I went to Rutland Water where
I was informed by a photographer that he had taken some photos of two Turtle
Doves from osprey hide. I walked to
osprey in fairly light rain but there was no sign of the Turtle Doves and as
the rain increased I decided to move to sandpiper hide on lagoon four. I entered the hide to find Tim doing his
early morning count on lagoon four. He
had seen a number of Dunlin and single Sanderling and Turnstone. There was no sign of any of the waders but
there was a large gathering of Common Terns on one of the islands and I counted
thirty-one on the lagoon, although Tim had seen over fifty. A few Dunlin then appeared on one of the
islands but there was still no sign of the Sanderling or Turnstone. After Tim had departed I found more Dunlin on
the top of island four but they kept disappearing down the other side and out
of site. I decided to move to plover
hide as I thought they would be showing better from there. However on arrival I had the same problem but
this time they were disappearing down the other side. I did manage to see eighteen in total but
there was still no sign of the Sanderling or Turnstone. A text from Tim informed me that Steve Lister
was watching the Turnstone on the end of island four, a quick check but still
no sign.
I moved off to lapwing hide
where there were numerous Hirundinidae over the water and at least ten
Swift. There was also twenty-seven
Common Terns over the water and others more distant unidentifiable. I did see a single Black Tern rise high and
then lost without any further sightings.
Both the Swift and the Black tern were my first for the year.
I did a quick check at crake
hide but other than two Shelduck there was little else, although the water had
risen considerably since my last visit.
I walked back I saw Steve Lister who informed me there was a Black Tern
on lagoon three and that he had seen the Turnstone but not the Sanderling. I went into Buzzard hide and the Black tern
was still perched on one of the tern rafts on lagoon three and there were at
least another sixteen Common Terns present.
I continued walking back to
sandpiper hide and soon found the Turnstone and had twenty-seven Dunlin. The Lapwing seen earlier with a newly hatched
chick was now escorting three, what an awful day to be introduced to the
world. I also saw an Oystercatcher, ten
Avocet, two Little Ringed Plovers, five Ringed Plovers, a Common Sandpiper and
at least four Redshanks on the lagoon.
I called at osprey hide on may
way back to the centre but there was still no sign of the Turtle Doves although
a Golden Plover flew over before heading off east. A quick look from the centre before lunch
produced two nice summer plumage Islandic Black-tailed Godwit.
After lunch after looking for
a Bar-tailed Godwit on lagoon one but only finding a winter Black-tailed Godwit
I decided to walk back to lagoon four as apparently the Sanderling was still
present. I walked back with Handy Howes
and his female protégée seeing a Willow Warbler before we reached
sandpiper. I scanned the back of the
lagoon and almost immediately found the summer plumage Sanderling but there was
no sign of the Turnstone. We moved off
to lapwing where I identified a distant tern as a potential Arctic and
gradually as it became much closer was able to confirm that it was. We called a buzzard hide and had further
views of the Black Tern and then to plover hide on lagoon four where we had
further views of the Sanderling but the Turnstone was not seen. I stayed in plover hide before calling at
osprey hide again in the hope of seeing the Turtle Dove but there was no sign. I had one final look on lagoon one where the
three Black-tailed Godwits were now together before leaving.
I made a brief call at Eye
Brook Reservoir on the way home where the water has now risen
considerably. Two Common Terns and c.200
Swallow were the only birds of note.
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