear just as I was leaving for work. That being said I did see a Great White Egret, on the bank opposite the Sailing Club, whilst two Common Sandpipers were on the dam. An adult Grey Wagtail was present with four juvenile birds and a Swift swept in for a drink!
A return visit later in the day was slightly more productive with a slight "heron-fest" at the southern end with both Great White Egrets, six Little Egrets and four Grey Herons present. Also at the southern end were two Green Sandpipers, four Common Sandpipers and three Mandarin.

Sutton Bingham - Mon 22 Jul

One of the long-staying Great White Egrets was showing very well off the northern causeway this morning.

The Green Sandpiper was still at the southern end with four Common Sandpipers whilst elsewhere three Little Egrets were scattered around the reservoir and two Great Black-backed Gulls were still present.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 20 Jul

A late afternoon visit added Green Sandpiper to the patch year list with a single bird at the southern end with four Common Sandpipers. The two Great White Egrets were still present and at least four Little Egrets were on site. A single female-type Mandarin was seen and two adult Great Black-backed Gulls were still present.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 17 Jul

Both Great White Egrets were viewable from the Fishing Lodge this morning. A single Common Sandpiper was at the southern end of the reservoir and Kingfishers at either end of the reservoir.

Sutton Bingham - Tue 16 Jul

The same Osprey I had seen yesterday morning was present again this morning over the southern end of the reservoir before it flew off to the north and I was unable to relocate it. A Common Sandpiper was present near the Fishing Lodge.
A return visit in the afternoon produced a Great White Egret on West Pool plus the first juvenile Yellow-legged Gull of the year. Two female type Mandarin were off the northern causeway.

Sutton Bingham - Mon 15 Jul

I was lucky enough to see an Osprey at the reservoir again this morning, it was interacting with a Buzzard over the northern end of the reservoir.

A single Great White Egret was again seen with five Little Egrets around the site. Two Swift were over the Fishing Lodge and a couple of Linnet were noted. A drake Tufted Duck was on the main reservoir, somewhat unseasonal, and a single Great Black-backed Gull was seen.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 13 Jul

A walk along the reservoir mid-morning failed to produce anything of note though West Pool played host to one of the long-staying Great White Egrets, the second bird was present on the dam. My first Sand Martins of the "autumn" were seen over the dam with at least ten birds flying around.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 10 Jul

One Great White Egret was present this morning alongside five Little Egrets. At the southern end of the reservoir a total of ten Mandarin were seen and four Linnet were near the dam where four Common Sandpipers were also present.

Sutton Bingham - Tue 9 Jul

An amazing visit to the reservoir pre-work this morning with two Great White Egrets seen, one on West Pool and the second opposite the Sailing Club. An Osprey, presumably one of the birds that was seen last week whilst I was in Cornwall, was present near the Canoe Club.

The highlight had to be a Greenshank, simply because it was an addition to the patch year list. Viewable from the Fishing Lodge initially it flew south calling at around 8.30am.
There were also five Little Egrets present this morning and singles of Kingfisher and Common Sandpiper. Two Great Black-backed Gulls were still around.

Sutton Bingham - Mon 8 Jul

A quick morning visit produced a Great White Egret on West Pool. There were also three Little Egret and a Common Sandpiper. An adult Great Black-backed Gull was present.

Martin Down & Salisbury Plain - Sun 7 Jul

A day out with friends today and we started off with a visit to Martin Down nature reserve where we were lucky enough to see a total of six Turtle Doves, including a flock of five flying around together. The supporting case consisted of Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer and Skylark. A great start to the day so off we headed to a couple of sites on Salisbury Plain.
Our first stop on Salisbury Plain produced a couple of singing Quail and also two Stone Curlew. I also picked up a rather Great Bustard...OK, so it's from the reintroduction scheme, but what a bird. A single Curlew was also seen at this site.

We then moved off to try another area and saw hundreds of butterflies plus a bonus Tree Pipit and a Stonechat.
Our final stop of the day was pretty amazing as we were fortunate to see a female Montague's Harrier.

A couple of Red Kite were also noted and then the male Montague's Harrier appeared to harass a Red Kite and so we were treated to great views of both harriers. This rounded off an absolutely brilliant day of birding.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 6 Jul

Whilst in Cornwall I'd had messages telling me of two Ospreys, two Great White Egrets and two Redshank...obviously being away I had missed them all. So on returning home and unpacking I popped down to the reservoir late afternoon to try my luck to see if anything was lingering, though I was not expecting much.
However, as it happened it was a brilliant visit with one of the Great White Egrets doing he decent thing and staying allowing me to add this once rare heron to the patch year list.

Also present this afternoon were two Red Kites over the southern end of the reservoir, plus a total of seven Little Egrets. Two Kingfishers were also seen and a Raven flew over. Finally, a single Linnet was near the dam.

Cornwall - Sat 29 Jun to Sat 6 Jul

A week away on a family holiday, and being the first week of July with very warm weather as you can probably imagine it was not that productive from a birding point of view!
Our cottage did turn up trumps with a singing Cirl Bunting in the garden on a couple of occasions though.
During the course of the week I did very little birding though a trip to St. Andrew's Head one evening was pretty good with at least thirteen Manx Shearwater out to see and three Guillemot plus a Fulmer. A few Mediterranean Gulls were also seen in Gerrans Bay with a small number of Gannet.
Unlike the holidays in this area that I have taken in Spring and Autumn waders were and far between this week, with Curlew being the most numerous and just a single Greenshank noted. Four Common Sandpipers were together at Ruan Lanithorne and four Oystercatchers were seen at Pendower beach.
A singing Reed Warbler was at Ruan Lanithorne and a Marsh Tit was seen at Melinsey Mill where a family of Moorhen were having a successful summer with three juvenile birds alongside the pair of adults and a further five chicks.
Three Sandwich Terns were off Porthscatho and a family of Stonechat, including three recently fledged birds, were seen above Pendower beach.
All in all a lovely and relaxing family holiday, with a few decent birds chucked in for good measure.