A day in Leicestershire & Rutland - July 8, 2014

I went to Eyebrook Reservoir this morning seeing nothing unusual on route but there were two Little Owls in the old oak as I approached the Reservoir and a Buzzard was perched in a tree opposite.

A stop at the bridge over the inlet saw very little but a Willow Warbler was singing from within the coppice.  I drove to where I could see the exposed mud and found four Little Ringed Plovers and five Green Sandpipers.  The two Shelduck were still resting on the mud and there was at least fourteen Common Terns, included some young birds over the water.  A Little Egret was also resting on the exposed muddy and two Red-legged Partridge were feeding nearby and juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull dropped in and was still present when I left.  Circa twenty Swift were observed over the plantation, a Whitethroat could be heard giving its alarm call nearby and two Yellow Wagtails dropped on the shore and out of sight.  As I scanned the horizon I picked up three more Buzzards, all of which were perched high in their individual trees. 

Having thought I had exhausted Eyebrook Reservoir I moved onto the Egleton Reserve at Rutland Water.  Having checked the book in the centre I decided to go to snipe hide on the wet meadow.  There were quite a few butterflies on route mainly Ringlet and Meadow Brown but also Red Admiral and Small Tortoiseshell.  I had my first local Southern Hawker and also a Four-spotted Chaser and a Common Darter.

Southern Hawker

Four-spotted Chaser

As I approached snipe hide I found two Large Skipper and a single Small Skipper as well as a Red Admiral and a male Broad-bodied Chaser.

A rather worn Red Admiral

From the hide there were three Green Sandpipers on the flash and two Snipe were observed in the grasses at the edge of the flash.  Four very noisy Oystercatchers flew over with three disappearing over lagoon one and one going off to the south and the illusive Reed Warbler was actually seen today.  Will little else in evidence I moved towards harrier hide seeing a single Sedge Warbler rather well on route.  A Curlew and a single Oystercatcher was observed from the hide but other than a few Greylag Geese, Mallard and Shoveler there was little else.  I continued on to fieldfare hide that overlooks the main water where there was a pair of Great Crested Grebe escorting and feeding two young but other than two Grey Herons, four Common Terns and a single Buzzard it was rather quiet.

Little Egret over the wet meadow

Curlew on the wet meadow

As I walked back and Lloyd was ringing and I saw the last four birds released, two Blackcaps, a Sedge Warbler and a Wren.

I retraced my steps back towards harrier hide but called at both tern and pintail hides on lagoon six, but it was exceptionally quiet on the lagoon although there were plenty of Small Tortoiseshell feeding on the thistles on the path side of the lagoon.  The 360° hide on lagoon five also failed to produce anything of interest a Little Egret being the best.  I walked back to the centre for lunch and saw a Marsh Tit at the Egleton feeding station.

Meadow Brown

After lunch I headed off to shoveler hide on lagoon three where there were five Green Sandpiper, two more Oystercatchers in flight over the lagoon and sixteen Common Terns feeding over the water.  A Yellow-legged Gull flew over and a Red Kite was visible over Burley Wood.  Two other birders informed me that they had seen a Greenshank on lagoon four and so I moved onto plover hide.  I found a couple of Ringed Plovers but there was no sign of the Greenshank and so I moved onto sandpiper hide to get a different view of the lagoon.  There were fifteen Common Terns roosting on the spit from island ten and there were six Egyptian Geese and a pair of Shelduck and five young close by but there was still no sign of the Greenshank.  Tim came into the hide and I mentioned the Greenshank to him and he informed me that there was one at Eyebrook Reservoir and perhaps it had just dropped onto the lagoon briefly before moving on.

Grey Heron on lagoon three

Little Egret on lagoon three

Juvenile Black-headed Gull on lagoon three

Juvenile Black-headed Gull on lagoon three

I decided to call it a day at Rutland Water and go back to Eyebrook Reservoir in the hope of seeing the Greenshank.

I parked up where I had parked this morning and immediately found the Greenshank feeding in front of the sedges and found two Green Sandpipers roosting on the edge of the sedges.  There was also now five Little Ringed Plovers and presumably there had been this morning but one was just out of sight.  As I was about to leave another wader wondered from behind the sedges, which turned out to be a Redshank.

Just after leaving the reservoir I had a Buzzard and a Red Kite fly over the road and then had another Buzzard as I approached Blaston.