I called at Eyebrook Reservoir
first this morning seeing the Little Owl as I approached the reservoir. A brief stop at the bridge resulted in just
hearing a singing Blackcap and other than Lapwings there were no other waders
visible on the small area of mud. There
was a Buzzard feeding on the ground in a field on the Leicestershire side and
two Red Kites were observed over Stoke Dry Wood. I counted sixteen Common Terns around the
reservoir and there was a Sedge Warbler seen in display flight close to the
water.
As the water levels are so high
at Rutland Water I decided that I would have a change today and go a little
further afield to Frampton Marsh in Lincolnshire. As I left the reservoir I had another Red
Kite over the barns in Stoke Dry but had seen little else by the time I reached
Frampton village.
As I approached the reserve
another car had stopped in front and I assumed they were birders looking for
Turtle Dove. As I got closer they drove
off and as I followed I saw nothing with a quick glance but as I moved a little
further I thought I saw a dove and therefore reversed back. Initially I couldn’t see anything until a
bird moved and on looking through the bins I was able to confirm that it was a
Turtle Dove and I was off to a good start.
The other birders were in the
car park when I arrived but hadn’t seen the Turtle Dove but were hoping to
catch up with one later. After getting
the gear out I set off to Reedbed Hide hoping that a Curlew Sandpiper present
over the last few days would still be present.
As I walked down the path alongside the first lagoon I could see a group
of waders roosting alongside one of the islands. There were plenty of Knot and Bar-tailed
Godwits and so I scoped them hoping to find the sandpiper. However as the Knot were tightly packed it
wasn’t easy trying to find a single winter Curlew Sandpiper. I did find eight Dunlin but after about
twenty minutes gave up and continued onto Reedbed Hide seeing three Sedge
Warblers before I reached the hide.
From the hide it was possible
to get a different view of the roosting birds but again the tightly packed Knot
were causing some frustration. The
Dunlin did eventually start feeding but most of the Knot were either roosting
or preening making it still difficult to know whether the Curlew Sandpiper was
still here or not. There were plenty of
Avocets on the lagoon and a single male summer Ruff was observed feeding
alongside a couple of Redshanks. A
first-summer Little Gull then dropped in and not long afterwards twelve
Redshanks arrived but after preening flew off.
With still no sign of the Curlew Sandpiper I decided to go towards the
reservoir to view the wet meadow area and comeback later for another view of
the Knot later.
As I walked back along the
path one of the Sedge Warbler was singing from a bush and I managed to get a
few shots off before continuing.
Sedge Warbler
As I walked back along the
path one of the Sedge Warbler was singing from a bush and I managed to get a
few shots off before continuing.
I stopped and viewed the
roosting Knot from the path before continuing on to the footpath leading to the
reservoir. As I approached the path to
the reservoir three juvenile Reed Warblers flew over the road and landed
briefly in the roadside vegetation before continuing further. On reaching the bench overlooking the wet
meadow I sat down and set the scope up to view the area. There were a couple of adult Avocets and
three immature birds and I eventually found a Greenshank but there was no sign
of yesterdays Wood Sandpiper. A Green
Sandpiper then flew in and dropped down briefly before flying again and
disappearing and the Greenshank was disturbed by some cows and came a lot
closer. Six Curlew then flew over and
after making a few more scans I was collapsing the tripod when four more
Greenshanks arrived. I checked to see
that the original Greenshank was still present and found it roosting in some
shallow water confirming that there were now five present.
I made my way back and went
again to check the flock of Knot, which were now packed less densely but there
was still no sign of the Curlew Sandpiper.
As it was now lunchtime I went
back to the car and drove to the old car park near the sea wall and after a bite
to eat went onto the sea wall to view the reserve. I found eleven more Dunlin but other than a
couple of Wigeon, a few Little Egrets and more Avocets and Redshanks there was
little else on the land side. The salt
marsh was also quiet although I did see a male Marsh Harrier as it quartered
the marsh some distance away.
I returned to the main car
park and went to the 360 Hide hoping to find a Mediterranean Gull. As I passed the area where the Knot were
gathered there were clearly more godwits and there were now seventy Icelandic
summer plumaged Black-tailed Godwits amongst the Knot and Bar-tailed
Godwits. There were plenty of
Black-headed Gulls from the hide and I also found two Shoveler and five more
Dunlin. I moved many position to view
the area to the south where there were more gulls, where I found two adult
Mediterranean Gulls.
Adult Mediterranean Gulls
Another check from the Reedbed
Hide for the Curlew Sandpiper still produced the sandpiper and as the weather
was beginning to take a turn for the worse I called a dat and set off home. As I moved back west I went through some
fairly heavy rain but did see a Red Kite just after passing through Tallington.
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