Sutton Bingham - Thu 13 Nov

My WeBS count was rained off on Sunday, there were three Mute Swans present but it was almost impossible to count what other wildfowl may have been knocking about.

This afternoon the weather turned out to be much better than forecast, so I made a visit to the reservoir on the way home from work, however, the entire site was inaccessible due to tree works, so I made for Water Treatment Works as it was probably the only area where I had any chance of seeing any birds. However, there was nothing on the buildings of note and other than a Chiffchaff I was thinking it was going to be a pretty poor visit, but that all changed when a bit of movement over the outflow stream alerted me to a Yellow-browed Warbler! Always rather mobile I did manage some excellent views as it moved around a few feet above my head for a short while. My fourth patch Yellow-browed Warbler, of which three are self-found.

I then had a quick look of the reservoir from the Fishing Lodge, but other than a few Wigeon and a Common Sandpiper there was nothing else to report.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2025 now at 120 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 8 Nov

A message from Pete mid-afternoon meant a quick visit to the reservoir late afternoon to successfully twitch a Black Redstart that was at the water treatment works, with light fading and the bird being really mobile I managed a couple of ropey record shots.

Annoyingly I had spent the best part of half an hour scanning every bird at the water treatment works during my last visit on site and found nothing, but at least I managed to see this one.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2025 now at 119 species.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 6 Nov

My first proper trip to the reservoir for many weeks this afternoon, and water levels have raised considerably since my last visit and presumably as a result there was a decent number of wildfowl present, especially at the southern end.
A fair sized flock of Canada Geese also harboured a lone Mute Swan and whilst the majority of duck were Mallard, there were at least fifty Wigeon, thirty Teal plus three Gadwall and two Shoveler.
A late Common Sandpiper was also at the southern end.