Sutton Bingham - Wed 7 Apr

Another very cold start to the day and a further scattering of light snow briefly after yesterday's flurries. I stopped at the reservoir on the way in to work and to be honest it was pretty quiet. As a scanned the main reservoir I saw a lone gull and don't ask me why but I thought it worth a look, and I'm glad I did as it was a Kittiwake! It's been several years since I last saw a Kittiwake at Sutton Bingham and I think today's bird was only my third or fourth ever at the site. Initially rather distant it took flight, showing a pair of lovely black legs, and then landed slightly closer so I grabbed a few record shots.

I then headed to the southern end of the reservoir to see if anything else was about. Half a dozen Wigeon were present and a drake Tufted Duck was seen. A Skylark was singing and there were a couple of hundred Swallows and Sand Martins over the reservoir. Unfortunately it would appear that the Kittiwake did a bunk soon after I left as it was not seen later in the morning.

A return visit on the way home from work was also productive as just as I was leaving the site I decided to quickly park up at Hyde Farm and view down the reservoir when I noticed that a large number of gulls had taken to the air. Scanning through them I soon found a Buzzard and presumed that was the cause, but then another, larger, raptor came in to view, it was an Osprey! I watched it for several minutes as it got closer before I lost it to view as it headed west along the ridge towards Hardington. I managed to get a few record shots through my binoculars.

So two quality patch ticks today despite the chilly weather.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2021 now at 82 species.