Sunday 15 September 2013

A day in Leicestershire & Rutland - September 10, 2013

I went to Eye Brook Reservoir first this morning in the hope of seeing two Wood Sandpipers that had been present fro a few days.  I had a Red Kite close to Blaston on route but otherwise the journey was quite uneventful. 

I arrived at Eye Brook Reservoir to find the road bridge closed and so I went to the corral, which had been improved since my last visits by the introduction of some gravel and it was easier to see over the fences.
I scanned the far shore and found one of the Wood Sandpiper and a Common Sandpiper but the Wood Sandpiper flew just after I had got the scope on it.  I re-found it closer to the road bridge where the second was also present with a Ruff and a Snipe.  With the viewing restricted I called it a day and went to south arm three at Rutland Water.

There were two Pintail, three Ringed Plover and six Dunlin on the island and two Common Terns were feeding over the south arm but there was little else of note.

I moved off to the north arm where there were ten Barnacle Geese, which were obviously the regular wintering party from who knows where.  There was also a single Bar-tailed Godwit on the north shore, which is a good bird here and particularly so in the autumn.  I also found a single Common Sandpiper and another Common Tern over the water.  On the reserve I walked to goldeneye hide on Lax Hill, calling at snipe, harrier, fieldfare and gadwall hides on route but saw very little with a Snipe on the wet meadow being the highlight.  After some lunch I walked to lapwing hide where there were masses of duck, the best being a Pintail in flight.  The Spotted Redshank was still present at crake hide and there was also five Snipe and loads of Teal.  A Sparrowhawk also put in an appearance, setting on bush before being harassed by a Common Tern.


I found a Garganey on lagoon three but there were no waders today and grass cutting on lagoon four ensured there were hardly any birds at all.  Finally I called at redshank hide on lagoon two were there were another seven Snipe and six Green Sandpipers just in front of the hide.  There was also a Ruff and a Greenshank to the right and two Hobbies flew over.


Little Egrets on lagoon one


Marsh Tit at the Egleton feeding station

No comments:

Post a Comment