What a dismal morning, raining consistently for what seems like over 36 hours and still falling when I arrived on site at about 8.45am. I went straight to the southern end and was not surprised to see that all the mud that had been exposed over the summer had gone, covered in water. That being said there were twenty Mandarin present (a quick look yesterday had produced two dozen) and a similar number of Teal and Mallard and three Wigeon. Whilst scanning the duck a massive raptor burst from the vegetation and attempted to take a mallard before banking and alighting in one of the small trees on the water's edge. A Goshawk! Unbelievable and what a bird. It was an adult male, striking grey with the nice white "eyebrows" and the size of a Buzzard, making the nervous Grey Heron look almost small in comparison. Unfortunately the distant and rain made getting a photo all but impossible, but I had a go nonetheless.
After this excitement I wandered up towards the Canoe Club and relocated the Ringed Plover on the water's edge.
In the same area there were around thirty of so Meadow Pipits, a Common Sandpiper and a nice male Stonechat. I then went up to the northern causeway and again saw the Coot that has been present for a short while now, but nothing else of note. So a quick drive round to the Fishing Lodge but other than nine Wigeon it was very quiet. Several hundred Swallows and House Martins were feeding over the reservoir for the duration of my ninety minutes on site.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2020 now at 116 species.
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