A while since my last blog entry simply because I've not actually seen anything much. An entire morning on the patch last week failed to produce anything other than a good number of Chiffchaffs and a few flying visits have only yielded a couple of Common Sandpipers and the odd Kingfisher!
Today was slightly different though as a mid-morning visit produced a couple of really good birds for the patch. Scanning the fence line at the edge of West Pool I found a Whinchat and a Redstart! A real result, with only my third record of Redstart (and second in two years) and the first Whinchat on patch for a couple of years.
As it happens there was not much else about other than a single Little Egret feeding on the dam and the outflow stream hosted a Kingfisher and a Grey Wagtail.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2014 now at 98 species.
Wednesday, 27 August 2014
Tuesday, 5 August 2014
Wydcombe Estate NT - Tue 5 Aug
My first ever trip to the Isle of Wight today, and the main reason was to see the breeding Bee-eaters. When the National Trust released the news a week earlier I had run the idea past my better half and we decided to make a family day of it, so I booked the ferry and because it was a mid-week sailing it cost less than fifty pounds for the return trip.
An uneventful journey and we arrived at the special viewpoint on the Wydcombe Estate at around 12.30pm, and within a couple of minutes I had seen one Bee-eater with prey flying almost over the car. Over the next hour I had a couple more flight views and some good, if a bit distant, views of at least two different birds perched on wires. Absolutely brilliant stuff, and although I had heard a Bee-eater on the Isles of Scilly last year, this firmly planted it on my UK list. I attempted some photos, but the birds were distant!
Not a lot else in the way of birds as the rest of the day was spent doing family things, but I didn't mind, it had been a very successful trip to a place I'd never been to before.
An uneventful journey and we arrived at the special viewpoint on the Wydcombe Estate at around 12.30pm, and within a couple of minutes I had seen one Bee-eater with prey flying almost over the car. Over the next hour I had a couple more flight views and some good, if a bit distant, views of at least two different birds perched on wires. Absolutely brilliant stuff, and although I had heard a Bee-eater on the Isles of Scilly last year, this firmly planted it on my UK list. I attempted some photos, but the birds were distant!
Saturday, 2 August 2014
Middleton Lakes RSPB - Sat 2 Aug
A trip "Up North" today to twitch a pretty rare bird! Up soon after 4:00am and on the road within the hour, myself and two friends arrived at Middleton Lakes RPSB reserve in Staffordshire at around 7:40am. Luckily we bumped in to a local chap who pointed us in the right direction and by 8:00am we had seen our target bird, albeit in flight only...a summer-plumaged Pacific Golden Plover!
After about an hour of waiting for the bird to emerge from vegetation it did another fly-around and then settled for the remainder of our stay, affording brilliant views and enabling me to pick out all the characteristic plumage features. A brilliant bird and well worth the trip.
Whilst on site I also saw a couple of Snipe and two Common Sandpipers. At least two juvenile Little Ringed Plover were also present and there were good numbers of Common Terns, including several recently fledged birds. A Grasshopper Warbler was briefly heard a few times. After a couple of hours on site we headed back home and got caught in holiday traffic on the M5, so a bit of cross-country driving got us back home by early afternoon after a very successful twitch.
After about an hour of waiting for the bird to emerge from vegetation it did another fly-around and then settled for the remainder of our stay, affording brilliant views and enabling me to pick out all the characteristic plumage features. A brilliant bird and well worth the trip.
Thursday, 31 July 2014
Sutton Bingham - Thu 31 Jul
After a few flying visits over the past week or so, which yielded very little other than a few Common Sandpipers passing through (a maximum count of eight on 29 July) and the odd female-type Mandarin.
Today I had some time to invest at the reservoir and started off at the Northern Causeway where the sallows in the corner of West Pool held a Sedge Warbler, I presume this was a passage bird as I've not seen or heard any Sedge Warblers at Sutton Bingham for the duration of the summer. At least one Lesser Whitethroat was also skulking in this area. A single Little Egret was near the Sailing Club.
A quick look around the church failed to produce anything, though a pair of Swallows have successfully raised young.
I then spent about ninety minutes walking around the southern end of the reservoir. Warblers were pretty plentiful, with a good number of Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs, including several young birds. I also located a single Reed Warbler, again I have no idea whether this species successfully bred at Sutton Bingham this year, I somehow doubt it due to the lack of singing birds since mid-May. I was also pleased to see a couple of juvenile Willow Warblers, I had only heard one singing Willow Warbler on patch all year. A couple of Kingfishers whizzed over the path right in front of me at Cotton Bridge and a pair of Raven drifted overhead.
