Sutton Bingham - Thu 22 Dec

I've been able to make a few flying visits over the past week but seen nothing of note, however, this afternoon I arrived on site before dark and was lucky enough to see the Cattle Egret that had been dropping in presumably to roost for the past few days. It showed really well in the trees below the car park and was viewable from the northern causeway. Always a bit obscured and with the light failing rapidly I managed this identifiable photo!

The only other birds of note today were a pair of Gadwall on West Pool.

Sutton Bingham - Fri 16 Dec

An early morning visit to the reservoir today and the recent cold snap meant West Pool was completely frozen over and much of the southern end of the reservoir was also iced over. A walk from the car park towards the Canoe Club produced four Tufted Ducks with a further eighteen off the dam, a very good count for the reservoir these days. Other wildfowl present today included two female Shoveler amongst the Wigeon flock and a pair of Mandarin were at the bottom of the car park.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 15 Dec

Not much of note during the very few and very brief visits I'd made to the reservoir over the past couple of weeks. However, a few things of interest today with a late afternoon visit produced a nice total of eight Gadwall and three Shoveler off the dam with Mallards, Teal and Wigeon.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 1 Dec

I'd not had the opportunity to visit the patch for the best part of a week due to other commitments and I nearly didn't bother today as thick fog pretty much meant no chance of seeing anything on the water. However, a stop at the Fishing Lodge did turn up a year tick in the form of a Black Redstart! Initially rather distant and very mobile it eventually started feeding on the boats where it showed much better, I even got a few shots through the fog.

After enjoying this little beauty for about fifteen minutes I headed round to the car park and had a wander. A couple of Chiffchaffs were the pick of the birds with nothing else of real note being seen.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2022 now at 125 species.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 24 Nov

Three Chiffchaff were present at the bottom end of the car park this morning but there was little else of note other than a single Mediterranean Gull.
A return visit for the gull roost was very disappointing with almost zero gulls, just a few flying through, but a year tick was collected as a flock of around fifty Golden Plover were seen distantly over the back of the Fishing Lodge flying south.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2022 now at 124 species.

Sutton Bingham - Tue 22 Nov

A mid-afternoon visit today finally produced something of note when a bulky, short-tailed finch flew over the southern end calling...a Hawfinch! Well that was certainly not on the radar and was a really welcome patch year tick, and only my third for Sutton Bingham following two in the eruption year of 2018.
Also this afternoon five Mediterranean Gulls dropped in off the northern causeway and three Gadwall were on West Pond.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2022 now at 123 species.

Meare Heath & Ham Wall RSPB - Wed 16 Nov

A trip up to the Avalon Marshes as I was leading a trip for work and took a minibus full of eleven keen birdwatchers out for the morning.

A good start was had as a sheep field about half a mile south of the Ham Wall car park contained not just sheep but also about thirty Cattle Egrets!

After parking we started by walking out to Meare Heath and before long found the drake American Wigeon that had been present for a couple of weeks, it was nice to introduce a bunch of "new" birders to the joys of twitching! The American Wigeon spent most of the time asleep, but occasionally raised its head for a quick glance around.

Just along the bank from the American Wigeon there was a roosting Garganey, which also spent most of the time with its head tucked away, but did show enough at times to clinch the ID.

After a successful stop we tried our luck at Ham Wall RSPB where pretty much the first birds we saw were four Marsh Harriers soaring in the sky together, over the next hour we must have seen up to eight different birds. From the first viewpoint we saw a couple of Great White Egrets and there were a good number of Lapwing about.

A walk around the reserve produced many of the expected species, but we did miss a few things that would have been nice to have added to the trip list, but it was an enjoyable morning with a total of 47 species seen.