Shustoke Reservoir.

Great visit to Shustoke Reservoir even though I'm going to start with a moan, yet again it's about irresponsible dog owners, I'd been at the waters edge for less than two minutes after putting seed down for the water fowl when this dog came bounding out of nowhere and chased all the birds back into the water, even though I didn't speak to the owners, I did raise my arms in the air in utter disbelief and then then I heard the male say it was my fault because the dog (Rex) was after the 'food', not forgetting that dogs are supposed to be on a lead at all times at this location, which brings me to my second encounter less than three minutes after that one, true to my word I ignored a woman who spoke to me because her dog (Archie) was running wantonly over the place, so when I made a comment to the person I was birding with, the woman shouted back that the dog was under control so it was okay to which I informed her that she was throwing a ball so the dog wasn't under control and I was told not to be so pedantic and she then informed me dogs don't have to be on a lead but just kept under control, when I told her about the previous encounter I'd just had she said 'don't be silly my Archie doesn't chase birds', that's the same Archie that was just chasing around like a maniac when it should have been on a lead. The following three photos are the thee signs pertaining to dogs at the reservoir at the entrance she came in, I'm pretty sure they say dogs must be kept on a lead or maybe it's just me being 'silly'.

At least after those encounters it was all good, one half of the reservoir was bathed in sunshine while the other was foggy and misty, in fact the last photo below is actually in colour, it only looks monochrome through the mist.

Before I'd even got to the reservoir there was plenty to see around the car park area, plenty of House Sparrow could be heard near the houses, male Blackbirds were fighting all over the place which is also happening a lot in my back garden, I also got really close to a female Blackbird which seemed strange until I got closer and I noticed it was clearly blind in it's left eye so I left it to forage in among the leaf litter, the air was full of birdsong especially some very vocal Mistle Thrush of which I saw one with the biggest worm I've ever seen and just as I was leaving to get to the reservoir a Sparrowhawk darted passed me towards where the small birds where near the boat house, towards the end of the walk it was great to hear Skylark singing in the farmers fields.

On and around the water, I saw a Little Egret which is a bird I've never seen here before then I saw a Grey Heron which I haven't seen here for years, saying that I do see them on the fly-fishers pool which is the direction it was flying towards. It's always nice to see but sad at the same time the two resident Canada Goose with angel wing, at least I do the decent thing and feed them seed. Around the waters edge I normally only see Pied Wagtail so it made a pleasant change to see Grey Wagtails instead today. It was also great to see plenty of Little and Great Crested Grebe on the water, hopefully they'll have better success in breeding than they do most years at this site. I also saw what maybe my last sighting for a while of Redwing, who sadly were all flushed out of the trees by a passing freight train which runs adjacent to the reservoir on one side.

Birds seen today were, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Skylark, Nuthatch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Redwing, Mistle Thrush, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Collared Dove, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Magpie, Grey Wagtail, Cormorant, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Tufted Duck, Mallard and Canada Goose.

I can't be 100% possible that this is a crime but on the edge of one of the farmers fields I found the remains of a dead Rabbit hanging from a tree, seems strange whatever the reason is.