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

Dave, Roger and I went to Eye Brook Reservoir first.

As we approached the reservoir a Buzzard flew across the field with the old oak in it but there was no sign of the Little Owls.

The water level was still quite high and the emergent vegetation made it quite difficult to see birds. There was a concentration of gulls at the inlet, which were mainly Black-headed Gull but also included several Common Gulls. Amongst the gulls were quite a few Lapwings and we did locate at least three Snipe. There were a few Wigeon, Teal and Mallard in the inlet and two Shoveler and five Pintail were also found a little further out. Greylag and Canada Geese were also present with most feeding in the surrounding fields where we located a single Red Kite and two more Buzzards. There were numerous Pheasants and we found four Red-legged Partridges but most of these birds will probably be shot in the next few weeks. A party of circa twenty Golden Plover also flew over but headed off south.

There were seventeen Cormorants and two Little Grebes with plenty of Great Crested Grebes further down the reservoir where there was a raft of Coot and a few Tufted Duck.

Having exhausted Eye Brook Reservoir we moved off to the north arm at Rutland Water.

As we parked at the end of the road in the north arm, Dave immediately picked up the Black-necked Grebe but it soon disappeared and we were unable to find it again. There were a few more birds in the north arm than last week and we found three Little Egrets and a Ruff feeding around the edges and it was apparent that the water level had dropped very slightly. There were plenty of wildfowl that included Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard, Shelduck and Tufted Duck and there was also a few Great Crested Grebes and five Little Grebes were found amongst some emerging osier. A single adult Yellow-legged Gull was also found perched on a buoy.

With little else we moved off to the Egleton Reserve and went to lagoon four where there had been a Little Stint yesterday. We did find five Lesser Redpolls and two Chiffchaffs near the old badger hide as we walked to sandpiper hide. When we arrived at sandpiper hide there was no sign of the stint but we did locate two Ringed Plovers three Dunlin and a single Ruff and there was c.180 Golden Plovers roosting on one of the islands. The only other birds of note were five Pintail and another Yellow-legged Gull.

I had picked up a tern flying along the tree line on lagoon three and Dave then picked it over lagoon three so we moved off to shoveler hide. There were two terns that were identified as an adult and juvenile Common Terns. There was another five Pintail on the lagoon and there were a few Pochard amongst the Gadwall and Tufted Duck. It was now lunch time but we called into redshank hide on lagoon two on the way back were we had a Hobby and a Red Kite over the poplars before they drifted off towards Lax Hill.

After lunch we decided to go to snipe hide that overlooks the wet meadow. As we walked along the final stretch of the footpath twelve Whooper Swan flew over and looked as though they might come down on lagoon one. We continued to the hide and found seven Curlew roosting on the edge of the small pool to the left of the hide but there was no sign of the Whooper Swans, although we learnt later they had come down on lagoon four.

We went on to the 360° hide but there was litter on lagoon five just a single Little Egret of note.

When we got back to the centre we had nice views of a female Marsh Harrier that quartered the wet meadow area, flushing three Snipe, before climbing high and appearing to go off to the east. We also had further views of the Hobby and a Sparrowhawk was seen perched on a fence post.

We also saw two Red Admiral and a Small White butterflies and several Migrant Hawkers and Common Darters.