Sutton Bingham - Tue 2 Apr

I had the morning off work but still needed to get to the office for the afternoon, however, that did give me the opportunity to spend about an hour or so at the reservoir just after midday. It was a lovely sunny day, and out of the wind it was really warm, and this led me to think it may be a good day for raptors, and so it was with a single Red Kite seen and a bonus in the form of Goshawk (an increasingly regular visitor to the patch).
Over the water I saw a small number of Sand Martins and at least one Swallow, the latter being my first of the year. A lone Wigeon was at the southern end whilst a drake Tufted Duck was on West Pool.
A quick stop on the way home from work in the evening turned up another surprise, with a Dunlin on the northern causeway.

The Dunlin was extremely obliging and another welcome addition to the patch year list.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2025 now at 81 species.

Sutton Bingham - Fri 28 Mar

A lunchtime twitch today and I successfully connected with a very smart drake Shelduck that Pete had found on West Pool earlier in the day. When I arrived on site there was no sign on West Pool, but a Mute Swan was present. Staying positive, I headed for the southern end and was rewarded with some lovely views.

After a short time the Shelduck took off and ended up back on West Pool again.

Other additions to the patch list during a couple of brief visits over the last ten days include two Sand Martins on 19 March and a Jay on 22 March.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2025 now at 78 species.

Ham Wall RSPB - Thu 20 Mar

It was a lovely afternoon and I had time off work so I decided to head up to the Somerset Levels and enjoyed a couple of hours at Ham Wall RSPB reserve. On arrival I made straight for the first viewing platform where there were three target species I was after. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts I could only find one of these, a very smart Spotted Redshank, that showed pretty well...not that you can tell from this photo.

There were also a couple of Redshank and a few Black-tailed Godwits present, along with the usual species of duck.

I then walked on down to the second viewing platform, with Bitterns booming, Marsh Harriers quartering and Great White Egrets gathering nesting material it was a delightful walk, and I also had a Red Kite fly over.

As I returned to the car park, I stopped off at the first viewing platform again where this time I did manage to see the drake Garganey.

I pointed the Garganey out to a couple of other birders who were present, who went on to tell me the two Glossy Ibises had just flown in and were somewhere out of site, so I stood up on one of the benches and straightaway managed to see both birds.

All in all a very enjoyable afternoon out and I connected with all three target species, that does not happen that often!

Sutton Bingham - Tue 18 Mar

I got a message from one of the Rangers this morning, but I was at work so couldn't get to the reservoir until lunchtime and despite missing the birds he'd seen earlier in the day, I did get lucky and found a Greylag Goose. As you can see form the high quality images below, it was rather distant!

March is probably the best time of year to see Greylag Goose at Sutton Bingham, but it's by no means annual.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2025 now at 75 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 16 Mar

I managed about an hour on patch this afternoon, my first prolonged visit to the reservoir in some time, as it was the date of the monthly WeBS count. I didn't see an awful lot in the way of wildfowl or waders, though there were still forty Wigeon present and I saw a lone Snipe.

However, there was a little bit of interest as a Linnet was in full song near the entrance to the Fishing Lodge and I also had a surprise find when a Kestrel flew in, landed on a telegraph cable and was subsequently flushed by a passing farm vehicle and was lost to sight. Kestrel is a scare bird at Sutton Bingham, so it's always a good species to record.

At the southern end I spent some time scanning for raptors and was finally rewarded with a Red Kite flying over. So three year ticks for the patch today, not bad for a cold day in mid-March.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2025 now at 74 species.

Sutton Bingham - Fri 14 Mar

A quick lunchtime visit today paid off with a Coot on West Pool.

A Chiffchaff was also in full song along he railway embankment, but failed to show itself. At the southern end there were still twenty or so Wigeon, but very little else to mention today.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2025 now at 71 species.

Milborne Port - Tue 4 Mar

Having failed at the weekend, I popped along to Milborne Port again today during my lunch break and this time got lucky with some lovely views of a single Hawfinch in the churchyard. Always rather elusive in the top of a tall yew tree, I did manage to watch it for a few minutes and it moved around feeding. Always a great bird to see and it made up for missing out on Sunday.

Somerset - Sun 2 Mar

A mini-tour of Somerset today between family commitments and it started off with a good look around the churchyard at Milborne Port where I failed to find any Hawfinches, despite them being reported earlier in the day. I gave it a fair amount of time but didn't want to waste time so headed off to Wet Moor.

When I arrived I could see a distant herd of swans, but couldn't locate the ones I was looking for, this is when I started hoping it wasn't going to be one of those days! Plenty of wildfowl about and the now expected Great White Egrets and Cattle Egrets. Then I had some success, on the fourth or fifth scan of the distant swans I picked out one of the adult Bewick's Swans, at last!

