Sutton Bingham - Fri 30 Apr

A quick lunchtime visit produced a Red Kite over the southern end of the reservoir. A welcome addition to the patch year list. A total of five Common Sandpipers were on the northern causeway early evening.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2021 now at 86 species.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 29 Apr

A push for migrants today as I was well down on my average April patch additions, but nothing doing other than a singing Whitethroat just south of the car park. I missed a very brief Yellow Wagtail which was rather annoying, but that's the way it goes sometimes. The only other birds of note this afternoon were three Common Sandpipers, a lone White Wagtail and a couple of Great Black-backed Gulls. There must have been somewhere in the region of five hundred large gulls on the water.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 28 Apr

A couple of flying visits over the past few days had failed to turn up (no pun intended) any interesting migrant terns or waders. A small number of Common Sandpipers have been present daily and a pair of Tufted Duck were seen yesterday evening as well as a couple of adult Great Black-backed Gulls.
A visit at lunchtime today produced a rather odd looking goose.

Obviously it has got some Greylag Goose in it, but what about the rest? Swan Goose has been suggested, and the colouration on the neck may support that, and Lesser White-fronted Goose was also mooted. Whatever it's parentage, it was an interesting bird.

There were also loads of hirundines feeding over the reservoir today, including the first Sand Martins I'd seen for a few weeks.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 22 Apr

Two hours on patch this afternoon, two hours to try and find something new for the year list, two hours that failed to do that! A Mute Swan was seen along the arm and a single Little Egret was also noted. However, it was pretty much more of the same today with five Common Sandpipers seen. A fly-through Meadow Pipit was somewhat unseasonal. On and above the reservoir there were impressive numbers of large gulls but nothing out of the ordinary and scanning the various raptors taking advantage of the thermals I counted eleven Buzzards but again nothing more exciting.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 21 Apr

A quick stop in the morning produced seven Common Sandpipers and three Tufted Duck, whilst a return visit in the evening that was equally brief yielded two adult Great Black-backed Gulls.

Sutton Bingham - Mon 19 Apr

A quick stop on the way to work produced a nice Spring total of twenty-one Common Sandpipers, with fourteen on the northern causeway initially before they moved to the lawn and pontoons at the Sailing Club with a further seven in the north-east corner off the dam. My second Wheatear of the year was also seen this morning in a private area, it was rather distant, but here you go. In case you were wondering, it's got its back to you and is facing slightly left.

No time to check for anything else on what felt like it could have been a good morning for migrants.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 18 Apr

I spent about ninety minutes at the reservoir early morning and it was somewhat productive with eight Common Sandpipers on the northern causeway, before they relocated to the dam. A Skylark was again in song over the field behind the Canoe Club and two male Reed Buntings were in song along the southern arm, a single female was also seen. Two pairs of Tufted Duck dropped in and five Teal were somewhat unexpected for this time of year.

West Sherborne - Wed 14 Apr

An Osprey flew over my office whilst I was at work today, a great addition to my Sherborne list but this was trumped when I got a call from James Watson early evening telling me he had seen a harrier, he presumed Hen Harrier, along Bradford Road and that it had settled in a field. So we took a family trip out to see it. Arriving on site James was still there and we observed the bird as it sat in the field, it soon became obvious that it was in fact a male Montagu's Harrier! We watched it for about twenty minutes or so until it took flight, showing the distinct black wing bars, and was lost to view over a hedge. Herewith a couple of awesome photos!

An absolutely brilliant find by James and I was glad we were able to get to see it, just two other local birders got there before it vanished, but with Bradford Road being a bit of a rat run parking is difficult and could not support a mass turn out so perhaps this was a good thing?

Sutton Bingham - Tue 13 Apr

A quick pre-work visit produced a total of seven Common Sandpipers on the northern causeway, a nice Spring count. Not a lot else other than a "new" singing Willow Warbler in the sallows in the corner of West Pool and another at the bottom of the car park. The highlight of the morning was a singing Sedge Warbler in vegetation below the car park. It was extremely vocal, singing pretty much constantly for the twenty minutes I spent trying to see it, which I finally managed!

Sutton Bingham year list for 2021 now at 84 species.

Sutton Bingham - Mon 12 Apr

I had a day off work today and popped up to the reservoir mid-morning to see if there was anything about. The pick of the birds was a smashing male Wheatear on the dam wall, a much welcome addition to the patch year list. Also in this area a small flock of nine Linnets. A total of four Common Sandpipers were also seen this morning and there were good numbers of Swallows and Sand Martins present.

A return visit in the evening failed to produce an Osprey that was seen about thirty minutes before I could there, it was last seen flying north over Yeovil. This is the fourth Osprey this Spring to have passed through, though I've only had one of them!

Sutton Bingham year list for 2021 now at 83 species.

Newlyn Harbour & Gerrans Bay - Fri 9 Apr

A day trip to Cornwall, with the family, and a three hour drive down to Newlyn to see the long-staying American Herring Gull was top of the agenda. Upon arriving at Newlyn I found the favoured beach and it didn't take too long to get on the bird in question, I'm sure the sliced white bread I'd bought along helped the cause.

