Sutton Bingham - Thu 25 Apr

Despite the rain I spent an hour or so at the reservoir this afternoon and managed to get a few new birds for the year list, the best being a Sedge Warbler that was half-heartedly singing in vegetation near the Canoe Club, and it eventually gave some pretty good views to boot. I've not seen (or heard) a Spring Sedge Warbler for many years, so this was a pleasant surprise. Also in that area a Lesser Whitethroat could be heard singing but I was unable to locate it.

West Pool played host to a singing Whitethroat, my third new warbler of the afternoon, whilst in the north-east corner a total of eight Common Sandpipers were present.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2024 now at 85 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 21 Apr

Over an hour on site this evening and other than three Red Kites which drifted south together and a pair of Skylarks there as nothing to report with a real lack of Spring migrants on patch still. It's becoming a bit of an ever decreasing circle, no birds so a lack of enthusiasm to visit the patch, so less visits means less chance of finding anything, etc. So far Spring has failed to deliver, but I suppose one must not give up trying!

Sutton Bingham - Thu 18 Apr

Some time on patch this afternoon and it was really hard work, admittedly the weather wasn't brilliant, rather overcast and windy and not that warm either, but considering it's mid-April I was expecting some action. that being said, I did find a Great White Egret on West Pool, so not all bad I suppose.

I also managed to collect some new birds for the year list with two House Martins over the Water Treatment Works, hopefully many more will arrive to this once thriving colony. A brief Willow Warbler flitted through the trees and I finally got my first Treecreeper of the year for the reservoir. Migrants still very much absent though and the southern meadows are still closed.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2024 now at 82 species.

Cornwall - Fri 5 Apr to Fri 12 Apr

A week in Cornwall with the family and it was good to get out and about and actually see some decent birds after the recent poor returns at Sutton Bingham. We started the holiday with a slight diversion off the A30 to Dozmary Pool where a very smart drake Ring-necked Duck was present with a pair of Tufted Duck, a great start to the holiday.

A trip to Portscatho in the afternoon on Saturday from where we walked across to Porthcurnick Beach and a chance for a seawatch, which was pretty productive in windy conditions. A total of six Great Northern Divers were present whilst there was a constant trickle of birds flying west, including a flock of twelve Common Scoter, ten Kittiwakes and thirty Manx Shearwaters plus a lone Fulmar. Plenty of auks also passed through, the majority being Guillemots.

It was pretty much more of the same over the next couple of days, with Portscatho producing a Black-throated Diver on Sunday as well as four Sandwich Terns and three Mediterranean Gulls.

Monday was extremely stormy and produced over three hundred Manx Shearwaters flying west from Porthcurnick Beach.

As the winds dropped a scan of Gerrans Bay from Pendower beach on Tuesday morning yielded around twenty Great Northern Divers.

A visit to Ruan Lanithorne on Wednesday wasn't overly productive despite the low tide, but a couple of Greenshank and a lone Redshank were present along with two distant Grey Plovers and over forty Shelduck.

On the Thursday, our last full day on holiday, a morning trip to Portscatho produced seven Sandwich Terns and two Mediterranean Gulls flying round, whilst a Black-throated Diver and three Great Northern Divers were out to sea. In the afternoon I headed to Towen Beach where a summer-plumaged Red-necked Grebe was present and four Cirl Buntings were seen in the hedgerows. Stopping off at Pendower two Slavonian Grebes showed well, if somewhat distantly, rounding off a great family holiday with just a bit of birding thrown in!

Sutton Bingham - Mon 1 Apr

I had a message from one of the Wessex Water rangers this morning saying that three swans were present, within half an hour of getting his text I was on site, but alas the swans were not! This is the second time this year I've missed Mute Swan on patch, it's a tough species to get at Sutton Bingham these days.

However, it was not a totally wasted journey as I did add three more species to the year list, starting with my first Swallow of the year over the field between the car park and the Canoe Club, three Linnets were on the fence line south of West Pool, and two Jays flew over the northern end of the reservoir. It would also appear that a pair of Grey Herons are nest-building in trees below the car park, I can't recall Grey Herons nesting on patch in all the years I've been birding here, so that's a welcome piece of good news.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2024 now at 79 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 31 Mar

Well March on patch has been pretty dreadful this year, until this afternoon's visit I had only added two new birds to the year list. I made one last desperate attempt to add something today and I actually succeeded. Arriving mid-afternoon I stopped at the northern causeway where a Common Sandpiper was present, albeit looking rather tired and fed up.

I then drove down to the southern end where three Sand Martins flew in from the south and headed up the reservoir. Finally, a Blackcap was in song at the southern end. So three Spring migrants...at last!

