Rod's Birding: A day in Leicestershire & Rutland

Dave, Ken, Roger and I had planned to go to Oxfordshire today for butterflies but as the forecast wasn't too good we decided to go local.

Dave, Roger and I set off for Eye Brook Reservoir first, which was fairly quiet but we did find a single Little Ringed Plover, five Snipe, a Common Sandpiper and a Green Sandpiper and there were also nine Little Egrets and three Common Terns. An adult Yellow-legged Gull arrived during our stay as did a single Common Gull, which was are only one of the day.

Having exhausted Eye Brook Reservoir we moved off to the north arm at Rutland Water. There were a few passerines calling near where we park but they were difficult to see in the dense foliage. We spent a short while trying to see them and did locate a single Blackcap and two Mistle Thrushes. We eventually walked down the path to the spit overlooking the north arm but it appeared rather quiet. There was a single Oystercatcher on the north shore and a Common Sandpiper close to the bund and four Greenshanks on the south shore. Eleven Common Terns were observed towards Dickinson’s Bay and I counted twenty-eight Egyptian Geese. A single Yellow-legged Gull was observed and there were five Little Egrets feeding close together on the north shore and another three between them and Dickinson’s Bay. A Buzzard was also seen briefly and a party of at least twenty-five Blue Tits contained a single Great Tit and two Blackcaps.

We moved off to the Old Hall as there had been two Turnstone reported yesterday on the island. As we arrived there was clearly quite a few hirundine, which was mainly House Martins with a few Swallow and two Tree Sparrows were observed perched on an overhead cable. There must have been at least eighty House Martin, which is a good number this year and at one point they were all trying to settle on the new mansion with many clinging to the walls. There was no sign of the Turnstone but we did find two Little Ringed Plovers, four Dunlin and two Common Sandpipers and there was another six Little Egrets. The wildfowl appeared to be still increasing but most were some distance away and we were unable to locate anything unusual amongst the masses of Tufted Duck.

Feeling we had seen all there was to see, we moved on to the Egleton Reserve and after checking out lagoon one form the centre, where there was two Ruff, at least three Green Sandpiper and more Little Egrets we moved off to sandpiper hide on lagoon four.

The first bird I noticed was a juvenile Black Tern amongst several Common Terns on one the islands on lagoon four. We counted thirteen Ringed Plovers and found two Ruff and two Greenshank on the lagoon. The female Pintail was found in its usual feeding area and there were eight Yellow-legged Gulls roosting on one of exposed areas. From sandpiper we moved off towards lapwing hide and called at crake hide on route. There were quite a few Teal feeding to the right of the hide and a roosting Greenshank and a Green Sandpiper dropped in, whilst a Cetti’s Warbler was heard close by. Whilst searching unsuccessfully for the Cetti’s we did find a couple of Sedge Warbler.

Painted Lady near sandpiper hide

Small Copper near lagoon four

Small Tortoiseshell near lagoon four

Some of the duck were much closer to lapwing hide than they had been from the Old Hall and we soon found a couple of Goldeneye and then Dave found a female Common Scoter.

Ken joined us in shoveler hide on lagoon three where there was another two Little Ringed Plovers, a single Dunlin, five Ruff and seven Snipe. Roger then thought he had seen the Black-necked Grebe in the same area as I had seen it on Tuesday but it had disappeared behind the reeds. It then came out again and Ken, who was scoping the bird, felt that there might be a second and Roger who had also seen the second bird agreed it might be but neither of them could rule out Little Grebe. We decided to go to buzzard hide where we hoped we might get a better view. I soon found one of the birds, which was soon joined by a second, confirming there were at two and we all agreed that they were both juveniles despite one being slightly larger than the other. Whilst we were in the hide we saw two Water Rails and another Sedge Warbler and a Reed Warbler. I had telephoned Tim to make him aware that there were two Black-necked Grebes and he asked whether or not we would like to go on to lagoon one and count the butterflies feeding on the mint. I said we would have our lunch and then make a decision.

We returned to the car park and had lunch when it went more overcast and we even had a little rain. The consensus was that we should not count the butterflies due to the weather and go to the Lyndon Reserve for the afternoon. I suggested that we should at least wait for Tim to return from lunch and inform him of our decision.

Common Darter on the summer trail

I went to have a look at the feeding station whilst the others went into the centre and to viewing area. When I joined then Roger had found a Clouded Yellow butterfly that was feeding on the mint in front of the centre. This was a new for me a Rutland Water and I called Tim to let him know. He was in Oakham and said he would soon be back. It was still there when he returned and as we discussed the find his phone rang. It was John Wright who informed him he was watching a Black Stork over the north arm. We all soon vacated the centre and stood in front where Joe the assistant reserve manger had picked it up as it was soaring around. I picked up through the bins almost immediately and soon had it in the scope. I could see that it was clearly a stork that was blackish above with a blackish neck and underwing with white lower breast, belly and vent. The wings were held straight out with the neck and head stretched out in front and the legs behind. The reddish bill was visible even at the range we were looking and the legs also appeared reddish. It eventually drifted off to the west and was lost from sight. This was only the second record for the Leicestershire & Rutland and the first for Rutland the first being of two birds in the Husbands Bosworth area on July 18^th, 1991, which were only observed by one lucky observer. It was therefore a County tick for Dave, Roger and thank goodness for the poor weather forecast. We were also extremely lucky to be in the right place at the right time at Rutland Water as we could so easily have missed it.

Having been allowed outside to see the stork we pushed our luck and asked if we could see if we could photo the Clouded Yellow. No problem and we walked the few yards to where the butterfly was last seen and fond resting quite close to the path. After taking a few photos we returned to the centre and the viewing area.

Clouded Yellow near the Bird Watching Centre

An Osprey was observed in flight at the back of the lagoon and then another was noticed on the manmade nest in front of the poplars and five Green Sandpipers were eventually found. A Hobby then provided nice views towards the 360° hide and was seen even closer at little later. As it appeared to be feeding in front of mallard hide we decided to walk the short distance to the hide for hopefully a better look. The bird was still hawking when we arrived and could be seen taking numerous butterflies as they were feeding on the mint. It also provided some excellent photo opportunities. A summer plumage Golden Plover was also found amongst the Lapwing.