A day in Leicestershire and Rutland - August 27, 2013

I wasn’t out too early today as it was rather misty first thing and I intended staying out later as my wife was out this evening.

I called at Eye Brook Reservoir on route to Rutland Water as there had been a Spotted Redshank there yesterday.  It appeared fairly quiet, although it is not easy to view the area as it used to be due the high hedges and emergent vegetation.  I did eventually find a single Ruff and a couple of Snipe and there was still a single juvenile Shelduck and seven Little Egrets were observed.  An Osprey was also observed towards the dam and then again as it was circling high to the south.

At Rutland Water I initially went the Old Hall in the south arm where I managed to identify a single Sanderling and three Dunlin on the island and a Common Sandpiper flew by.  Perhaps the most remarkable sighting was up to sixty Small Tortoiseshell butterflies, which is a sight I haven’t seen for many years.  There was also a single Painted Lady and a few Small Whites and a Red Admiral in Hambleton.  There were masses of wildfowl in the south arm, which were mainly Tufted Duck and Coot but with a few Wigeon, Gadwall and Mallard.  There were six Egyptian Geese on the spit and at least two Little Egrets.

Swallow at the Old Hall

The north arm was also quiet with just a single Ruff and twenty-four Egyptian Geese but again there was a notable increase in wildfowl but again mainly Tufted Duck but I did find a single Pochard.

On the Egleton Reserve I initially went towards the 360° hide on lagoon five.  As I was approaching the hide Tim rang to say that Nigel had, had an orange billed tern in Heron Bay, although it had flown off.  Not being too far away from heron hide and Heron Bay I decided to go although I was rather sceptical as any orange-billed tern would be a meger.  I saw an Osprey over Lax Hill that was carrying a fish.  When I arrived Nigel was still there but had not seen the bird again.  Apparently it had been perched on the man-made osprey platform but facing away but he had seen the bill when the bird turned its head.  He was not certain what he had seen but felt the bill was long and orange but the bird was not near the size of a Caspian.  After discussing the situation with him I think he had see a Common Tern and the sun and angle had played tricks on the size and colouration of the bill.

There were three Green Sandpipers and three Snipe to the right of the hide and two Greenshanks flew over heading for Manton Bay.

I called at 360° hide and snipe hide on the way back to the centre and found eight Little Egrets, a Green Sandpiper and two Greenshanks on lagoon five.  There were two Green Sandpipers and a Little Egret on the wet meadow flash and a juvenile Peregrine flew low over the flash causing some panic amongst the feeding birds.  There was a distant Osprey towards Burley Wood and I wondered how many were actually still at Rutland Water or had most started their migration to Africa.

Whilst having lunch Ken arrived and after I had finished my lunch we walked to shoveler hide on lagoon three.  The water level had risen slightly but there were six Ruff, three Snipe and a Green Sandpiper feeding to the left of the hide.  A rather large female Sparrowhawk causing some panic over the lagoon but when things settled down again I found four Black-tailed Godwits resting and preening on a small island.  I counted twenty-nine Common Terns over the lagoon and there were also two juvenile Black Terns as well.  A juvenile Black-necked Grebe was then located amongst a flock of Tufted Duck and Pochard.  It was rather distant but appeared less black and white as the birds I had seen last week.  A second Sparrowhawk and two Buzzard were observed over the wood to the north of the lagoon and three Pintail flew over.

I went to sandpiper hide on lagoon four with Ken where we found a single Barnacle Goose, a Greenshank and several Ruff, which probably included at least some of those that were on lagoon three.  There were ten Little Egrets also on various islands.

Ken now departed and went to crake and lapwing hides.  I called at shoveler and buzzard hides on route and despite hearing a Redshank several times whilst in shoveler I was unable to locate it.  Four Greenshanks, three together, flew over lagoon three whilst I was in buzzard hide but there was nothing else of note.  There was very little from crake hide and all I could find of interest from lapwing was a single female-type Goldeneye.

I returned to lagoon four but this time walked on to dunlin hide to get closer to the gulls.  By the time I departed there numerous Black-headed Gulls and fair number of Lesser Black-backed Gulls present but other than three Yellow-legged Gulls there was nothing else of note.  I did see five distant Little Ringed Plovers on one of the islands and a duck that I though looked unusual flew in, which turned out to be a female Mandarin.  I finally called it a day after what had been a very pleasant day in some late summer weather.