Rod's Birding: A day’s birding in Leicestershire and Rutland

Roger and went to Wistow Church on route to Eye Brook Reservoir to see if we could locate a Spotted Flycatcher. As we walked into the church yard a Green Woodpecker flew up silently from the grass. We began to search the trees where we had seen Spotted Flycatcher in the past but all we could find was a Song Thrush and several Chaffinch. I the noticed a bird perched on a post on the deg of the copse and it was a Spotted Flycatcher, success. We had a quick look on Wistow Lake but there was nothing of note.

We continued to Eye Brook Reservoir seeing a Red Kite just west of Cranoe on route. We approached Eye Brook Reservoir from the Great Eastern end and spent some time overlooking the fields and the old feeding station near the entrance to the fishing lodge. We did find a single Whitethroat and eventually we did see a Tree Sparrow. We then drove to the inlet where we saw a Buzzard and my first Osprey at the reservoir this year. The water level is now very high and the vegetation very lush and it is difficult to see birds other than n on the water. Something disturbed the birds feeding in the vegetation and there were three Little Egrets, several Lapwings and a single Redshank observed. We eventually decided to go to Rutland Water.

We went to the north at Rutland Water first where we found four Pochard, two Little Egrets, four Oystercatchers and a single Green Sandpiper. There was also a Red Kit and several Buzzards over Burley Wood.

It was now lunchtime so we drove to the Egleton car park where we had lunch before setting off for lagoon four. It was rather quiet but we did find four Oystercatchers, which we presumed were the same four we had seen in flight in the north arm. There were also three Little Ringed Plovers and a single Ringed Plover and there were two Lapwing chicks on island ten. I then noticed what I assumed would be a tern amongst several gulls resting on some distant mud. However before I could scope it, it took to flight and turned out to be a first-summer Little Gull. There was also a party of larger gulls resting on a distant spit but they also took to flight and settled a lot closer and there were also eleven immature Yellow-legged Gulls. I then noticed that the Little Gull was also resting on the same spit but shortly afterwards all of them got up and went very high not to return. I suspected that there might be a bird of prey and scanned the sky but saw nothing that might have flushed the birds.

We returned to the centre and spent the last thirty minutes overlooking lagoon one. We were told that there had been two adult Mediterranean Gulls present but that they had flown off towards lagoon two. There was a Little Egret but little else of note before Roger picked up the two Mediterranean Gulls flying over Lax Hill. They then flew towards the new lagoons below Lax Hill and appeared to come down on either lagoon five or seven. A Hobby was also observed as it came in high from the east and beginning to hawk over lagoon three. We eventually called it a day and set off for home having had much better day than we thought when we set of this morning.

It had been a very good day with eighty-two species recorded. This included the first ever June record of Bittern within the counties and a Peregrine over the house as I waited for Roger.

We had also seen four Red Admiral, a Peacock, three Speckled Wood, four Meadow Brown and three Ringlet butterflies and two Azure Damselflies and at least ten Common Blue Damselflies.