I had arranged to meet Chris
at Rutland Water around 13:00 to check out the Birdfair Lecture theatres in
preparation for tomorrow but called at Eyebrook Reservoir and the north arm and
lagoon three at Rutland Water before doing so.
I arrived at Eyebrook
Reservoir at the southern end after seeing very little on route. I stopped briefly near the gate to the
fishing lodge before moving on to the bay just south of the hide. Today there was just a single Green Sandpiper
in the bay and I couldn’t find anything else between there and the island. I walked a little further along the road and
viewed the hedgerow running away from the reservoir where there were quite a
few birds, mainly Linnets but also Blackbirds, Blue Tits and Long-tailed Tits
and a single Lesser Whitethroat and Reed Bunting. As I walked back to the car there was a wader
in the bay, which I though looked a bit elegant for a Green Sandpiper and on
raising the bins saw that it was a juvenile Wood Sandpiper. I continued on to the fenced area where I
found a few Ruff and a couple of Greenshanks but there appeared to be little
else. The birds were then disturbed and
I notched a group of smaller waders flying amongst the Lapwings and when they
had landed I was able to see that they were Ringed Plovers and Dunlin and in
fact seven of each. There were four
juvenile Common Terns sitting on the posts of the rafts and a fifth flying
around and there was a Yellow-legged Gull on the Rutland bank. I stopped briefly at the bridge where I had a
Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Treecreeper and Spotted Flycatcher. Finally I stopped to view the inlet where I
counted eleven Ruff but found nothing else.
A Raven flew over the road
just beyond Stoke Dry but I had seen nothing else of note before I arrived in
the north arm. There were two Yellow
Wagtails on the fence in the field and I saw another four amongst the more
numerous Pied Wagtails on the bund. I
also found a single Common Sandpiper on the bund before scanning the north
shore. There were clearly a lot of
waders on the north shore and I counted twenty-three Ringed Plovers, sixteen
Dunlin and six Ruff. I continued on to
view the south shore where I found another three Ruff. When I returned there was another birder who
had seen ten Ruff on the north shore I scanned the shore and also found ten and
so walked back to see if the three were still on the south shore. I could only find two now making twelve in
total but I did also find four Common Sandpipers. I went back and joined the other birder and
saw a couple of Red Kites and three Ospreys over Burley. As we stood talking the waders all flew
across the north arm and the other birder picked out a smaller bird amongst the
flock. They didn’t come back and so I
went to have another look along the south shore. There was no sign of the flock of waders but
I did find a female-type Red-crested Pochard and five Little Ringed
Plovers. When I got back the Ringed
Plovers and Dunlin were back on the north shore but on scanning that is all we
could find and there was no obvious sign of a smaller wader. Just before I left the other birder picked up
a Hobby over Burley and shortly afterwards the waders flew off again and
appeared to heading for the reserve.
As I was leaving the north arm
I saw Tim and after making him aware he suggested that I should go on to the
reserve by the Volunteer’s Training Centre and view lagoon three. I parked up by the path to Shoveler hide and
took my lunch with me to the hide. When
I opened the flap in the hide I could see there were several waders and found
the closer birds were juvenile Ruff, which I assumed might be part of the flock
from the north arm. There were also five
Green Sandpipers visible and eventually I had eight Ruff and six Green Sandpipers. As I continued to scan I found an Osprey over
the north arm and then noticed another wader that turned out to be the juvenile
Wood Sandpiper that had been present for a few days. I then noticed a Sparrowhawk that was stood
on the ground between the fence and the reedbed. As I continued to watch the Sparrowhawk it
suddenly appeared to become interested in something and suddenly ran like a
Water Rail into the reeds emerging a couple of meters to the left. It remained alert on the ground and then
suddenly flew to the right and dived into the reeds but again emerged without
any prey but this time perched on one of the fence posts. It eventually flew around the reedbed island
causing some disturbance before flying off towards lagoon four. The disturbance had brought the waders closer
and they started feeding quite close to the hide and I was able to get some
nice shots of both a Green Sandpiper and the Wood Sandpiper.
Green Sandpiper
Green Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
I eventually had to leave and
headed to the lecture theatres and as I was parking an Osprey flew over. It had been an excellent morning’s birding
with good numbers of waders present at both sites.
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