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.