Sutton Bingham - Thu 10 Sep

A nice long visit to the reservoir this afternoon with the best part of two hours on site. That being said, it was not that busy with nothing of note from the northern causeway or around West Pool. At the southern end two Hobbies were hawking insects. Two Common Sandpipers and a single Green Sandpiper was present along with nine Teal.

I then popped round to the Fishing Lodge and there were a few birds around on the dam, most noticeably another Wheatear.

Also around here I had my first Meadow Pipits of the Autumn with half a dozen birds present. Several Pied Wagtails were also noted with at least twenty Linnet.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 9 Sep

Another lunchtime visit and a Wheatear was a nice find in the field on the opposite side of the road to the Canoe Club.

A couple of Common Sandpipers and three Teal were at the southern end.

On the northern causeway a first summer Common Gull was an unusual bird for the time of year.

Common Gulls are to be expected in the winter, but an early Autumn bird was certainly surprising.

Sutton Bingham - Tue 8 Sep

A lunchtime visit today was fairly productive despite the short amount of time I had on site. The southern end held a single Wigeon, six Teal and two Mute Swans amongst a large number of Canada Geese. A single Yellow Wagtail was on the water's edge before flying south.

From the northern causeway an interesting Cormorant was on one of the pontoons off the Sailing Club. It was noticeably smaller than those Cormorants next to it and invited plenty of discussion.

After much discussion online the general consensus was that it was a small sinensis Cormorant. That's the thing with birding, you're always learning.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 5 Sep

A quick afternoon visit produced half a dozen Teal and three Common Sandpipers were at the southern end whilst in the cattle field to the west of West Pool at least a dozen Yellow Wagtails were 'scoped.

Sutton Bingham - Fri 4 Sep

A real patch mega this morning when, at just gone 8.00am, I found a Firecrest in the car park! This is only my second ever record of a Firecrest at Sutton Bingham following a December bird in 2016. It was in a loose feeding flock of birds that also included two Willow Warblers, a few Chiffchaffs and a juvenile Blackcap plus a Goldcrest and a couple of Blue Tits. I didn't find anything else of note today, just four Teal at the southern end, but what a bonus addition to the year list the Firecrest was!

Sutton Bingham year list for 2020 now at 113 species.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 3 Sep

"Winter is coming!", to coin a phrase. The first three Wigeon of the season were new in this morning at the southern end with four Teal also present and the first Snipe of the Autumn.

From the Fishing Lodge a single Yellow Wagtail was present with around thirty-five Pied Wagtails. A Coot was off the Fishing Lodge, still less than a handful of sightings of this species at the reservoir this year, and a Raven was seen.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 2 Sep

An adult Little Grebe was a nice find late afternoon at the southern end, jus the third sighting this year (and the first adult bird). A female Tufted Duck was also new in and was in the same area. Earlier in the day a single Common Sandpiper was on West Pool and a Peregrine was on one of the pylons.