Rather frustratingly, I did also have a very poor and distant view of a large all dark thrush that flew away from me with a rather distinct flap, flap, glide flight. It didn't look right for a Blackbird and it left me wondering whether it was a Ring Ouzel, but the views just were not enough to clinch ID, so one that got away there.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2024 now at 76 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 24 Mar

An afternoon visit today and I actually managed to see something new today with a Red Kite over Coker Wood before it drifted over the reservoir and off towards Closworth. About thirty minutes later I found another two Red Kites over the southern end, so a good day for Red Kites but there was nothing else of note at all.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2024 now at 73 species.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 14 Mar

The recent trend of Sutton Bingham failing to produce any decent birds has been continuing, hence the total lack of blog postings this month. I did manage a year list addition today with one, probably two, Skylarks singing over fields near the Canoe Club. Access to the southern end has been closed off for several weeks, though I'm not entirely sure why, which is not helping when it comes to seeing if anything is about. A couple of Chiffchaffs have been heard singing, indicating Spring is on the way, but that has been all other than a roost of ten Little Egrets in trees below the car park one evening.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2024 now at 72 species.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 29 Feb

Well February has been a pretty poor month, not much reported from the reservoir by other birders and my infrequent visits have yielded very little, with additions to the year list limited to a Chiffchaff in the car park and a Reed Bunting along the arm. Today, however, was a little more interesting when I arrived on site having made for the Fishing Lodge and a flock of eight birds flew from the direction of West Pool towards me before banking and heading north, they were Curlew! My single largest count of this scarce bird for Sutton Bingham and a very welcome addition to the year list.

Soon after the Curlew flew through I happened to notice another larger flock of birds to the north-east, Golden Plover, about forty of them. So a second decent year tick.

The rest of my time on patch this afternoon was nowhere near as exciting, a lone drake Tufted Duck was at the southern end and three Siskin were in the car park. There was still a fairly decent flock of Wigeon present but nothing else amongst them.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2024 now at 71 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 3 Feb

A flying visit on the way home from work at lunchtime today produced a Great White Egret on West Pool.

Nothing else of note, which is par for the course at present.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2024 now at 65 species.

Avalon Marshes - Sun 28 Jan

A day out with friends today and a trip to the Avalon Marshes, or Somerset Levels as I've always called them!

We started off with a stop at Wetmoor where there were loads of birds and amongst the gathered wildfowl we found four Bewick's Swans, a great start to the morning, but that paled to insignificance when a stunning male Hen Harrier flew across the moor in front of us...things don't get much better than that. A lone Cattle Egret was also noted as well as around thirty Common Cranes.

We then headed off to the West Sedgemoor RSPB reserve where the pick of the birds were at least two Marsh Harriers and around nine of so Great White Egrets but generally speaking not the numbers of birds we saw at Wetmoor, though a large flock of Golden Plover did take to the air at one point with a loads of Lapwings, a pretty impressive site.

Off then to Ashcott Corner, via a slight diversion that did produce five Scaup on Long Drove and a party of Siskin feeding in a small clump of alders. Parking at Ham Wall RSPB we walked out to Meare Heath to check Noah's Lake where three Whooper Swans had been present all morning in, but it turns out we missed them by 20 minutes and were unable to relocate them at their other favoured site, so a disappointing miss.

Not a lot else to add to the list of birds as the day progressed, but a wonderful time out with friends and some decent birds to boot.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 21 Jan

A decent stomp around various parts of the reservoir this afternoon and it did produce some decent patch birds. A Woodcock was put up from a private area towards the south of the reservoir, an area that has produced Woodcock in the past so I'll be keeping my eye on that particular patch.

I the had a look around parts of West Pool flushing some twenty or so Snipe and, to my delight, a single Jack Snipe.

To be honest there was nothing else of note to be seen as the water continues to attract much in, though there were around 130 Wigeon at the southern end.

Sutton Bingham year list for 21024 now at 63 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 20 Jan

A late afternoon visit produced the highest gull numbers that I've seen at the reservoir for many weeks with the pick being an impressive count of thirty-three Mediterranean Gulls. Three Tufted Ducks were present off the northern causeway.
It's also worth noting that I successfully twitched a Coot on patch earlier in the month, but didn't feel it quite warranted a separate blog posting!
Sutton Bingham year list for 2024 now at 59 species.

Sutton Bingham - Mon 1 Jan

So another year starts and I spent a couple of hours at the reservoir this morning where I made a fairly good start to the new year list. Starting new the Fishing Lodge I noticed a duck out in the middle of the reservoir on its own, it was a female Pintail, a species I missed in 2023 so was thrilled to pick one up on the first day of the year. A total of thirty-nine Wigeon were present, still significantly down on usual winter numbers. At the southern end I picked up around fifty Teal and a pair of Mandarin whilst overhead a Stock Dove flew by. A Marsh Tit was heard calling, but I couldn't pin it down, likewise with a calling Siskin. Along the arm a pair of Stonechats were present. All in all an enjoyable visit this morning, made all the better with it being the first day of a new year.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2024 now at 47 species.