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.

South Devon - Sun 3 Sep

A trip out with birding mates today as the usual suspects met up at Darts Farm and headed out to our first stop of the day, Bowling Green Marsh RSPB where we struck it lucky as the tide was in so there was a mass of waders present. Among the numerous Curlew, Black-tailed Godwits, Dunlin and Redshank there were a few different waders.

A Ruff showed pretty well feeding in the grass at the water's edge.

A lone Whimbrel was located amongst the gathered waders.

A few Bar-tailed Godwits were amongst their black-tailed cousins.

About a dozen or so Knot were present, though could blend in with the crowd, this one associating with Redshank and Dunlin.

A single Curlew Sandpiper took some finding, but I managed it!

Other than the waders there was very little around, a Kingfisher flew past and a Pintail was on the pool at the back of the reserve and a Spoonbill flew in, circled the area and headed off north.

After a good peroid of time we decided to head back to the cars and drove on to our second location of the day, Aylesbeare Common RSPB. By the time we arrived it was very hot and there were very few birds around, just a few Stonechats and we did eventually locate three Dartford Warblers. There were lots of butterflies though with the pick being Grayling, Small Heath and a Clouded Yellow.

We then decided to head back towards home and stopped at the Seaton Wetlands reserve, in particular Black Hole Marsh, for a look around. We added Ringed Plover and Greenshank to the day's wader tally but not much else, though a Knot was seen on the Axe estuary.

With the heat and a fair amount of walking now taking it's toll we called it a day and set off for home. Some great birds and some even better company.

Sutton Bingham - Fri 1 Sep

A pre-work visit turned up another Wheatear, this one was on the dam wall, which seems to be a favoured spot for them this year. A Hobby flew over the car I was making my way to the Fishing Lodge whilst at the southern end the Greenshank was still present along with five Common Sandpipers and five Teal. A drake Gadwall was off the northern causeway.
Whilst at work Pete messaged our WhatsApp group to say he'd had a few Spotted Flycatchers at the southern end so during my lunch break I hot-footed it back to patch to try my luck. Fortunately, I succeeded with at least seven being present around Cotton Bridge.

I'd left my 'scope in the car so the above photo was the best I could manage through my bins.
Sutton Bingham year list for 2023 now at 114 species.

Sutton Bingham - Wed 30 Aug

A very brief morning visit produced a Wheatear on the fence line south of West Pool whilst at the southern end the Greenshank was still present alongside six Common Sandpipers. Nothing else of note today though.

Sutton Bingham - Tue 29 Aug

A pre-work visit today produced a juvenile Arctic Tern on one of the buoys on the main reservoir, always a little distant so no decent photograph but it was great to see as Arctic Terns are pretty scarce on patch, this juvenile is my third this year following two adults in the Spring.

I then took a look at the southern end where the Greenshank was still present along with a couple of Common Sandpipers (there were also two on West Pool when I arrived on site but they flew south down the reservoir so possibly the same birds).

Then I got a real surprise as a flock of nine Cattle Egrets flew south down the arm and kept going, the new largest single count for the site! They were closely followed by the Arctic Tern as that also left to the south.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 27 Aug

A visit in the morning yesterday failed to turn up anything new, but I did get a phone call from one of the Rangers late afternoon telling me he had just seen an Osprey, but I didn't have the chance to go and take a look.

A stop off this morning did produce the Osprey though in flight over the northern end. At the southern end of the reservoir the Greenshank was still present along with half a dozen Common Sandpipers. Six Teal and a female Shoveler were also present but no new birds for the year list again.