Leaving Wet Moor I then drove to Monkton Heathfield to look for a Rosy Starling that had been found a few days earlier. I had to wait for a little while, but eventually I got some really good views of the bird, and even managed a record shot (taken directly with my phone rather than a digi-scoped effort).

After sorting out some family stuff, I then headed back to the Somerset Levels and made for Ham Wall where I parked up and walked out to Noah's Hide on the Shapwick side. After a bit of searching I got my third species of swan for the day, with three Whooper Swans eventually showing themselves. Amongst teh gathered ducks I also picked out a female Goldeneye.

I then walked back to Ham Wall and had a good look from the first viewpoint where two Glossy Ibis had been present earlier in the day, but I drew a blank with them. There were a couple of Bitterns "booming", but they failed to show themselves, and a couple of Marsh Harriers were patrolling the area. As I left there were good numbers of Starlings arriving to roost, but I didn't hang around for the murmuration.

Chard Reservoir - Thu 27 Feb

A stop at Sutton Bingham this afternoon was totally unproductive, so as I needed to pop to Taunton I took a diversion via Chard Reservoir where I soon connected with the Little Gull that had been hanging around for a couple of days. Quite a cool bird and always a joy to see one and this was a particularly active one as it constantly flew around the reservoir dip-feeding off the surface. Well worth going slightly out of my way.

Cornwall - Sat 15 Feb to Sat 22 Feb

A week away in Cornwall to recharge the batteries, especially as our planned break back in October was cut short due to car issues, basically it blew up!

As with all family holidays, this was a strictly no birding...but obviously that wasn't quite true! In fact we did our first bit of birding on the drive down, stopping at Dozmary Pool where I connected with three Ring-necked Ducks, of which one was a very smart drake. A large flock of Golden Plover were wheeling around overhead and at least one Goosander was on the nearby Colliford Lake. Not a bad journey down to Cornwall.

The first full day and we stayed local, a trip to Portscatho produced a Black-necked Grebe close inshore, which I saw several times over the course of the week, and two Sanderling on the beach. A single Mediterranean Gull was also present. I then had a quick scan over Gerrans Bay from Pendower where I saw two Black-throated Divers and a few Great Northern Divers as well as a couple of Razorbills. It was pretty much more of the same the following day, except I found a drake Common Scoter off Porthkurnick beach.

On Tuesday we headed down to west Cornwall for the day, where a quick stop at Lelant Saltings produced a Glaucous Gull amongst the gathered gulls, but I was unable to find the adult Ring-billed Gull. After a nice day out I went along to the railway bridge on the A394 to stake out the roost site of the long-staying Booted Eagle. After a thirty minute wait I connected with my target and finally added Booted Eagle to my UK list (payback after missing the Chew Lake bird many years ago).

Over the next couple of days I spent most of my time checking out the sea, with a couple more Common Scoters and three Slavonian Grebes off Portscatho. Along with some commoner stuff it was a brilliant non-birding holiday.

Somerset Levels - Sun 9 Feb

A day out and about with the old crowd today, the first time in over a year since I'd been out birding with mates and we had a trip around the Somerset Levels.

Starting off at Greylake RSPB we failed to see anything that unusual other than a couple of very distant Common Cranes and a Marsh Harrier. A Cetti's Warbler was heard and a Reed Bunting was singing from atop a tree, but no sign of the long-staying and extremely regular and photogenic Merlin.

Off then to Catcott Lows where we saw lots of wildfowl, but no sign of the Green-winged Teal unfortunately.

The next stop was Shapwick Heath, pausing on route to connect with a couple of Egyptian Geese, and then long walk out to Decoy Lake where we missed our next target, two drake Ring-necked Ducks. At least one booming Bittern was some consolation.

So a mixed morning, and off to Ham Wall RSPB for the afternoon where a walk out to the second viewing platform and back failed to produce anything new so we took another long walk out to Noah's Lake where again we saw nothing new!

So after several hours of birding and having walked 10 kilometres we had pretty much missed every target bird we'd tried for. So with a final throw of the dice we drive round to Sharpham where we finally connected with something, a lone Russian White-fronted Goose, the day was rescued!

We may have missed lots of birds, but it was great to get out and about and spend time with good friends, sometimes that's the most important thing.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 6 Feb

I made a mad rush to the reservoir yesterday lunchtime to "twitch" a couple of Mute Swans, which I manged to successfully do, and having missed two previous sightings of what is a fairly difficult bird to see at Sutton Bingham these days, it was a welcome addition to the year list.

