I had put the moth trap out
last night and caught 131, two of which were not identifiable. There were thirty-four species included, two
of which, Pebble Hook-tip and July Highflier, were both new for the year and the
garden.
The following were recorded:
Dark Fruit Tree Tortrix [1]; Cnephasia sp. [1]; Celypha striana [2]; Marbled
Orchard Tortrix [2]; Chrysoteuchia culmella [36]; Chrysoteuchia culmella [4];
Crambus perlella [1]; Mother of Pearl [2]; Pebble Hook-tip [1]; Riband Wave
[3]; Barred Straw [1]; July Highflier [1]; Brimstobe Moth [1]; Swallow-atiled
Moth [1]; Willow Beauty [2]; Privet Hawkmoth [3]; Elephamt Hawkmoth [1];
Buff-tip [1]; Common Footman [14]; Cinnabar [1]; Heart and Dart [1]; Flame [2];
Large Yellow Underwing [1]; Bright-line Brown-eye [8]; Varied Coronet [1];
Dagger species [1]; Dark Arches [18]; Light Arches [3]; Marbled Minor species
[1]; Common Rustic group [2]; Uncertain [5]; Rustic [4]; Burnished Brass [1]
and Snout [2].
Marbled Orchard Tortrix
Pebbled Hook-tip
July Highflier
Marbled Minor species
Dave had also put his trap out
last night and when we had finished we set of for some local birding. We initially headed for Eyebrook Reservoir
and called at Wistow church on route.
Our aim here was to see Spotted Flycatcher and I saw one quite well but
Dave failed to get on it and it didn’t obliged again and so we continued to
Eyebrook Reservoir, seeing a single Buzzard close to the Little Owl nest site
near Slawston.
As we approached the reservoir
there was a Little Owl in the usual tree.
We continued to where we could see the exposed area of mud and Dave
quickly found an adult Little Tern resting on the shore, which is a good record
for the counties. There were also five
Little Ringed Plovers and two Redshanks and a Barnacle Goose was amongst a
small flock of Greylag Geese. We had
moved away from the car to get better views of the tern but when we got back to
the car it had flow but I did see it making its way along the Leicestershire
bank. Ken then arrived to see the tern
but there was still no sign although he did see it after we had departed.
We decided to move to Rutland
Water and had some lunch in the Egleton car park. Erik joined us and we went off to sandpiper
hide on lagoon four were we found a Common Sandpiper and a Greenshank. The usual two Ringed Plovers were close to
island ten and there were several Common Tern, including some juveniles on the
spit running away from the island. The
two adult Shelduck was escorting their still intact brood of five, which have
now grown considerably. There are quite
a lot of school visits to the reserve these days, which is great but they can
be a little noisy at times and with the arrival of a group into the hide we
decided to move on to shoveler hide on lagoon three.
The views from this hide our
much improved this year with the normal mass of reeds blocking the view under
control. This allows the area just in
front of the hide to be perfectly visible and as the water falls, which it is
now doing, allows excellent views of any migrant waders. Today there was an Oystercatcher, a summer
plumaged Black-tailed Godwit and at least eleven Green Sandpiper and hopefully
the variety will improve as the water falls further and the autumn progresses. I personally have missed not being able to
view this area over the last two years, so thanks to Joe and the team for making
my day. There was also four Little
Egrets feeding on the lagoon and an immature male Marsh Harrier was observed
over the reedbed.
Black-tailed Godwit
Black-headed Gull
Reed Warbler from shoveler hide
Reed Warbler from shoveler hide
Reed Warbler from shoveler hide
Erik was keen to return to
lagoon four as he wanted to try and read a ring on a Great Black-backed Gull he
had seen earlier. We went to dunlin hide
to get as close as possible to the gulls and although the gull was there and
the red ring visible he still couldn’t manage to read it. Amongst the more numerous Black-headed Gulls
there were a few Common Gulls and several Lesser Black-backed and Great
Black-backed Gulls and also twelve Yellow-legged Gulls.
Ruddy Darter near dunlin hide
We walked back to the centre
and Dave and I spent the last twenty minutes overlooking lagoon one. A single drake Pochard was perhaps the best
on the lagoon but an Osprey and then a Red Kite flew over just before we left.
Osprey over lagoon one
Red Kite over lagoon one
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