Sutton Bingham - Sun 31 Oct

A planned day out birding with my mates was postponed due to illness, injury and a dreadful weather forecast so I ended up at Sutton Bingham for a couple of hours early afternoon instead. The north-east corner held 136 Canada Geese and around fifty Wigeon but nothing else on the water. However, a late Common Sandpiper was a most surprising find.

However, a small bird flitting around some nearby buildings caught my attention and soon I was treated to some wonderful views of a Black Redstart...just my third patch sighting.

After watching the Black Redstart for a while I moved on to explore other areas of the reservoir but to be honest with access still closed due to the work going on it was not easy. A few Redwings were around the church whilst singles of Raven and Stock Dove flew over. Checking an adjacent field I noted around thirty Linnet and a dozen Chaffinch before they were all spooked by a Sparrowhawk. So not a bad end to a month where I missed two patch lifers.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2021 now at 113 species.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 28 Oct

A quick visit before work produced a fine drake Gadwall off the northern causeway.

Also this morning, two Little Grebes on West Pool.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 23 Oct

After getting back from our holiday in Cornwall I didn't waste too much time before heading to Sutton Bingham for a quick look around. I had missed two patch lifers over the last week, a fly-over Crossbill and a Glossy Ibis that turned up late afternoon and appeared to roost at the reservoir. I had also missed a fly-over Brambling, another decent year tick!

My visit to the reservoir was much less productive with forty Wigeon in the north-east corner and a Raven overhead. A Little Grebe was on West Pool whilst a nice flock of some two hundred Linnet were in one of the neighbouring fields, but I couldn't find anything more interesting amongst them unfortunately. Fourteen Collared Doves were also noted.

Cornwall - Sat 16 Oct to Sat 23 Oct

A week long trip to Cornwall started well with a stop off at Dozmary Pool on Bodmin Moor where two Ring-necked Ducks were the pick of the birds seen. Also around the pool, at least two hundred and fifty Golden Plover and around forty or so Lapwing. A Peregrine was in the air above us whilst also on the water a couple of Little Grebes plus a drake Shoveler, two Teal and a a pair of Tufted Duck.

On then to the Roseland peninsula where we were to spend the next week on holiday and when we arrived at our accommodation I was surprised to see a Swallow flying around before it settled on a telephone wire looking rather tired and thinking it should be in sunnier climes!

On the Monday we drove over to the Lizard peninsula in an attempt to see Choughs, a bird I'd not seen for a few years and so was keen to see one again. In rather poor weather we found none at Lizard Point and none at Kynance Cove so it was on to the third choice site which was Church Cove at Gunwalloe, where after a decent search I finally found a small group of five Choughs on the back of the beach...result!

A mid-week visit to Ruan Lanithorne at low tide failed to turn up anything unusual but I did see four Little Grebes, a single Snipe and good numbers of Wigeon and Canada Geese along with a few Redshank and a lone Greenshank.

A walk down to the small creek at Lanhay produced a fly-over Ringed Plover calling away as it headed east and up to five Cirl Buntings were noted.

More Cirl Bunting action at Towen Beach with at least four, including three males, with house Sparrows on the cliff. A couple of Mediterranean Gulls were also seen at Towen Beach.

I decided on a drive out to St Anthony's Head for a sea watch and although there was not a lot about I still saw five Manx Shearwaters and a few Kittiwake all heading west.

On our final evenign we had fish and chips overlooking Gerrans Bay from the top car park at Portscatho, where I finally, after a week of trying, found a Great Northern Dover offshore and a nice pod of Common Dolphins rounded off what was a lovely family holiday.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 10 Oct

A brief evening visit was fairly unproductive, though Wigeon numbers have risen to twenty-one birds and with them a single Tufted Duck and a Shoveler. All in a private area of the reservoir with no public access. There were also forty Canada Geese present this evening and a Kingfisher also showed well. Finally, a lone Common Gull was in the gull roost.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 7 Oct

Due to the site being closed I focused mainly on the southern end around Cotton Bridge where a single Snipe was flushed and a Marsh Tit was heard calling. A total of twenty Mandarin flew over heading north and a lone Meadow Pipit also passed over. The only other sighting of note was of eight Wigeon on the water.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 3 Oct

With the site being closed from tomorrow until the New Year whilst work is going on making improvements to the car park I took advantage of being able to wander around the site this evening. The Great White Egret was still present, for it's ninth day, though with recent rain sending water levels pretty high I wonder how long it will hang around now. A single Mediterranean Gull was off the dam whilst on the wildfowl front there were twenty Mandarin at the southern end with three Teal and seven Wigeon plus a lone Gadwall. There were also a couple of hundred Swallows on site this evening.