Sutton Bingham - Mon 8 Jul

A quick morning visit produced a Great White Egret on West Pool. There were also three Little Egret and a Common Sandpiper. An adult Great Black-backed Gull was present.

Martin Down & Salisbury Plain - Sun 7 Jul

A day out with friends today and we started off with a visit to Martin Down nature reserve where we were lucky enough to see a total of six Turtle Doves, including a flock of five flying around together. The supporting case consisted of Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer and Skylark. A great start to the day so off we headed to a couple of sites on Salisbury Plain.
Our first stop on Salisbury Plain produced a couple of singing Quail and also two Stone Curlew. I also picked up a rather Great Bustard...OK, so it's from the reintroduction scheme, but what a bird. A single Curlew was also seen at this site.

We then moved off to try another area and saw hundreds of butterflies plus a bonus Tree Pipit and a Stonechat.
Our final stop of the day was pretty amazing as we were fortunate to see a female Montague's Harrier.

A couple of Red Kite were also noted and then the male Montague's Harrier appeared to harass a Red Kite and so we were treated to great views of both harriers. This rounded off an absolutely brilliant day of birding.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 6 Jul

Whilst in Cornwall I'd had messages telling me of two Ospreys, two Great White Egrets and two Redshank...obviously being away I had missed them all. So on returning home and unpacking I popped down to the reservoir late afternoon to try my luck to see if anything was lingering, though I was not expecting much.
However, as it happened it was a brilliant visit with one of the Great White Egrets doing he decent thing and staying allowing me to add this once rare heron to the patch year list.

Also present this afternoon were two Red Kites over the southern end of the reservoir, plus a total of seven Little Egrets. Two Kingfishers were also seen and a Raven flew over. Finally, a single Linnet was near the dam.

Cornwall - Sat 29 Jun to Sat 6 Jul

A week away on a family holiday, and being the first week of July with very warm weather as you can probably imagine it was not that productive from a birding point of view!
Our cottage did turn up trumps with a singing Cirl Bunting in the garden on a couple of occasions though.
During the course of the week I did very little birding though a trip to St. Andrew's Head one evening was pretty good with at least thirteen Manx Shearwater out to see and three Guillemot plus a Fulmer. A few Mediterranean Gulls were also seen in Gerrans Bay with a small number of Gannet.
Unlike the holidays in this area that I have taken in Spring and Autumn waders were and far between this week, with Curlew being the most numerous and just a single Greenshank noted. Four Common Sandpipers were together at Ruan Lanithorne and four Oystercatchers were seen at Pendower beach.
A singing Reed Warbler was at Ruan Lanithorne and a Marsh Tit was seen at Melinsey Mill where a family of Moorhen were having a successful summer with three juvenile birds alongside the pair of adults and a further five chicks.
Three Sandwich Terns were off Porthscatho and a family of Stonechat, including three recently fledged birds, were seen above Pendower beach.
All in all a lovely and relaxing family holiday, with a few decent birds chucked in for good measure.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 27 Jun

A quick early morning stop produced a juvenile Lapwing and a Common Sandpiper on the northern causeway.
A return visit early afternoon for a little over half an hour failed to add too much more, though three Swifts flew over the Fishing Lodge. A couple of Little Egrets were present and three Mandarin were again at the southern end.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 23 Jun

A quick visit on Thursday afternoon produced three female-type Mandarin, but nothing mush else however it was an early morning visit today, arriving at the reservoir just after 6.00am as I was hoping that an Arctic Tern found by James last night which I was unable to go for might still be present, it wasn't. The pick of the few birds that were around were two adult Mediterranean Gulls which flew over heading east. A Kingfisher showed really well on the dam where a couple of Linnet were also seen. The only other birds of note were two Stock Dove.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 9 Jun

June is usually the quietest month of the year with regard to "new" species on the list or even seeing much in general and that has certainly been the case this year, hence the real lack of any news.
I did manage an hour on site today though and there were a few birds of note around. Two Little Egrets were seen from the Fishing Lodge (at least one of which has been present on and off for a few days). A Raven was heard "cronking" and a single Stock Dove flew through. A drake Mandarin was present at the southern end of the reservoir whilst from the northern causeway the long-staying Cetti's Warbler could still be heard singing. A Reed Warbler was also in song along the western edge and the first Meadow Browns of the year were on the wing.