Sutton Bingham - Fri 31 May

Two quick visits to the patch today, starting with a pre-work stop this morning which produced four Swifts and a Red Kite over the southern end.

A return after work was more exciting as I found an Osprey half way down the reservoir.

Having missed a brief Osprey last weekend that Pete found, I was pleased to find this one, always an impressive bird to see.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2024 now at 95 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 26 May

Despite it being a Bank Holiday weekend I knew my chances to get to the reservoir over the long weekend would be limited due to other commitments. However, a late afternoon meeting in Sherborne gave me the opportunity to stop off for a look around and I was surprised to find a couple of Black-tailed Godwits on the northern causeway, I guess the heavy rain had caused them to drop in.

The birds were very obliging and were a very warm welcome to the patch year list. Also this evening, a Reed Warbler was still singing from the area at the end of the jetty at the northern causeway and a Great White Egret was on West Pool. Finally, a Red Kite flew south.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2024 now at 94 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 19 May

A message from Pete this morning was fortunately picked up as I was driving home and resulted in me adding Reed Warbler to the year list with one singing from within the vegetation near the "jetty" at the car park end of the northern causeway. It failed to show itself, but having missed one earlier in the year it was good to add it to the list.

Also today, a real surprise and a patch mega in the form of a Barn Owl that was present in a private location, and was always rather distant, hence the shocking photos!

I didn't post news of this on the day due to the fact it's a Schedule 1 species, but subsequent searches over the last week have drawn a blank, so it must have been a wandering bird passing through. This is only my second ever patch record of Barn Owl.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2024 now at 93 species.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 16 May

Pretty terrible on patch during a ninety minute visit this afternoon, salvaged by a very vocal and eventually very showy Lesser Whitethroat on the edge of West Pool along the railway embankment. A singing Skylark and flyover Red Kite near the Canoe Club were the only other birds of note.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 12 May

An early evening visit was rescued by a Common Tern that Pete had found earlier in the day and fortunately it had lingered through to the evening. Always rather distant and flighty it was still a decent year tick.

I was unable to find anything else of note today though.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2024 now at 91 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 11 May

A thirty minute stop on the way home from work at lunchtime today turned out to be pretty decent, especially considering how little I've seen recently. A third calendar year Yellow-legged Gull was present briefly on the northern causeway, but was flushed before I could get a photo. A Great White Egret was on West Pool and a Red Kite flew over heading south.

A return visit late afternoon turned up a Dunlin feeding on the northern causeway, no idea where that was earlier in the day so I can only presume it arrived after I'd left at lunchtime.

The Dunlin was extremely obliging, feeding along the water's edge and completely unphased by me standing a few metres away.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2024 now at 90 species.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 9 May

An afternoon visit was pretty poor with nothing of note at all from the Fishing Lodge area or northern causeway. A look around from the southern end did produce some lovely views of a hawking Hobby and my first three Swifts of the year passed through high to the north, so not a completely wasted visit.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2024 now at 88 species.

Sutton Bingham - Mon 6 May

Despite it being a bank holiday weekend I'd not had the opportunity to visit the patch all weekend, but a message from Pete to say a Mute Swan was present did tempt me to the reservoir. Having missed the only two previous records at Sutton Bingham earlier in the year, both of which were brief visitors, I thought I'd better take the opportunity to go see this one!

Mute Swan has now become a scarce visitor to Sutton Bingham and those birds that do drop in don't hang around for very long, so I was pleased to catch up with this one.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2024 now at 87 species.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 2 May

Another trip to the reservoir and again it was pretty dismal rescued by a fly-through Hobby which was the only bird of note this afternoon. A Willow Warbler was flitting about on the edge of West Pool but that was it.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2024 now at 86 species.