A late morning and early afternoon birding in Leicestershire - April 6, 2012

I had been looking after the grandchildren at my daughter’s this morning and had decided to visit Cropston Reservoir and Swithland Reservoir in the hope of seeing Mandarin and Peregrine.

I arrived at Cropston Reservoir and soon had two pairs of Mandarin but with little else in the cool wind I moved off to Swithland Reservoir.

The car in front of me pulled up on the road overlooking the reservoir and it was Roger who had been birding in Swithland Wood.  We looked over the water but there was nothing of note and so we decided to go to Kinchley Lane where I was hoping to see the Peregrine.  We pulled up at the railings where we located an Oystercatcher and another birder informed us that that there was a summer plumage Black-necked Grebe further down.  We drove part of the way to the dam where there is a good vantage point overlooking the reservoir and we were soon observing the grebe not too far out.  Although the light was pretty poor it was still a smart looking bird and I managed to get a couple of record shots of the bird.  There were also plenty of martins over the water and whilst were Sand Martin we did pick out at least one Swallow and a House Martin.  Whilst scanning through the birds I noticed a rather smart looking gull and the water and on a closer look realised that it was an adult Kittiwake, which is quite an unusual bird in the counties and my first since 2008.  They are annual, particularly at this time, but don’t usually stay very long.

I eventually moved off to the dam and the female Peregrine was perched in the usual tree.  The male returned a little later but they then both disappeared for a while before the female eventually returned.  As I was watching a couple of Buzzard another birder cried out Osprey.  It was initially coming towards us but veered off to the west and out of sight.  It was quite cold standing around on the dam and I eventually decided to call it a day as I was beginning to feel it.

It had been a productive morning and one of the best at Swithland Reservoir for some time.

Summer adult Black-necked Grebe