Sutton Bingham - Sat 28 Aug

I arrived on patch just after 6.00am today in the hope of finding something before any disturbance, and pretty much all I found was fog! A single Common Sandpiper was on the northern causeway and a Yellow Wagtail flew over. A quick visit to the north-east corner then produced three more Yellow Wagtails but with no sign of the fog clearing it was back home for breakfast.

A return visit in the afternoon did produce six Shoveler at the southern end.

Sutton Bingham - Fri 27 Aug

A quick stop on the way to work produced a Wheatear on the fence line south of West Pool, but not a lot else so I popped down to the Canoe Club where I drew another blank.

As I drove back north Pete Akers, who I had pointed the Wheatear out to earlier, waved me down as he had located a Whinchat on the same fence line! Where had that been five minutes earlier?

A return visit later in the day failed to produce any chats, but a Snipe was on the northern causeway.

So a wader finally stayed long enough for me to see it, shame it wasn't a new bird for the year, however, the Whinchat earlier in the day sure was.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2021 now at 105 species.

Sutton Bingham - Mon 23 Aug

An afternoon visit did produce a couple of decent birds, most noticeably a couple of Yellow Wagtails in the north-east corner.

A single Common Sandpiper was in the same area as the Yellow Wagtails, whilst at the southern end there were three Gadwall present.

The only other bird of note was a single Teal that flew south with a Mallard.

However, it was yet more disappointment today as I missed another fly-through bird, there seem to have been so many this year, this time a Ringed Plover. This means I have now missed a dozen species at the reservoir this year.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 22 Aug

Another morning visit to the reservoir today and with nothing happening at the northern causeway I headed round to the Fishing Lodge where I saw a couple of Yellow Wagtails in the horse paddock and three Common Sandpipers were zipping around. A Kingfisher also put in a show. Then, as I was chatting to the Wessex Warden Ranger, I noticed an egret fly in and immediately thought "that looks different" and fortunately it landed in a tree and I was able to confirm my initial thoughts, a Cattle Egret.

It was rather too distant to get anything other than a blurred white blob with a yellow bill sticking out, but it was my second patch Cattle Egret nonetheless (after finding one in June last year). Admittedly Cattle Egrets are increasing in number in the UK and I'm sure they will become more and more regular at Sutton Bingham in the coming years, but it was still an awesome bird to find.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2021 now at 104 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 21 Aug

A couple of visits to the patch today, starting off in the morning where a nice flock of thirteen Common Terns were on the pontoon opposite the Canoe Club. Most were adults but there were certainly three juvenile birds.

After being flushed by a Buzzard the entire flock took to the air and flew strongly south just after 9.30am.

A return visit just after lunch produced another sighting of yesterday's Little Grebe but absolutely nothing else of note.

Sutton Bingham - Fri 20 Aug

So whilst we had been enjoying sausage baps at Arne, Pete Akers had found a redhead Goosander back on patch. So I stopped off briefly on the way home to grab a quick look before dropping the family at home and then heading back out for a proper look. Fortunately the bird had stayed faithful to the same area all day so I soon managed to get some pretty good views of it.

It's been a couple of years since my last patch Goosander, and what made this one more unusual was the fact it turned up in mid-August as this is usually a late-Autumn or early-Winter visitor to the reservoir.

To make things even better, I found an adult Little Grebe at the southern end of the reservoir, get this for an awesome record shot (it's the blob you can see behind the blurred Great Crested Grebe).

So two year ticks today on patch, and I was pretty relived that the Goosander decided to hang around all day giving me the chance to add it to the year list.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2021 now at 103 species.

Arne RSPB - Fri 20 Aug

A family trip down to the Isle of Purbeck and a walk around Arne RSPB reserve, starting at the café for a much needed sausage bap and lovely views of a pair of Siskins on the feeders.

We then took a walk out to Shipstal Point, spending half an hour or so sat on the beach where there was plenty of bird activity to keep me occupied. A number of Sandwich Terns and Common Terns were resting on the water's edge, occasionally making forays in to the channel leading in to Poole Harbour.

A few waders were seen, with a couple of Black-tailed Godwits lingering as well as a small flock of Dunlin and Ringed Plover that briefly alighted on to the far shore. Good numbers of Curlew and Redshank were also present.