Having dipped American Herring Gull on two previous occasions I was thrilled to finally get this bird on my list and it was a very obliging one at that. To be honest it was somewhat paler than I was expecting but well within the range of the species. The lovely pink bill with a dark tip stood out like a sore thumb.
After connecting with the target bird we hopped back in the car and headed home via the Roseland peninsula, taking the King Harry Ferry and then driving to St Mawes for a nice hot Cornish Pasty and a coffee for a rather late lunch before driving down to Pendower Beach. Despite it being April I still counted at least twenty Great Northern Divers in Gerrans Bay and a single Black-throated Diver. I managed just one semi-OK photo of a summer-plumaged Great Northern Diver that had just caught some sort of flatfish.

A small number of Gannets were seen passing through, though five terns were too distant to identify. A Guillemot was on the water and another auk was again too far out to nail identification. Several Shags were feeding and were another addition to the year list and a lone Oystercatcher flew across the bay. A Rock Pipit was seen below the cliff and a male Stonechat was in song by the car park.
We then headed to Portscatho to get a fish and chip supper and ate it overlooking Porthkernick Beach where at least one more Great Northern Diver was present. After another quick stop at Pendower we headed home at around 7.00pm, getting home at 10.00pm after a long but amazing day out.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 7 Apr

Another very cold start to the day and a further scattering of light snow briefly after yesterday's flurries. I stopped at the reservoir on the way in to work and to be honest it was pretty quiet. As a scanned the main reservoir I saw a lone gull and don't ask me why but I thought it worth a look, and I'm glad I did as it was a Kittiwake! It's been several years since I last saw a Kittiwake at Sutton Bingham and I think today's bird was only my third or fourth ever at the site. Initially rather distant it took flight, showing a pair of lovely black legs, and then landed slightly closer so I grabbed a few record shots.

I then headed to the southern end of the reservoir to see if anything else was about. Half a dozen Wigeon were present and a drake Tufted Duck was seen. A Skylark was singing and there were a couple of hundred Swallows and Sand Martins over the reservoir. Unfortunately it would appear that the Kittiwake did a bunk soon after I left as it was not seen later in the morning.

A return visit on the way home from work was also productive as just as I was leaving the site I decided to quickly park up at Hyde Farm and view down the reservoir when I noticed that a large number of gulls had taken to the air. Scanning through them I soon found a Buzzard and presumed that was the cause, but then another, larger, raptor came in to view, it was an Osprey! I watched it for several minutes as it got closer before I lost it to view as it headed west along the ridge towards Hardington. I managed to get a few record shots through my binoculars.

So two quality patch ticks today despite the chilly weather.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2021 now at 82 species.

Sutton Bingham - Mon 5 Apr

A couple of quick visits over the weekend produced a White Wagtail and my first patch Swallows of the year but nothing much else, though I did miss two Ospreys that passed through! Today I saw my first House Martins of the year and the recent cold weather had brought in a flock of thirteen Wigeon. Three Reed Buntings were noted, including two singing males, and a single Snipe was flushed. A Siskin was seen in flight over the car park and a Willow Warbler was in song somewhere along the railway embankment.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2021 now at 80 species.

Arne RSPB - Sat 3 Apr

A family trip to Arne RPSB reserve today and it was a wonderful day out, especially as the café was open for take outs enabling us to get a nice lunch of bacon rolls and soup! However, the first bit of excitement came on the drive down as we were passing through Wareham Forest along Sugar Hill I suddenly saw an Osprey perched on a tall post and luckily was able to pull off the road to observe it...albeit rather distantly.

As we were watching the Osprey a Red Kite flew in to take a look also. Unfortunately it would appear that a couple of walkers spooked the bird as it flew off so we set back off for Arne.

After our lunch we took a walk out to Shipstal Point but before we had got far from the car park stopped to watch a singing male Firecrest that was showed ridiculously well just a few feet from us at times. The walk out to the point was enjoyable but we didn't really see much more on the bird front, though a lone Dark-bellied Brent Goose was noted on the saltmarsh.

Returning to the car park we headed out to Coombe Heath where a Dartford Warbler put on a bit of a show, though the sun was behind him making the photos rather dark.

Our second Osprey of the day was seen on the nesting platform and rounded off a lovely day out.

Exmouth - Thu 1 Apr

A twitch this afternoon, my first for well over a year, and I drove straight down to Exmouth after work to try and see the long-staying (but until this week inaccessible due to lockdown restrictions) Northern Mockingbird. Arriving on the housing estate where the bird had been lingering since early in the year at around 5.10pm I saw a couple of birders staring at a garden. A quick chat and I found out they had seen the bird earlier but it was out of view and may have dropped down to feed, they suggested viewing from the end of the road may be profitable so leaving them to it I set off round the corner and soon found the small alley that had been rereferred to in various sightings and a chap with a camera and bins who beckoned me over. The Northern Mockingbird was just over a wall and viewable, albeit in vegetation. Too close for the scope I grabbed a couple of record shots through my bins.

After feeding on a bird feeder it flew up in to a small tree just above my head before then alighting to the top of a telegraph pole where it stayed for a couple of minutes, enabling me to get better photos.

The Northern Mockingbird then dropped down and was lost to view, so with the job down I walked back to the car and headed back home after a successful mission.