A morning in Northwest Leicestershire - April 15, 2015

David and I were off to Warren Hills this morning hoping that at least some of the Ring Ouzels might still be present.  On route we had a Little Egret flying over Soar Valley Way, which is an area I have not seen them in before, although I am sure this would not be a first.

When we arrived at Warren Hills it felt a little chilly in the south west breeze as we walked along the main path to look down into the fields.  David found three Wheatears in the bottom field but despite a prolonged search we couldn’t find any Ring Ouzels and we began to think that perhaps they had all gone.  Suddenly a bird flew over us and landed in a nearby tree where it remained until it appeared to drop into the field.  We scanned the field but there was no sign but when David peered over the wall it and a Blackbird flew into a small nearby copse.  It was some fifteen minutes later when I saw a bird fly into a distant birch tree, which turned out to be the female Ring Ouzel.  It eventually made its way back into the field it was in when it was flushed and it then provided some nice views over the next thirty minutes or so.

Female Ring Ouzel

The only other summer visitor we had was several Willow Warblers.

We left Warren Hills and were heading for Swithland Reservoir when Roger called to say that there were two Tree Pipits singing on Beacon Hill and so we headed for there.

It costs £2.50 for the car park and as we were trying to pay at the automatic entrance the machine refused to take our money but has luck would have it a ranger was behind us and he let us in for free.  We drove to the top car park and then walked over the hill to view the area suitable for Tree Pipits, we heard them almost straight away but finding them was more difficult.  As we were trying to track one down David heard a Cuckoo call but I couldn’t hear it and so we went further round to try and get out of the wind.  Suddenly I heard it call and wondered why I hadn’t heard it before as it now appeared quite close.  We then got poor flight views as it went behind several trees before it landed in full view.  Feeling please with our first Cuckoo of the year we went back to trying to find a Tree Pipit.  We had one singing, which was quiet close and although we suspected in was in a small tree just in front of us we couldn’t see it and assumed it must be further back.  As I walked past the small tree it moved and it was perched just a few meters away before it flew into a larger tree and then onto the ground giving some nice views.

Roger called again to say that there was no sign of yesterday’s Black Terns at Swithland Reservoir but that there was a Common Sandpiper on the dam.  I had seen one at Rutland Water but David still hadn’t seen one this year and so we made a quick visit.  I found the bird fairly quickly but there was very little else on the north side and so we set off home.