A day’s birding in Leicestershire and Rutland - April 23, 2012

I went to Rutland Water today and walked to Hambleton Wood as a Nightingale had been reported yesterday.  As I approached the area where the area had been coppiced several years ago to encourage Nightingale I heard a burst of song and it wasn’t too long before I was able to get reasonable views of the bird.  There were plenty of Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs singing and I heard a single Willow Warbler but there was no evidence of any other arrivals.  This can be a good area for Garden Warbler but obviously there aren’t too many that have arrived yet.  There were four Whimbrel on the point as I started to walk to Hambleton Wood.

 Jackdaw near the Old Hall

Egyptian Goose near the Old Hall

I walked back to the car and went to the north arm where I spent some time.  There are now very view duck left and I only saw two Goldeneye but there were some distant martins over Burley Wood.  A single Bar-tailed Godwit was observed with two Oystercatcher on the south shore. And there were at least eleven Buzzard over Burley Wood and two Red Kite and single Sparrowhawk were also observed.  A good bird was a single Yellow Wagtail that flew over heading east.  It was only my sixth of the year and I think how common this species was in the not too distant past.

Buzzard over the north arm

After I had some lunch I decided to walk to lagoon four where there had been a Common Sandpiper earlier today.  I went to Dunlin and soon located the Common Sandpiper feeding on one of the closer islands.  There was also six Avocet, with one pair nesting on the closest island, a Little Ringed Plover, three Ringed Plovers, a summer plumage Dunlin and at least four Redshank and there were also more Common Tern present on the lagoon today.  From shoveler hide on lagoon three there were more Common Tern but little else, except a Sedge Warbler singing briefly.  The weather was now deteriorating but id did hear both Sedge and Reed Warblers but neither was prepared to show themselves.

Common Sandpiper over lagoon four

From lapwing I located four Whimbrel on Brown’s Island, which were probably the four I had seen from the Old Hall earlier.

I walked back to the centre calling at redshank hide and then onto mallard hide where I had good views of twenty-nine Islandic Black-tailed Godwits.  They were feeding on the meadow but took to flight on two occasions and the second occasion landed on the islands on lagoon one.  Three quickly returned to the meadow to continue feeding and five more the followed but most remained on the island.  I then noticed the five flying again but the three remained in the meadow, albeit alert.  When I looked for the others on the island they had all disappeared and did not return during my stay.

I called at Eye Brook Reservoir on route home and three Whimbrel flew over as I arrived.  There were six Common Terns present and two Ringed Plovers and a single summer plumage Dunlin.  The water has continued to rise, which had attracted six Little Egrets that were feeding near the inlet.

Spring migration still appears quite slow and hopefully there are still many more migrants to arrive.