Reserve: Belvide

Compiled from daily sightings – Belvide Reservoir, May 2026. With thanks to Steve Nuttall for collating the Belvide Bird Blog.

May 2026 was an exceptional month at Belvide Reservoir, producing a remarkable mix of scarce migrants, breeding successes and record-breaking sightings. Here are the highlights:

Major Rarities

• Great Reed Warbler (8–10 May)

  • Only the second record for Belvide and fourth for Staffordshire.

• Bonaparte's Gull (11–21 May)

  • Belvide's second ever record.

  • A first-summer bird that delighted birders for over a week, often hawking insects over the reservoir.

• 7 Glossy Ibis (6 May)

  • A site and Staffordshire record.

• Black-winged Stilt (23–24 May)

  • Only the fourth record for the reserve.

• Temminck's Stint (21 May)

  • First since 2016.

• Kittiwake (13 May)

  • A scarce inland visitor.

• Quail (21, 29–31 May)

  • Calling and even briefly seen from the west track.

• Caspian Gull and several Yellow-legged Gulls were regular features during the month.

Waders

Excellent passage included:

• Ringed Plover (up to 22)

• Dunlin

• Common Sandpiper

• Greenshank

• Black-tailed Godwit

• Turnstone (11)

• Sanderling

• Knot

• Wood Sandpiper

• Avocet

• Oystercatcher breeding

• Whimbrel

• Curlew

  
  

Raptors

Regular flyovers included:

• Red Kite

• Hobby

• Osprey

• Marsh Harrier

• Peregrine

• Goshawk

  
  

Spring Migrants

Notable arrivals included:

• Spotted Flycatcher

• Lesser Whitethroat

• Yellow Wagtail

• Wheatear

• Cuckoo

• Stonechat

• Bullfinch

• Yellowhammer

Wildfowl

Highlights included:

• Scaup

• Black-necked Grebe

• Goldeneye

• Mandarin

• Pochard brood (sadly reducing from 5 ducklings to just 1 by month end)

• Shelduck counts up to 21

Herons & Egrets

• Great Egret

• Cattle Egret (3)

• Little Egret (up to 7)

Dragonflies

The exceptional hot weather produced outstanding insect records:

• Lesser Emperor (earliest ever Belvide record and multiple individuals)

• Red-veined Darter (up to 30+)

• Hairy Dragonfly (only the second site record)

Overall

May 2026 will likely be remembered as one of Belvide's finest spring months, featuring:

• 7 Glossy Ibis (site record) 

• Great Reed Warbler 

• Bonaparte's Gull 

• Black-winged Stilt 

• Temminck's Stint 

• Kittiwake

• Glossy passage of waders and gulls 

• Outstanding dragonfly records during the late-May heatwave.

It was a month with something new almost every day and one of the strongest May migrations Belvide has experienced in recent years.