On returning to the car, we decided against a walk out to Coombe Heath, opting to head home instead...I had something to try and find at Sutton Bingham!

Sutton Bingham - Mon 16 Aug

A visit before work ended up producing my first Autumn Wheatear of the year, with a single bird in the northeast corner favouring the dam wall. A single Teal was on the northern causeway, as were two Mandarin.

A Common Sandpiper was viewable from the Fishing Lodge.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 15 Aug

A few brief visits over the past week have not produced anything worthy of a Blog posting, just a few Common Sandpipers and the occasional Mandarin, but a fairly early morning visit paid off today with a very obliging Black-tailed Godwit present on the northern causeway, a nice addition to the year list.

Waders have been fairly few and far between this autumn due to the continued high water levels, so today's Black-tailed Godwit was a very welcome find.

Although there were very few other birds around this morning two Redshank flew over the West Pool heading south and a single Common Sandpiper was also noted.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2021 now at 101 species.

West Sedgemoor - Tue 10 Aug

An early afternoon trip to West Sedgemoor and whereas I didn't see much in the way of variety I did see some quality birds. A single Great White Egret and two Cattle Egrets were seen in flight but the stars of the show were a pair of Common Cranes with a fully-fledged juvenile, though they were somewhat distant.

Another pair of Common Cranes were also seen, but these were even further away. Not sure when these reintroduced birds become tick-able, but surely the juvenile must be OK to add to the year list? After all it was "born" in the wild.

Sutton Bingham - Fri 6 Aug

Another pre-work visit and the first two Teal of the Autumn were present on the northern causeway, though there was no sign of yesterday's Garganey.

Also on the northern causeway a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull, one of a few that have been seen at the reservoir over the past week or so.

However, there was nothing else of note to be seen and the continued rain is certainly putting pay to the chance of any exposed mud this Summer meaning wader passage is likely to be very poor unfortunately.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 5 Aug

A nice patch year tick this morning, species 100 for the year, in the form of a female-type Garganey present on the northern causeway. I can't take credit for finding it as Pete Akers had got to the reservoir just before me this morning.

Also on the northern causeway were two Mandarin but there was little else of note during a quick stop.

Of interest, yesterday I found two Shoveler in the north-east corner and a single Common Sandpiper was seen.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2021 now at 100 species.

Ham Wall RSPB - Tue 3 Aug

A trip up to the Somerset Levels and a decent walk around Ham Wall, however, there was not that much to see to be honest. A walk out to the Avalon Hide produced nice views of a Great White Egret (though a few others were also seen).

A Bittern flew over the path as I walked along and a female Marsh Harrier was also noted. Other than that is was very quiet.

Sutton Bingham - Tue 3 Aug

A day off work today so it was slightly later, about 8.15am, by the time I got to the reservoir for a look around. Stopping at the northern causeway I was looking at a couple of Common Sandpipers when I heard a raptor calling and got a very brief view of a Hobby. It appeared to have perched up in trees opposite the entrance to the car park so I started walking that way when it started calling again and then took to the air over West Pool before gaining height and then flying off to the south, a much welcome year tick!

A walk from the car park as far as the Canoe Club failed to turn up anything much apart from a couple of Reed Buntings. It was a similar story from the Fishing Lodge with a fly-over Linnet and two Little Egrets all I could find.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2021 now at 99 species.

Sutton Bingham - Mon 2 Aug

My first trip of the month to the reservoir and it started fairly quietly with what is presumably the same juvenile Mandarin again being present from the northern causeway. As I was checking out the gulls I was sure I heard a distant wader call, but nothing was showing so I simply thought my mind was playing tricks on me! Anyway, I then popped round to the Fishing Lodge and sure enough, there was that call again, a Greenshank, and I caught a brief view of it flying towards the Sailing Club before losing it again, but I didn't have long to wait as it then started flying around again before I lost it as it headed east. My second Greenshank of the year following a Spring bird.

A somewhat more surprising find this morning though was the presence of four Shoveler in the north-east corner. A couple of Little Egrets were still about and the now ever-present Great Black-backed Gulls numbered at least five birds, including a couple of juvenile birds, which makes one wonder whether they are breeding somewhere nearby.