Sutton Bingham - Thu 29 Jun

A message on the WhatsApp group in the evening sent me scurrying to the reservoir to try and add Redshank to the year list as Pete had found one on the northern causeway. Late June is spot on for a Redshank on patch, so it was not a surprising find, however, when I arrived it had gone. Just as I was thinking of heading back home, Pete turned up and said it had been flushed and had flown towards the dam, so I hot-footed it round to the Fishing Lodge and fortunately relocated it in the north-east corner, result! I also found two Common Sandpipers on the dam.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2023 now at 108 species.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 28 Jun

A late afternoon visit today and to be honest there was not a lot happening, perhaps as one would expect for late June, however, as I was at the southern end I noticed all the gulls going up from the northern part of the reservoir and that got me interested, and within a minute or two an Osprey flew down the arm before disappearing in to a stand of trees, presumably to eat the fish it was carrying. Always a pleasure to see an Osprey, they are such brilliant birds.
The Bar-headed Goose is still loitering with the Canada Goose flock and just for completeness, I did finally add Lesser Whitethroat to the patch list a few days ago with a singing bird near the entrance to the Fishing Lodge.

Yeovil Riverside - Thu 15 Jun

I finally had the opportunity to try and see the Marsh Warbler, that Oli Mockridge found at Yeovil Riverside on Tuesday lunchtime, this evening after work. Basically, I had an hour, so parked up at the sewage works, made the 15 minute walk out to where the bird was and then spent half an hour waiting and watching. I did manage to hear it singing a few times and got a view of it in flight, but nothing like some of the views others have had. Nevertheless, this was only my third Marsh Warbler and my second for Somerset following the Sutton Bingham bird that was present for a single day back in 2020. So basically a twitch tonight before heading off for a meeting!

Sutton Bingham - Fri 9 Jun

A quick visit yesterday afternoon produced a Red Kite and a couple of Hobby sightings, but nothing else. Tonight, I had a call from Rich, one of the Wessex Warden rangers, telling me of a strange looking goose with the Canada Geese so I made an evening visit to the reservoir to take a look. What I found when I arrived, at about 8.00pm, was a very smart Bar-headed Goose.

Obviously an escapee from somewhere, or a feral bird at the very best, it was nonetheless nice to observe something a bit different...and it was an addition to my Sutton Bingham list (albeit under the exotic section)..

Sutton Bingham - Sun 4 Jun

I made a late afternoon visit to the reservoir today, my first visit for a few days, and parking up at the northern causeway I had a scan around and other than a summer-plumaged Black-headed Gull (unusual for the reservoir this time of year) I didn't see anything of note. I then had a chat with Barrie Widden who was also present and he casually said "The Dunlin's still here.". What? Barrie had found it fifteen minutes earlier and posted on our WhatsApp group but I'd missed the message. Lucky he was still there as I would have completely overlooked this unexpected visitor...and it was showing really well too!

The Dunlin was so obliging as it walked the water's edge on the northern causeway and was completely unfazed by the attention it was getting from Barrie and myself. It is also worth noting the Reed Warbler was still in full song at the end of the causeway and a quick look at the southern end produced a rather unusual flock of eight Gadwall!

Sutton Bingham year list for 2023 now at 106 species.