A morning in Leicestershire & Rutland - June 25, 2014

I was out with Dave for the morning and we initially headed for Eyebrook Reservoir.  We had a Little Owl perched in a roadside tree as we approached Cranoe, which was a new site.  Neither the Slawston or Eyebrook Reservoir Little Owls obliged today and we saw nothing else of note on route.

We drove in at the southern end of the reservoir but there was very little on the water as we made our way to the bridge over the inlet.  It was quiet at the bridge with just a Willow Warbler heard singing being the highlight.  We parked up overlooking the now reasonable expanse of mud and there was a Green Sandpiper and two Redshank feeding at the water’s edge and a Shelduck resting on the mud.  There were a few Swifts over the water and circa twenty Sand Martins suddenly appeared and were still there when we moved on.  Four Common Terns were the only other birds of note.

We moved off to the Old Hall at Rutland Water where there had been four Common Scoters yesterday but there was no sign today.  There were a few Common Terns feeding over the south arm, a Little Egret was observed in flight and there were eleven Egyptian Geese close to the Old Hall.  A single Whitethroat was also observed.

The north arm produced a Red Kite, a Buzzard and two Osprey but other then three Common Terns and eight Little Egrets there was little else.

On reaching the centre we observed lagoon one where there was a single Oystercatcher and a female Gadwall with nine downy young.  Tim informed us that the two remaining Avocet chicks had disappeared and that the adults had now left.

We walked to shoveler hide on lagoon three where the water had now dropped and there was a small island of mud.  A summer plumaged Black-tailed Godwit was present and a Green Sandpiper made a brief visit.

Black-tailed Godwit

Another nice surprise was a pair of Little Grebe with three tiny young.

Little Grebes with the three young

A visit to plover hide on lagoon four produced a Little Egret and two Ringed Plovers but very little else.  Sandpiper faired a little better where there were another two Ringed Plovers, a Redshank and three Little Egrets.  There was also a pair of Shelduck with five young and two third-year Yellow-legged Gulls.

A walk back along the summer trail produced several Emerald Damselflies and we saw at least eight Four-spotted Chasers, a Brown Hawker and another Emerald Damselfly from redshank hide.