I was out with Dave and Roger
and we called at Eye Brook Reservoir first.
We had an adult Osprey carrying a fish and a juvenile in flight and then
perched in a distant tree. There was a
single Snipe and a juvenile Shelduck at the inlet and a Buzzard was observed
perched in a field on the Leicestershire bank.
Six Common Terns were observed and circa twenty Swallow passed
through. Dave picked up a Peregrine that
made several unsuccessful attempts at a Lapwing but eventually turned its
attention to one of the Ospreys, harassing it constantly as it progressed over
the reservoir. It looked quite a large
bird and was probably an immature female just enhancing its technique.
Juvenile Osprey
At Rutland Water we parked at
Egleton and walked to sandpiper hide on lagoon four where a Little Tern had
been reported yesterday. As we
approached the hide two birders were leaving saying they had seen the tern earlier
flying from lagoon three to lagoon four but were unable to relocate it.
We scanned the lagoon and
found a female Pintail, a single Little Ringed Plover, ten Ringed Plover, three
Dunlin and two Little Gulls that were in the later stages of moulting into
their second-inter plumages. There were
a few Common Terns on the lagoon and at least six Yellow-legged Gulls were
observed but there was no sign of the Little Tern. A distant Osprey was observed over the north
arm and two flew over the lagoon heading south.
Little Gull
Little Gull
We moved off to shoveler hide
on lagoon three where we found a Ruff, nine Snipe and four Green
Sandpipers. A Redshank flew in but did
not appear to remain too long but the number of Green Sandpipers increased to
seven and these were joined by a single Curlew.
Two Red Kites were also observed towards the north arm and a Jay very
briefly in flight.
Curlew
We visited plover hide on
lagoon four but there was still no sign of the Little Tern and so we returned
to the centre.
There were fewer birds on
lagoon one today but we did eventually see three Ringed Plover and a Greenshank
to the right and Dave found a Wood Sandpiper at the back of the lagoon. Whilst we were in the centre the birds all
got up and I picked up a juvenile Marsh Harrier over the lagoon and we watched
it as it flew north over lagoon two.
Roger then found it distantly over lagoon three and later Dave saw it
drop back onto a lagoon one island. I
also found a Hobby hunting over Lax Hill.
Encouraged by the number of
Peacock butterflies feeding on lagoon one area we decided to visit Bloody Oaks
Quarry after lunch.
When we arrived at Bloody
Oaks, seeing a Red Kite and a Buzzard on route, the sun came out. There were plenty of butterflies in evidence
and in just over an hour we had recorded eleven species including two Brown Argus,
four Chalkhill Blues and a Painted Lady and we had also found two Dusky Sallow
moths, which was new for us all.
Female Chalkhill Blue
Brown Argus
Painted Lady
Painted Lady
Painted Lady
Dusky Sallow
We finally called at Ketton
Quarry where there was good numbers of butterflies during the short periods of
sunshine and we recorded thirteen species, including another Brown Argus, a Red
Admiral and a Silver-washed Fritillary.
This took the daily total to sixteen, which is quite good for
Leicestershire & Rutland, particularly in far from ideal conditions.
Large White
Just as we were about to leave
Ketton, Tim called and said that a Red-backed Shrike had been reported on
lagoon five and that he was going to take a look for it. We decided to drive back view Rutland Water
hoping for an update. As we were driving
alongside the reservoir Tim called again to confirm that it had been
photographed as was a male but had actually been seen on island five on lagoon
eight. When we arrived at the hide there
had been no sightings since it was seen earlier in the afternoon and despite an
extensive search by a number of birders it was not relocated. Disappoint but we had, had a good day out
with a good selection of wildlife particularly the butterflies.
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