Sutton Bingham - Sat 11 Jul

Despite several brief visits over the few days I've not found anything of note, but that changed today with my first Green Sandpiper of the year present at the southern end of the reservoir with four Common Sandpipers. Still not much exposed mud to be seen, but hopefully it'll happen in the next few weeks.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2026 now at 98 species.

Sutton Bingham - Tue 7 Jul

Yesterday I finally managed to add Marsh Tit to the year list, with a bird present in trees around the entrance to the meadows at the southern end.

An afternoon visit today was pretty uneventful with a check of the reservoir turning up very little. By chance I happened to check my phone and saw a WhatsApp from Pete saying he had seen two Shelduck on the slipway at the Sailing Club about an hour earlier...it was a good job I saw the message else I would have missed the birds which were luckily still present.

It's always nice to get a Shelduck on the patch year list, and although they were a little distant and mainly obscured by a load of gulls, it was good to see them.

Sutton Bingham year list for 2026 now at 97 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 5 Jul

Another quick visit this afternoon as Pete had found a White-tailed Eagle earlier in the day. Fortunately, it was still lingering when I arrived and I had some decent views of it from the southern causeway.

This was a male bird, number G709, released in 2024 as part of the Roy Dennis reintroduction scheme. Interestingly, it was the second White-tailed Eagle at the reservoir in the past ten days, with a different bird seen on 25 and 26 June.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 4 Jul

There were five Common Sandpipers present yesterday but I couldn't find any today during a brief visit. Water levels are still dropping but are higher than this time last year, which is odd considering the lack of rain and high temperatures, so I'm hopeful the coming weeks might bring in some passage waders.

There was a Tufted Duck on West Pool and two Kestrels were on a pylon at the southern end. The only other bird of note today was an adult Mediterranean Gull that flew in from the south and kept going.