Sutton Bingham - Fri 25 Mar

I've been working from home this week so I've been able to make a few trips to the reservoir. However, I've not managed to find anything much of note all week, and other than a few singing Chiffchaffs, I've found no Spring migrants.

A stop on Wednesday morning did produce a Coot and a Little Grebe on West Pool, both are fairly hard to find birds at the reservoir nowadays.

This morning a single drake Shoveler was amongst the Wigeon flock, which numbered seventy-three birds, still pretty high for the time of year. A Raven flew over and at least three Great Black-backed Gulls were present.

Finally, a quick lunchtime visit turned up a couple of unseasonal gulls, with a very smart adult summer-plumaged Mediterranean Gull and a rather shabby second calendar year Common Gull.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 20 Mar

A pre-breakfast visit failed to deliver anything other than three Meadow Pipits in a private area of the reservoir but a return visit late afternoon yielded another path year tick this time in the form of a singing Skylark which put on a lovely display near the Canoe Club, in exactly the area I had been checking yesterday (I can't take credit for finding this though as Pete had heard it earlier in the day!). Nothing else to note for me today though.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2022 now at 78 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 19 Mar

An afternoon visit today and with the sun shining I hoped that something may turn up, and as it happens it did! With a fair amount of Red Kite passage being reported in south Dorset, plus sightings from West Coker and the reservoir itself earlier in the day I was hoping I could cash in, and I was lucky enough as a Red Kite flew from the direction of Pendomer towards me being banking and flying north...result!

Also today were two drake Shoveler amongst the Wigeon flock plus a pair of Teal. What was presumably yesterday's Coot was also at the southern end. All in all a pretty good visit today.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2022 now at 77 species.

Sutton Bingham - Fri 18 Mar

A very quick visit before work actually turned up a patch year tick in the form of a Coot off the northern causeway. In heavy fog it was a wonder I could see anything, but the Coot stayed close to the causeway for five minutes or so before swimming off in to the gloom.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2022 now at 76 species.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 17 Mar

I managed to get about an hour on site early afternoon today but there was little evidence of Spring migration. With the site still closed whilst the ongoing works are being carried out in the car park area it is still really hard to get a decent look around, but there were still fifty Wigeon loitering and a pair of Gadwall were amongst them today. A single White Wagtail was present with a few Pied Wagtails and four Grey Wagtails and a handful of Chiffchaffs were in song, so some new arrivals on the migrant front.

Sutton Bingham - Mon 14 Mar

A quick stop on the way home form work produced my first Reed Bunting of the year for the patch, with a singing male on West Pool alongside a Chiffchaff. Nothing else to report though.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2022 now at 75 species. 

Sutton Bingham - Sun 13 Mar

I've not had an opportunity to visit the reservoir for a while but a late afternoon visit arriving at just after 5pm and staying to dusk did produce my first Treecreeper of the year! Other than that it was very quiet though there were still around two hundred Wigeon present, most of which were at the southern end and a nice patch count of seven Tufted Duck were also seen. There were significantly fewer gulls in the roost tonight and nothing out of the ordinary.

A late visit on Friday 11 March did produce a calling Tawny Owl.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2022 now at 74 species.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 3 Mar

An afternoon visit failed to deliver the Coot that Barrie Widden found yesterday, another one day bird at Sutton Bingham! A Chiffchaff was on the edge of West Pool and appeared to be  migrant rather than an over-wintering bird judging by the fact it was constantly feeding. In the field opposite the Canoe Club there were two Stonechats whilst on the water the only gulls of note today were two adult Great Black-backed Gulls. There were still over one hundred Wigeon present, though numbers do seem to be dropping.