This afternoon I spent a good two or so hours on the patch and surprisingly the Mute Swans were still present, and rather more obliging than they were yesterday and they patrolled the southern end of the reservoir.

Also at the southern end there were twenty-eight Wigeon and a lone drake Tufted Duck. Despite a real slog around the site, I failed to add anything to the year list and to be honest, there isn't much more to report.

Sutton Bingham year list now at 68 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 2 Feb

I got a message from Pete late morning to say he'd had a Water Rail at Cotton Bridge, so later in the day I popped out and gave it a go. Fortunately, I managed to hear not one but two Water Rails in the area, one of which was extremely vocal and less than two metres away from me, but due to where I was standing I had no chance to actually see it! Nothing else of note for me today though.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2025 now at 67 species.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 30 Jan

A very productive couple of hours at the reservoir this afternoon, starting on the northern causeway where I had a good scan of the area including towards Coker Wood where I picked up a raptor heading my way and I knew straightaway it was something different. Over the next few minutes I followed it in my scope and was able to confirm my initial thoughts, a Marsh Harrier! This is the third Marsh Harrier I've seen at Sutton Bingham and the first for many years, with the previous records both being in May.

I then popped down to the southern end where a single male Tufted Duck was amongst a flock of Wigeon.

Back then to the car park and a walk down towards the Canoe Club where a lone Wigeon was in the company of a pair of Shoveler, a species I missed last year on the patch. As I was watching the Shoveler a flock of twelve Lapwing flew over, another omission on the 2024 list.

As I returned to the northern causeway I scanned the gulls and had a lone Mediterranean Gull on the water.

Overhead I heard another Mediterranean Gull calling and picked out another five circling above me, though these failed to settle. I then went round to the Fishing Lodge, where I managed to finally see my first Fieldfares of the year, with three in with a flock of Redwing.

So a very good visit today, with four additions to the year list.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2025 now at 66 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 25 Jan

I have managed a few short visits since my last blog posting, but there wasn't really anything to write home about, hence the absence of posts. I did have a second Great White Egret fly-over the southern end on Thursday 19 January (the long-staying bird was still on West Pool) and Marsh Tit was added to the year list on the same day.

This afternoon I had a stroll around before the bad weather set in and had four Mediterranean Gulls fly over, and five Tufted Ducks were off the Fishing Lodge. Not a lot else today though.

Sutton Bingham year list now at 62 species.

Sutton Bingham - Mon 13 Jan

I was early this morning, so that gave me a little bit of time to stop off at the reservoir on the way to work and it turned out to be pretty productive as a flock of around fifty Golden Plover flew over the southern end heading north-west and a Stonechat was just south of the sleeper bridge. The Cattle Egret was on the northern causeway and the Great White Egret on West Pool.

Sutton Bingham year lit for 2025 now at 55 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 12 Jan

It was the monthly WeBS count today so I made a late afternoon visit to the reservoir to see what was about. A Little Grebe at the southern end was a good find, it seems to be an increasingly difficult bird to get on the patch these days, but there was very little around, with the flock of eleven Tufted Duck that were present yesterday having moved on. The Cattle Egret and Great White Egret were still present.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 9 Jan

I managed a decent chunk of time at the reservoir this afternoon and added a few species to the year list, as one would expect given we're only just over a week in to 2025. A Peregrine was atop a pylon at the southern end and was probably the pick of the birds seen.

Just four Snipe were noted, with none at Cotton Bridge, which is very unusual for the time of year, and those that were seen were on West Pool where they are usually well in to double figures in the Winter.

I did see a couple of Treecreepers, a species that took me four months to see last year on patch!

Sutton Bingham year list for 2025 now at 52 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 4 Jan

Another day, another quick visit, but today was worthy of a blog posting simply because I found a Barn Owl! A very scarce bird on the patch, I'm presuming it's the same bird that was seen on a few occasions last year roosting in a private area. A couple of Teal were noted at the southern end.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2025 now at 42 species.

Sutton Bingham - Fri 3 Jan

A couple of quick visits today, either side of work, with three Gadwall and six Tufted Duck being present in the morning. The evening visit was profitable with the Cattle Egret returning to roost having gone missing for a few days and as the light faded I had Little Egret, Cattle Egret and Great White Egret in the same scope view as the roosted below the car park.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2025 now at 37 species.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 2 Jan

I did make a visit to the patch on New Year's Day, but the weather was dire and the birds almost non-existent, just 27 species recorded and nothing out of the ordinary.
Today though I did connect with a drake Pintail that Pete found earlier in the day and I managed to see after work, a rare bird on the patch nowadays with the last being on 1 January last year. I also added Great White Egret to the year list, making is a worth while visit.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2025 now at 33 species.