Sutton Bingham - Tue 26 Sep

Nothing of note at the reservoir over the past ten days or so, but a Blog post today simply because I had a record count of Mandarin at the southern end of the reservoir with thirty-one birds present. A lone Common Sandpiper was the only other bird of note.

Sutton Bingham - Fri 22 Sep

Another Dunlin turned up yesterday and was still present this evening alongside seven Common Sandpipers. There were five Wigeon and around thirty Teal also at the southern end whilst three Gadwall were on West Pool.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 17 Sep

A brief visit a couple of days ago produced my first two Wigeon of the Autumn but today was much better with an evening visit yielding a Black Tern at the southern end alongside a Common Tern. It's been a couple of years since my last patch Black Tern and with Autumn passage at Sutton Bingham being so poor this year with hardly any migrants it was great to finally pick up a very welcome year tick. Also this evening a Dunlin, whether it's the same bird that was present a few days ago or not, who knows, and a few Common Sandpipers.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2023 now at 115 species.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 13 Sep

A quick visit during my lunch break today produced a Dunlin at the southern end with half a dozen Common Sandpipers.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 10 Sep

An evening visit today, arriving at around 5.30pm and there was a nice amount of action for a change with two Cattle Egret dropping in to land on the small pontoon opposite the Canoe Club being the pick of the birds seen. Five Common Sandpipers and a drake Gadwall were at the southern end. A Wheatear was in the field that is on the far side of the road by the Canoe Club and another two were on the dam wall, this is the first time I've seen three separate Wheatears at Sutton Bingham on the same day.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 7 Sep

Water levels are dropping but I fear it's too late for any real wader passage now, but here's hoping. A quick visit on Monday this week did turn up another brief Cattle Egret and a drake Gadwall but little else.
This afternoon a very quick visit in very hot conditions was unsurprisingly devoid of birds with just a single Common Sandpiper seen but two more Wheatears were on the dam wall briefly.

It's been a pretty amazing Autumn for Wheatears at Sutton Bingham this year, with a total of eleven being seen (of which I've seen nine), but there have been very few other passerine migrants.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 3 Sep

After the day out in Devon I thought I had better check out the patch just in case! Two Common Sandpipers were at the southern end, but the Greenshank seems to have moved on after its two week stay. Another Wheatear was present on the dam wall and a Cattle Egret flew up the arm.