Sutton Bingham - Thu 27 Aug

The almost usual flying visit prior to work paid off this morning with five Black-tailed Godwits present on the northern causeway. A real surprise and a very welcome one at that. I even managed to grab a couple of half decent photos of them.

A Common Sandpiper was feeding on the edge of West Pool and seemed to be the only other bird of note.

Sutton Bingham - Tue 25 Aug

A quick stop off at the reservoir on my way home from a day away attending a training course provided very little of interest until I scanned West Pool. I picked out a small wader preening, but it was only a Common Sandpiper. However, I then scanned the fence that runs along the field to the south of West Pool and found a Whinchat. I was hoping to find one as it was this time last year when the first Whinchat passed through...in fact a year and a day to be precise!

Meare Heath NR - Tue 18 Aug

A decision to take the day off and a pleasant afternoon to boot so this afternoon I popped up to the Avalon Marshes and a visit to Meare Heath. I made straight for the drained lagoon to try and connect with the Wood Sandpiper that had been present for a day or two, but despite plenty of searching I simply failed to locate it. I did see three Knot, four Green Sandpipers, a Dunlin and a Ringed Plover alongside good numbers of Black-tailed Godwits and Lapwing. A single Snipe was the only other wader seen. A juvenile Peregrine flew through and put some of the waders up, but I couldn't see anything unusual amongst the Lapwings. I also managed to pick out a Garganey amongst the assembled duck.
Whilst checking the lagoon a cyclist passed by and said he had seen an Osprey at Noah's Lake, so off I went and was lucky enough to get to the hide in time to see three fishing attempts, the final one a success and the Osprey flew to a dead tree to enjoy his mid-afternoon snack.

 

Another check of the lagoon on the way back to the car again failed to deliver the much wanted Wood Sandpiper, but a Great White Egret was seen in flight.
UK list for 2015 now at 184 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 16 Aug

A late afternoon stroll from the car park south along the water's edge and back was pleasant if somewhat lacking in birds. That being said three Common Sandpipers were on the far bank and two Mandarin were at the extreme southern end of the reservoir. The only other birds of interest were a couple of Kingfishers, which seem to be a permanent fixture recently.

Black Hole Marsh - Sat 15 Aug

News of a probable Baird's Sandpiper near Seaton in Devon broke just after lunch, so I made the decision to go and check it out. Baird's Sandpiper is on my UK list but has always been one of those species that I wanted to see again just to underline it, and having dipped the last two I'd gone to see this was really too good an opportunity to miss.
At around 2.30pm I arrived at Black Hole Marsh and walked out to the Island Hide where a very kind birder let me view the bird through his 'scope. Excellent stuff, a cracking little wader! I then got my own 'scope set up and enjoyed some great views for the next ten minutes or so. Initially I was a little concerned with the boldness of the supercilium and the wing projection past the tail, but comparing photos with my various field guides when I got home, as well as talking to a couple of exceptional birders on site left me happy that it was a indeed an adult Baird's Sandpiper.

 

 

As you will see from the photos above, there was a deposit on the legs of the bird. Presumably this was salt from a salt pan that the Baird's Sandpiper had previously been feeding on. With these being numerous in the Canary Islands and south-west Mediterranean it is possible the bird headed north from a location in the southern Western Palearctic...though I guess no-one will ever really know!
I didn't really check out much else whilst on site, but a single Ruff was seen as well as a couple of Common Sandpipers and good numbers of Black-tailed Godwits and Redshank. It's been a while since I was last down this way, and I must say I am really impressed with the facilities down at Seaton. All in all a very good afternoon out.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 15 Aug

It was rather late in the morning by the time I got to the reservoir today, but a quick look around before too much human activity produced a Common Sandpiper on West Pool. A walk along the water's edge to the Canoe Club and back was not that beneficial, though I did find a Common Tern hawking over the water.
A quick drive round to the Water Treatment Works and a second Common Sandpiper was in the outflow stream, as was a Kingfisher. So not much brought in overnight, but still the odd bird to keep one interested!

Sutton Bingham - Fri 14 Aug

Heavy overnight rain did not let up when dawn broke and it looked like a complete washout for the entire day, however, I was not to be put off and headed out to the reservoir for an hour just after breakfast. Arriving at about 8.20am I scanned the water from the northern causeway but failed to locate anything other than the "usual" species. After about ten minutes I noticed a flock of eleven birds arriving from the north-east over the dam and then above the reservoir and it soon became apparent that this was a flock of terns, but what kind? Some careful scrutiny over the next 15 minutes helped by relocating to the now open car park enabled me to confirm the identity as Arctic Terns, excellent stuff and probably not that surprising given the time of year and conditions. Just as the terns passed over me again I noticed a straggler and a quick count confirmed there were now twelve birds, and this new tern was smaller and darker...a Black Tern! Within a couple of minutes of the Black Tern joining the group of Arctic Terns the entire flock headed south in and was lost to view, so with the rain now hammering it down I decided to head home for a well deserved cup of coffee!