Sutton Bingham - Thu 14 May

Yet another flying visit to the reservoir on my way home from work and today I managed to add two more species to the patch year list. Firstly a Hobby zoomed in and buzzed a few hirundines over West Pool before zooming off north and secondly my first patch Swifts of the year, with two seen over Hyde Farm.

Ham Wall RSPB - Sat 9 May

An afternoon in the sun and a walk around Ham Wall RSPB reserve today. From the car park I noticed at least ten Hobbies hawking insects over one of the nearer reed beds, and a Great White Egret flew in and dropped in to the same patch of reeds. A walk out to the second viewing platform produced two Whimbrel, a welcome addition to the year list, and the usual singing warblers. Over the next couple of hours I had seen five Great White Egrets and at least three Marsh Harriers. As well as hearing a couple of Bitterns, I had great views of one in flight. Hobby numbers increased with at least twenty birds over the reserve as well as a couple of hundred Swift. All in all a most enjoyable trip out.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 3 May

An hour on the patch this morning produced a few things, most noticeably the first Reed Warbler of the year at Sutton Bingham with a male in full song near the site of the old hide. A drake Mandarin was seen in flight near Cotton Bridge and a Kingfisher whizzed through. The other notable sighting was a Common Sandpiper on the northern causeway.

Fri 8 May Update: A few flying visits over the course of the last week failed to produce anything worthy of a separate blog entry! The hoped for scarcity just failed to arrive!

Sutton Bingham - Sat 2 May

A brief visit on my way to work proved to be a good decision as when scanning the reservoir from the northern causeway I located a tern on one of the buoys. I had a pretty good idea of what it was but decided on a better view so hot-footed to the end of the car park where I was afforded some cracking views of an adult Arctic Tern.

Always a good bird to get on the patch year list, especially as there seem to have been very few terns about so far this year. Still very little else around, though a cold and overcast morning does not tend to encourage anything much.

Sutton Bingham - Tue 28 Apr

With a little bit of time on my hands, having left for work early, I popped in to the reservoir for a quick look. Bright sunlight meant viewing the main reservoir from the northern causeway was a bit tricky so I checked out West Pool, which had been almost devoid of birdlife for the last few months. Today was slightly different when I stumbled upon a brown aythya duck, keeping close to the water's edge on the far side of the pool. I immediately noticed the white under-tail coverts and rounded back of the head...no sign of a crest. Chestnut brown in colour with a darker back and paler flanks, a dark eye and darkish bill. Was this a female/first-summer Ferruginous Duck? However, aythya hybrids are always a possibility and something didn't look quite right, was there a hint of Pochard in there somewhere? My gut instinct was telling me this was a hybrid, a real shame but the bill and forehead didn't look right for Ferruginous Duck and were more like Pochard. A quick Tweet to get news out and a couple of phone calls so others could check it out. I guess a few second opinions will nail it one way or the other.

UPDATE: I can confirm that the mystery aythya was indeed a hybrid, possibly Fudge x Pochard though it looked as if there could even be some Red-crested Pochard somewhere in it! A very interesting bird!

Meare Heath NNR - Sat 25 Apr

I had just arrived at work when the pager went off with a *Mega Alert* alerting me of a Hudsonian Godwit just up the road at Meare heath NNR on the Somerset Levels. What followed was the longest four hours I had ever spent sat at my desk, with a constant eye on Twitter and the RBA website keeping me abreast of the birds presence I finally set off and arrived on site soon after 1pm. The new car park was packed to capacity but fortunately I managed to squeeze in to the old car park at Ashcott Corner and walked out to view the drained lagoon, along with around 500 other birders!

When I first got on the bird it was fast asleep, though it did do a little preening before settling down again. So I walked on to take a look over Noah's Lake where I added Common Tern to the year list, with two birds flying around. A couple of Hobbies overhead were also new for the year and the now expected Great White Egrets, Bitterns and Marsh Harriers were all noted.
I then returned to the throng and the Hudsonian Godwit was now feeding but was working its way in to the left hand corner of the lagoon and was for the most part obscured from view. However, with a little patience I got some great views and was able to see all the distinguishing features, including the dark underwing when it had a go at a Black-tailed Godwit. I did try and get a couple of record shots, but was more interested in seeing the bird and appreciating this third for Britain.

 

 

The only other bird of note that I saw this afternoon was a Greenshank, there were loads of other quality birds around, but I didn't actually connect with any of them...not that I minded, I saw the important one!

Sutton Bingham - Sat 25 Apr

An extremely quick visit on the way to work this morning added Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler to the patch year list. The Whitethroat was singing away from the depths of the railway embankment and whilst extremely vocal did not actually show. The Sedge Warbler was equally elusive in the north-east corner of West Pool, giving about thirty seconds worth of song from deep within the vegetation. A single Common Sandpiper was on the northern causeway.