The predicted overnight rain
and thunderstorms where quite severe and Roger and I had planned a later start
as it was likely still to be raining during the early hours. When we set of Eyebrook Reservoir is was dry
and there was some blue sky on arrival but this soon disappeared, although it
didn’t rain again. We had arrived at the
reservoir at the southern end where we saw a single Tree Sparrow and there was
a distant Red Kite and a closer Buzzard that flew across the first field to the
north.
From the island coral we found
a couple of Little Ringed Plovers, a Ringed Plover and a Redshank and there was
also a Little Egret and a couple of Common Terns and an Oystercatcher flew
over.
As we drove along the
Leicestershire bank to reach the northern coral we had a brief view of a Lesser
Whitethroat. From the coral there was a
single Dunlin and a Green Sandpiper and a Redshank flew in, which was
presumably the same bird we had seen on the island. Three Little Ringed Plover were also seen
both in flight and on the exposed mud, where there was also two adult and three
juvenile Common Terns and two more Common Terns were still feeding at least two
young on one of the rafts. There was
another Little Egret feeding along the stream and a Red Kite was seen to the
east. We checked the old oak for the
Little Owl as we were leaving but there was no sign this morning.
As we headed for Rutland Water
my tyre pressure warning light came on and so we diverted to Oakham to put some
air into the tyres before going to the north arm at Rutland Water. We parked beyond the cottage and then went
through the gate to view the north arm.
There were two Little Ringed Plovers and a Greenshank on the north shore
and another five Little Ringed Plover and three Oystercatchers on the end of
the spit and a Common Sandpiper then flew onto the now partially exposed bund. There were two Common Terns feeding over the
water and we saw a couple of Buzzards and an Osprey over Burley Wood. We checked the fishponds but couldn’t find
the summering Goldeneye but there were six more Little Egrets and a single
Little Grebe.
It was still a little early
for lunch and so we decided to spend thirty minutes checking out lagoon one
from the centre. There were plenty of
birds on the lagoon mainly Gadwall, Tufted Duck and Coot but as I was scanning
I picked up a Hobby flying low over Brown’s Island and then between there and
harrier hide and there was also a female Gadwall escorting a brood of
nine. We finally went back to the car
park for lunch and then walked to Shoveler hide on lagoon three with Rick and
Graham, seeing a Willow Warbler on route.
From Shoveler hide there was
an Oystercatcher, a Black-tailed Godwit, two Curlew and three Green Sandpipers
and there were twenty-five Common Terns feeding over the water. The water level in lagoon three is now quite
low with most of the nearer mud drying out but hopefully the levels will come
up again before the main wader passage.
We spent quite some time in the hide before moving onto sandpiper hide
on lagoon four.
It was pretty quiet on lagoon
four but we did find a Little Ringed Plover and three Ringed Plovers as well as
eight Yellow-legged Gulls and there was also twenty Common Terns resting on
island ten spit, although some of these were probably the same as those seen
early on lagoon three. I also picked up
a Hobby as it flew over lagoon three.
Roger needed to be home early
but we were able to spend another fifteen minutes in the centre but other than
seeing a Little Grebe with two young and a Wigeon it was pretty much as
earlier.
We had also had a fair range
of insects during our visit with Large White, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled
Wood, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Banded Demoiselle, Common Blue Damselfly, Emperor
Dragonfly, Black-tailed Skimmer, Ruddy Darter and a Six-spot Burnet all being
seen.
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