Dave had put his month trap
out last night and so I started in Newton Harcourt emptying the trap. There were sixty-six moths in the trap
comprising of twenty species as follows: Garden Rose Tortrix [4]; Celypha striana
[1]; Agriphila geniculea [4]; Catoptria falsella [1]; Pleurophya ruralis [1];
Acrobasis advenella [2]; Common Carpet [1]; Double-striped Pug [1]; Brimstone
Moth [1]; Dingy Footman [2]; Falme Shoulder [1]; Large Yellow Underwing [7];
Lesser Yellow Underwing [10]; Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing [6];
Square-spot Rustic [3]; Marbled Beauty [2]; Mouse Moth [1]; Common Rustic
species [1]; Flounced Rustic [5] and Silver Y [12].
None of these were new but the
Mouse Moth was the first for the year.
Whilst emptying the trap a
Green Woodpecker and Coal Tit were heard calling and two Swallow and at least
ten House Martin were observed.
Double-striped Pug
Square-spot Rustic
Square-spot Rustic
Square-spot Rustic
Common Rustic type
Flounced Rustic
Dave was busy this morning and
so I set off for Eye Brook Reservoir on my own seeing very little on route with
a Jay as I approached the reservoir being the best.
I tuned off the Uppingham road
onto the narrow road leading to the reservoir and had a brief view of a
Wheatear as it was perched on a compost heap.
There were four Little Egrets
roosting in trees at the inlet and a fifth was located along the Leicestershire
bank. A single juvenile Shelduck and two
Common Terns were also observed but otherwise it was rather quiet. I noticed a large number of gulls in a
distant field that was obviously being worked by the farmer and on closer
inspection found four Red Kites in the field.
An Osprey was observed on a couple of occasions and on the second it
landed in a tree on the Leicestershire side, where I have seen it regularly
over the last month.
At Rutland Water I decided to
walk around to Lax Hill as a Black-necked Grebe had been reported off fieldfare
hide on Sunday. I called at snipe hide
first where there were four Green Sandpipers and a Ruff on the wet meadow flash
as well as a single Little Egret.
Harrier hide produced very
little with just five Little Egrets and a single Green Sandpiper. There was no sign of the Black-necked Grebe
from fieldfare hide and so I walked on to goldeneye hide. Whilst the reservoir edges look excellent for
waders there appeared to be very few present and nothing from goldeneye. I did have a nice few minutes as I left the
hide seeing a couple of Chiffchaff, a Willow Warbler, two Blackcaps, a Garden
Warbler, a Whitethroat, a Lesser Whitethroat, a Goldcrest and a Treecreeper
with both the Goldcrest and Treecreeper looking rather tatty.
Brown Hawker close to fieldfare hide
Brimstone near harrier hide
Male Blackcap near goldeneye hide
I continued on to Heron Bay
where there was another Little Egret and a Green Sandpiper as well as three
Little Grebes and two Common Terns and I did see another Lesser Whitethroat in
a bush on the far shore. Lagoon eight
had very quiet and lagoon five from the 360° hide
produced just two more Little Egrets.
I continued back to the car
park where I had lunch before going to the centre and checking out lagoon
one. The five Little Egrets were still
present and two Snipe and seven Green Sandpipers were observed and there
appeared to be more Shoveler than of late and a single Wigeon was
observed. With little else of note I set
of the lagoons at the northern edge of the reserve and specifically to shoveler
hide on lagoon three, which has been the best area for waders recently.
Elephant Hawk-moth caterpillar close to the 360°
As I opened the flaps in the
hide there were clearly a few waders present.
There was a Dunlin, six Ruff, twenty-three Snipe, two Black-tailed
Godwit and two Green Sandpipers. As I
was scanning though the duck I saw what I thought was a Black-necked Grebe but
it dived and disappeared behind a bank of reeds. I moved to buzzard hide hoping it would be
visible from there and after a few minutes I relocated again and confirmed that
it was a Black-necked Grebe. I informed
Steve and Tim of its presence and after a while joined Steve in shoveler
hide. The grebe was now visible again
from shoveler and two Greenshanks flew in and landed out of sight in front of
the hide. A Little Ringed Plover also
made a brief visit and we found at least four Red Kites, two Buzzard and a
Hobby distantly over Burley Wood and a Water Rail was heard.
Migrant Hawker from buzzard hide
Migrant Hawker from shoveler hide
Steve decided to go to lapwing
hide and just as I was leaving the hide he called to say he had found a couple
of Goldeneye in south arm three. I
walked the short distance to the hide where he pointed out the Goldeneye
amongst the fast raft of Tufted Duck and I found a third individual even
closer.
I started to make my way to
sandpiper hide on lagoon dour when Steve called again as he had found a Common
Scoter. As I was only a few yards from
the hide I returned and scoped the bird, which was a female-type and a good
county bird for August.
I called at sandpiper hide on
lagoon four where there were six Little Egrets, a Little Ringed Plover, sixteen
Ringed Plovers, a Ruff and a Greenshank.
The female Pintail, that appears to have over summered was also observed
and there were seven Yellow-legged Gulls amongst the Lesser and Great Black-backed
Gulls.
It had been a rather pleasant
day with several good birds observed.
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