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.