Sutton Bingham - Sun 5 Nov

A quick visit last Thursday produced a pair of Egyptian Geese and they were still present today, loafing off the northern causeway.

It's been a good year for Egyptian Geese at Sutton Bingham, with these bringing the total number seen on patch up thirteen birds.
Also present this afternoon, a Common Sandpiper in the north-east corner and a Stonechat was also seen. At the southern end there were thirty-two Wigeon.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 29 Oct

A late visit today and again it was terribly quiet with very few birds. Wigeon numbers had dropped to just ten from yesterday's thirty-eight and four Teal were at the southern end. A lone Stonechat was present and finally a glimmer of excitement as two Cattle Egrets flew in from the east, over the dam, and towards the car park with a Little Egret just as I was about to give it up for the day.

This ended up being my final visit of the month to the reservoir and considering October is one of the best months for migration I failed to add a single species to my year list which after a great first half of 2023 has really dried up. Here's hoping the final two months of the year turn up a few new birds.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 28 Oct

I popped in to the reservoir for about half an hour this morning and it was rubbish, nothing of note at all until I got round to the Fishing Lodge where I saw a Common Sandpiper, at last, something to look at. I then checked the dam where, to my surprise, there was a Redshank! Just my second in what has been a terrible year for waders on patch.

There were also thirty-eight Wigeon present.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 22 Oct

Back on patch today after a week away and I started off at the southern end where there were six Teal, four Wigeon and a Gadwall present. I then took a walk round to Cotton Bridge and spent a fair bit of time scouring a feeding flock of small birds but failed to find anything out of the ordinary, with half a dozen Chiffchaffs and a couple of Goldcrests being the only notable birds. A Stonechat was also seen as were my first Redwings of the Autumn. Overhead I had a Siskin and a Skylark. So although a few birds were seen today, again, there was nothing new for the year list.

Cornwall - Fri 13 Oct to Fri 20 Oct

A week away from the patch, to be honest there has been nothing of note over the past fortnight other than a pair of Stonechats on West Pool on 5 October and a putative Caspian Gull that flew just as I got on it...very frustrating and one that got away.

Anyway, back to the holiday which was pretty devoid of birds with Gerrans Bay holding no divers or grebes and very few smaller birds seen anywhere.

A seawatch off St Anthony's Head on the morning of 16 October did produce a Cory's Shearwater and a Manx Shearwater along with good numbers of Kittiwake and Gannets.

A trip to Ruan Lanithorne failed to turn up anything much in the way of waders though both Greenshank and Redshank were seen at St Just in Roseland.

Several walks along Pendower and Calne beaches produced a fly-over Ringed Plover in very windy weather and I also had two separate sightings of Choughs, both involving two birds on 17 and 19 October.

So not a lot of birds, but some quality ones thrown in, and a very relaxing and much needed family holiday.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 1 Oct

A good start to the month with some good birds but no new ones for the year list. I arrived in the afternoon and stopping at the northern causeway noted a small flock of eight Egyptian Geese.

Having made a mad dash to the reservoir in early April during a lunch break to twitch one, I've now found a party chilling out together.

I then headed to the southern end, where a single Common Sandpiper and three Teal were present, before checking out Cotton Bridge which produced a sizeable flock of feeding birds but a Marsh Tit was the best of the bunch.

Round then to the Fishing Lodge and I found two Wheatears, continuing the excellent number of records this Autumn (bucking the trend with regard to passerine migrants this year). A single Stonechat was also present to round off an interesting visit to the patch.

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.