A day in Leicestershire & Rutland - July 29, 2014

I decided to go to Great Glen first this morning and walked the footpath south of the village.  As I walked towards the sewage farm I heard a Buzzard calling but was unable to see it.  On reaching the sewage farm I immediately located two Grey Wagtails and eventually had five, which was likely to be a family party.  I heard a Green Woodpecker and a Whitethroat as I walked back and a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over.  Just before I got back to the road I found a small party of passerines that included several Long-tailed Tits and a couple of Goldcrest.  I also checked out the small lake, which had Canada Geese, Mallard, Moorhen and Coot on it and I heard a Nuthatch call but was unable to locate it.

I arrived at Eyebrook Reservoir at 08:20 just as Andy MacKay arrived as well.  We stopped at the side of the road that overlooked the area of exposed mud.  There were plenty of geese both Greylag and Canada and a few Mallard but there were few Lapwing and initially very little else.  I then found a couple of Black-tailed Godwits feeding amongst some of the geese and Andy picked up an Osprey that was flying off with a nice sized trout.  A Snipe then appeared and I noticed two more Ospreys over the far end of the plantation and Andy picked up a Sparrowhawk circling above them.  There had been a report of Mandarin on the stream and so we walked the short distance to the bridge but there was no sign of the Mandarin.  There was a Green Sandpiper and two Snipe visible just beyond the tree in the stream and eventually we found two more Snipe, another Green Sandpiper and a Common Sandpiper.  A Kingfisher then flew from under the bridge and appeared to land on the far side of the tree but unfortunately out of site.  Andy was intending to stay at the reservoir until lunch but I set off to Rutland Water.

Osprey with fish

There had been a report of a Little Gull on lagoon four at Rutland Water and so I set off to the lagoon in the hope of seeing it.  I did see Steve in the centre who informed me that it was a nice second-summer bird but had flown off.  I was hoping that it had only gone off to feed and that it would either comeback or perhaps I would see it on lagoon three.  On reaching the hide there were plenty of Common Terns on the spit and Black-headed Gulls scattered around, however despite a good search there was no sign of the Little Gull.  Bob had joined me in the hide and we eventually found a couple of Ringed Plovers, two Dunlin, a Common Sandpiper and a Green Sandpiper.  Three of the juvenile Shelduck and one of the adults were still present and a female Tufted Duck was escorting seven young.  I counted seventy-five Common Terns but could only see a single Yellow-legged Gull.

Juvenile Common Tern over lagoon four

Juvenile Common Terns on lagoon four

Scanning over Burley Wood we found two Red Kites, at least four Buzzards and three Ospreys but having felt I had exhausted lagoon four I moved off to shoveler hide on lagoon three.

 Although the water level was now looking quite good again on lagoon three other than a few Moorhen there was nothing else feeding in the area.  I did locate a single Snipe that was in the reeds just to the left of the hide and was able to get some nice shots of it.  It was now approaching lunchtime and so I made my back along the summer trail finding a very ragged Chiffchaff as I did so.

Snipe on lagoon three

Whilst have my lunch Steve and Terry arrived and informed that there was a Redstart and Wood Sandpiper from shallow water hide in Manton Bay.

I drove round to the Lyndon Reserve and walked to shallow water hide seeing very little on route.  When I got into the hide I peered out of the flaps to look to the left, which is where the Redstart was being seen.  I couldn’t see anything in the bush but it then dropped onto the ground briefly as it snatched an insect before returning to the bush.  I few minutes later it dropped to the ground again and almost immediately went back to the bush.  I looked for it in the bush but couldn’t see it and wasn’t sure where it was.  Steve and Terry then arrived but the Redstart was still out of sight.  Steve then picked up a Green Sandpiper perched on one of the posts that go into the water but there was no sign of the Wood Sandpiper.  I then picked up the Redstart again on the ground and this time it remained for longer and both Steve and Terry managed to get on it.  The Green Sandpiper then called a Terry saw it fly further into the bay and out of sight.  As I scanned the area near the fence I found a juvenile Little Ringed Plover and a second Green Sandpiper and then Terry found another sandpiper to the left of the hide, which turned out to be the Wood Sandpiper and it was very nice juvenile.

Wood Sandpiper

Steve then picked up a Common Sandpiper further into the bay and there was suddenly a lot of House Martins over the water that had presumably come from the village on mass.  There was also six Little Egrets in the bay but there appeared to little else so I decided to leave Steve and Terry and go back to the Egleton Reserve.

Steve had told me that there were a few waders in front of harrier hide as so I set off to have a look.  He had also mentioned that they had seen a Painted Lady near the sluice on lagoon five and surprisingly as I walked around it was still there.

On reaching harrier hide there were four Green Sandpipers visible on the first area of mud and three more distant waders turned out to be two Ruff and a Redshank and a Greenshank was observed also.  There were six Little Egrets near the Green Sandpipers and I eventually found fourteen on the lagoon.  Whilst scanning the area a Common Sandpiper appeared close to the two Ruff before it flew to one of the islands.  I called at snipe hide on the way back but other then another Little Egret there was little else and I decided to go back to the car park and head off home.  I stopped briefly at the Egleton feeding station seeing a Marsh Tit and a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over the car park as I was preparing to leave.