David and I were intending to
spend the day locally as the forecast was for rain most of the day and headed
off to Eyebrook Reservoir. When we left
David’s there was some light drizzle but we went through some heavier rain
before we arrived at Eyebrook Reservoir.
We checked the old oak for Little Owl but not surprisingly they were not
showing but we heard a Blackcap as we drove over the bridge. When we stopped to view the inlet David
picked up six godwits and so I got out of the car and with umbrella and scope I
checked them out. To my surprise they were
Bar-tailed Godwits, four pretty much in winter plumage but two still showing
some red on the underparts. There was
good number of hirundines present but we could only find both Swallow and House
Martin of which there was a pretty even split but with little else we set off
for Rutland Water.
On route to Rutland Water I
had a tweet that the Red-necked Phalarope was still at Frampton Marsh and as
both the White-rumped Sandpiper and Broad-billed Sandpiper were reported
yesterday David suggested we should go.
We gave Ken a call who was interested and we agreed we would meet him at
Rutland Water around 10:00. On arrival
at Rutland Water David and I went to the centre to few lagoon one where we
found three Shelduck, a couple of Wigeon, two Oystercatchers with a chick and a
Snipe. A Sedge Warbler was also singing
and we saw it in display flight on a couple of occasions despite the
weather. Erik then joined us in the centre
and shortly afterwards I found a second-year Yellow-legged Gull perched on one
of the old nest boxes.
As ten o'clock approached we
walked back to the car park with Erik in tow, who had decided he would come
with us to Frampton despite him coming with me on Thursday and going yesterday
with Craig.
On route we went through some
pretty heavy rain but it had eased as we approached Frampton and we had a
Turtle Dove in the farm yard on the approach to the reserve. We drove straight to the sea bank car park
and walked a short distance back towards the centre to view a pool on the
left. The Red-necked Phalarope appeared
to be roosting on the bank but it wasn’t long before it entered the water and
began feeding. The rain had stopped and
we had some nice views of this cracking bird as it picked insects of the
surface of the water. However it wasn’t
too long before the rain started again and with the phalarope returning to the
bank I went back to the car and joined David for lunch. Erik joined us and it wasn’t too long before
Ken was back to as the rain had become quite heavy. As the rain was showing no sign of easing
David suggested we go to the centre and after parking Erik and Ken went to the
centre whilst David and I waited for the rain to ease. However Erik was soon back saying that there
was a Little Stint on view and so David and I went to the centre. When we arrived there was some confusion
around the bird’s identity as some considered it to be a Sanderling. It wasn’t surprising as their summer plumages
are similar and it wasn’t easy judging the size of the bird as the only nearby
birds were Black-headed Gulls. It
feeding action was rather Dunlin-like walking slowly around and picking at the
surface, which is not typical of Little Stint but I have seen Sanderling
feeding in this manner at both Rutland Water and Eyebrook Reservoir. David had gone outside with Erik and came
back in suggesting that there might be a split supercilium and so I went
outside to get a clearer view. It was
certainly a better view but I couldn’t see much of a supercilium, although I wasn’t
certain if this is not just a feature of juvenile Little Stint. It suddenly flew and revealed a broad white
wing-bar before disappearing and confirming that it was a Sanderling. When I got back in the centre Erik informed
me that there was a Whooper Swan on the lagoon, which I soon found.
With the rain easing David
suggested that we should perhaps walk around to the east hide as he was hoping
that the Broad-billed might come in at high tide. Having put on all my waterproofs and
collecting an umbrella from the car we set off.
We called at reedbed hide first but other than what we had seen from the
centre there was nothing new and we continued on to the 360 hide. There were ten spikes of Bee Orchid in flower
just as we turned to the hide and we stopped briefly to view the marsh before
Erik and I continued on to the hide.
When we entered the hide another birder informed us that there was a
Little Stint out to the right. We both
scanned the area but couldn’t see anything but I then noticed a bird quite
close but it disappeared into the vegetation.
As we scanned the area it reappeared and we were able to confirm that it
was a Little Stint. David then called to
say he was going to walk a little further around the sea wall as he had seen a
couple of Dunlin and thought that there were more waders out of view. I informed him of the Little Stint and so he
came to the hide but it had disappeared again when he arrived. He tried looking through my scope at the area
but gave up as it was not visible. Erik then
said its out again and so I went to get my scope on it. However it had been moved and as I scanned
both David and Erik declared that it was flying but I had just found a bird in
the scope in full view, which then flew and presumably it had followed the
first a split second later. David then
picked them up again on the other side of the hide and although more distant we
were able to confirm that there were certainly two birds. They walked out of sight again before flying
yet again and coming down out of sight behind another island. With no further sign after a few minutes we
decided to go and check out the waders David had seen.
Ken who had gone to take
another look at the phalarope had called and was now walking along the sea wall
to join us. We met Ken at the top of the
steps and then walked back along the sea wall towards the sea wall car
park. We were unable to locate any
waders where David had seen the two Dunlin but when we reached the area we had
seen waders on Thursday David picked up a small party of waders in flight. Erik called a Curlew Sandpiper as they flew
around as he had seen the white rump and when they came down close to where we
had observed on Thursday we found the Curlew Sandpiper amongst twelve Ringed
Plovers and seven Dunlin. However there
was no sign of either the White-rumped or Broad-billed Sandpipers. There was a drake Garganey feeding close by
and twenty-seven Black-tailed Godwits were mainly roosting and Eric found a
first-summer Little Gull. As we
continued scanning I located a single Pink-footed Goose and David found four
Knot but with the weather not showing any signs of improvement we walked back
to the centre before heading off back to Rutland Water.
When we reached Rutland Water
Erik, David and I went to the centre, while Ken decided to call at Eyebrook
Reservoir before going home. Other than
a Little Egret and an Osprey over the lagoon and another distant Osprey over
the north arm and six Wigeon there was nothing new. Erik went off to lagoon four and called just
before David and I departed saying other than some Dunlin and a couple of
Yellow-legged Gulls there was nothing of note.
It had been a pretty good
despite the weather with two year ticks, Little Stint and Red-necked Phalarope
and a county year tick with Bar-tailed Godwit.
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