It was a brilliant morning for butterflies, with thirteen species being seen. The highlight of which were two, possibly three, Clouded Yellows. I also saw Ringlet, Gatekeeper, Small Skipper, Common Blue, Comma and Common Blue amongst others. There were also several different dragonflies and damselflies about, I failed on identification for nearly all but I'm pretty sure one of the larger dragonflies was a Migrant Hawker...must try harder with odonata, or get an ID guide!
Today I had some time to invest at the reservoir and started off at the Northern Causeway where the sallows in the corner of West Pool held a Sedge Warbler, I presume this was a passage bird as I've not seen or heard any Sedge Warblers at Sutton Bingham for the duration of the summer. At least one Lesser Whitethroat was also skulking in this area. A single Little Egret was near the Sailing Club.
A quick look around the church failed to produce anything, though a pair of Swallows have successfully raised young.
I then spent about ninety minutes walking around the southern end of the reservoir. Warblers were pretty plentiful, with a good number of Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs, including several young birds. I also located a single Reed Warbler, again I have no idea whether this species successfully bred at Sutton Bingham this year, I somehow doubt it due to the lack of singing birds since mid-May. I was also pleased to see a couple of juvenile Willow Warblers, I had only heard one singing Willow Warbler on patch all year. A couple of Kingfishers whizzed over the path right in front of me at Cotton Bridge and a pair of Raven drifted overhead.
It was a brilliant morning for butterflies, with thirteen species being seen. The highlight of which were two, possibly three, Clouded Yellows. I also saw Ringlet, Gatekeeper, Small Skipper, Common Blue, Comma and Common Blue amongst others. There were also several different dragonflies and damselflies about, I failed on identification for nearly all but I'm pretty sure one of the larger dragonflies was a Migrant Hawker...must try harder with odonata, or get an ID guide!
Thursday, 24 July 2014
Sutton Bingham - Tue 22 Jul
Not much chance recently to get out and about due to various reasons, none of which I will bore you with. The few flying visits I have made to Sutton Bingham over the past couple of weeks have failed to produce much other than Common Sandpipers! A quick visit in the morning produced three juvenile type Mandarin on West Pool and an adult Peregrine on a pylon at the southern end.
However, this afternoon whilst scanning through the four hundred plus large gulls gathered I came across a Great Black-backed Gull, this bird was moulting to second winter plumage and was a beast of a gull...a really nice bird and by no means an annual visitor to the reservoir. The following photos show the size of this bird compared to a Mallard and a Black-headed Gull....what a monster!
The only other bird of note today was a Little Egret.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2014 now at 95 species.
However, this afternoon whilst scanning through the four hundred plus large gulls gathered I came across a Great Black-backed Gull, this bird was moulting to second winter plumage and was a beast of a gull...a really nice bird and by no means an annual visitor to the reservoir. The following photos show the size of this bird compared to a Mallard and a Black-headed Gull....what a monster!
Sutton Bingham year list for 2014 now at 95 species.
Monday, 7 July 2014
Sutton Bingham - Mon 7 Jul
After a clear night I figured I had very little chance of seeing yesterdays waders, and indeed there was nothing other than a couple of Common Sandpipers this morning perched on one of the pontoons off the Sailing Club. However, what I did find was a real surprise...two Common Scoters off the northern causeway!
These are the first Common Scoter I've seen at Sutton Bingham for a number of years and were a most unexpected sight this morning! With little time left to get to work before 8.00am I had to zoom off, but a great find and a brilliant addition to the SBR year list.
Sutton Bingham - Sun 6 Jul
A fairly brief visit late morning failed to produce much, though eight Common Sandpipers were on the southern causeway, so obviously some wader migration starting to take place. the only other bird of note I saw was a Kingfisher, again from the southern causeway.
Frustratingly, in the early evening I had a text to say a Redshank and a couple of Green Sandpipers had dropped in (there had been a very heavy thunderstorm mid afternoon), but as I was just finishing my second glass of wine I had no chance of driving over to see them!
Frustratingly, in the early evening I had a text to say a Redshank and a couple of Green Sandpipers had dropped in (there had been a very heavy thunderstorm mid afternoon), but as I was just finishing my second glass of wine I had no chance of driving over to see them!
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