Sutton Bingham - Thu 12 Nov

A very quick visit at lunchtime today to twitch a Pochard, a species that is increasingly rare at Sutton Bingham these days. Found by Pete mid-morning it did the decent thing and stayed for the rest of the day meaning I got to see it asleep when I arrived soon after 1pm.

I managed an equally brief visit later in the afternoon to take another look, and whilst the Pochard had moved onto the water it was still asleep! Worth it though as this was my first patch Pochard since 2024.

No time for a proper look around the reservoir today, which was a bit of a shame given it was dry, but very cold.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2026 now at 114 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 7 Nov

A quick lunchtime visit didn't turn up anything different with the Great White Egret and Shelduck still on West Pool.

As with most recent visits, I failed to find anything else of note.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 5 Nov

Two hours spent at the reservoir this afternoon and it was pretty disappointing, with very little to be seen. A Great White Egret was on West Pool and the Shelduck that turned up on Saturday was still lingering, so it was obviously finding something to feed on in the mud.
At the southern end there was a party of twenty or so Greenfinches were feeding in trees and a decent flock of around fifty Linnets were in the vegetation along the muddy fringes.

Other than that, just a dozen Teal and Wigeon had risen to over forty birds.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 31 Oct

A surprise this morning with a Shelduck on West Pool! Found by Dave Chown a few minutes before I arrived on patch it was a decent October bird.

The only other birds of note were a fly-over Lapwing and the Coot was still present. Plenty of Redwing and Fieldfare passed overhead during my quick fifteen minute visit.

Sutton Bingham - Mon 26 Oct

A return to the patch today after a week's holiday and water levels were still really low. A Great White Egret was present on West Pool before it flew across to the main reservoir and a Coot was off the northern causeway.

But nothing else of note this morning.

Cornwall - Sat 17 Oct to Sat 23 Oct

A decent week in Cornwall with the family for some much needed downtime which involved several Cornish pasties, a couple of cream teas and quite a bit of coastal walking. There was still time for some birding and a few decent birds were seen over the course of the week.
A walk down to Porthcurnick beach turned out to be well worth it with two Chough feeding in the field behind The Hidden Hut.

Another decent walk to Towan beach was also productive with a couple of Cirl Bunting seen, though these were a little distant and I only had my binoculars, hence the dreadful photos.

I did spend quite some time seawatching from our apartment, which was pretty useful as it meant I didn't have to stand on a windy headland to see what was out in Gerrans Bay. Despite it being arguably too early in the year for much in the way of sea birds, there was still some interest with a few auks and Common Scoters passing through westwards and six Great Northern Divers on the water.

A flock of around thirty Turnstones were on the rocks off Porthscatho and a couple of Curlew and a lone Redshank were also noted and four Sanderling were seen in flight. There were also good numbers of Mediterranean Gulls, with a peak count of eighty-five.
However, the highlight of the week was arguably a couple of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna that were seen breaching in Gerrans Bay, something I'd never seen before. So, all in all a lovely week away.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 11 Oct

Three Egyptian Geese were present on Friday and a pair of Stonechat were on West Pool yesterday.

A lunchtime visit today was pretty productive with highlight being a flock of around 180 Golden Plover over the ridge at the southern end of the reservoir. The five Teal and two Ringed Plover were still present along with around sixty Meadow Pipits.

A single Common Sandpiper was at the northern end from the Fishing Lodge and two Wigeon (five were present yesterday) were also seen.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2026 now at 113 species.