I made a brief call to Newton Harcourt on my way to Eyebrook Reservoir but it was very quiet, although I did eventually see a Goldcrest, Coal Tit and a Nuthatch.
After leaving Newton Harcourt I saw a Red Kite near Cranoe and two Whitethroats near Horninghold as I made my way to Eyebrook Reservoir. I approached the reservoir from the northern entrance road but the Little Owl wasn’t visible in the old oak and all I saw from the bridge was a male Blackcap. I parked overlooking the inlet and scanned the small area of mud and found three Little Ringed Plovers and a single Common Sandpiper but they were difficult to see as they were wandering in and out of the vegetation. An Osprey flew over the inlet and headed south over the reservoir but returned a short while later and disappeared to the north. There was a Buzzard over the Leicestershire fields, at least six Common Terns over the reservoir and a Yellow Wagtail flew over calling.
I left Eyebrook Reservoir and headed for the Egleton Reserve at Rutland Water and after parking went into the centre to view Lagoon One. There were plenty of Gadwall and Tufted Duck on the water and there was a Mute Swan with two cygnets. As I continued to scan I picked up summer Black-tailed Godwit flying over the lagoon, which then appeared to come down on the Wet Meadow.
As I started to head off towards the Wet Meadow Tim called to say that Steve had found a summer adult Mediterranean Gull from Plover Hide on lagoon four and so I turned and headed off for Plover Hide. As I approached the gate at the end of the Summer Trail I heard a Green Woodpecker call and then saw it heading off towards Lagoon Three. Walking on the last stretch of path before Plover Hide I heard the Green Woodpecker again and this time it flew from one of the fence posts and then I saw it again flying over Lagoon Three heading back to where I had first seen it.
When I entered the hide Steve and Terry were still there but alas the Mediterranean Gull wasn’t and had flown off just after Steve had informed Tim. They had also seen thirteen Little Ringed Plovers, which were in the general direction of where the Great Black-backed Gulls were resting. I scanned the area and managed to find ten and there were also four Ringed Plovers and a Dunlin. Resting amongst the Great Black-backed Gulls were seven Yellow-legged Gulls but a thorough search of the lagoon for the Mediterranean Gull produced just more Black-headed Gulls. There were at least four Oystercatchers on the lagoon but they often took to flight with lots of calling but I was unable to find a Curlew that called on a number of occasions.
From Plover Hide I walked the short distance to Bittern Hide but other than a few Reed Warblers and an Osprey passing over there was little else and so I moved on to Lapwing Hide. As I passed the site for Crake Hide there was a Great Crested Grebe and a couple of Tufted Duck but there was no sign of Saturday’s Goldeneye. I scanned South Arm Three from Lapwing Hide but other than more Tufted Ducks and Great Crested Grebes I saw little else, although did get a glimpse of a Sedge Warbler in song flight to the right of the hide.
As I walked back along the track there were a few birds feeding in the bushes behind the fence but all I could find were several Blue Tits and a single Long-tailed Tit. A Little further along on the opposite side the new fence allows good views into the reeds and scrub and I stopped for a few minutes and saw a couple of Chiffchaffs and several Reed Warblers.
When I reached Shoveler Hide sadly the water levels were still very high and there appeared to be even less than of late, although there was a concentration of Gadwall at the far end and I found four Pochards.
I had intended to go into Sandpiper Hide but a couple of volunteers were strimming the area in front of the hide and so I continued onto Dunlin Hide. There was a Kestrel that hovered just outside the hide briefly but otherwise I saw very little and so headed back to the car park for lunch.
Kestrel
I was about to move off to the southern lagoons when another birder told me that there were a couple of Wood Sandpiper from Harrier Hide and although I suspected that they would be either Green Sandpipers or juvenile Redshanks I thought I should check them out. Mike Chester then arrived and as I hadn’t seen him for a few weeks we stood talking in the car park when Ken arrived and then Steve and Terry returned for their lunch. Steve and Terry had been as far as Harrier Hide and had only seen Green Sandpipers and Redshanks, which supported my thoughts on the Wood Sandpipers.
However Ken and I still set off for Snipe Hide on the Wet Meadow but it was very quiet as we made our way through the woodland. When we reached the hide we soon found one of the adult Avocets and also three Green Sandpipers. We eventually saw both adult Avocet and the three juvenile birds along with three adult and a single juvenile Redshank. There were five Shelduck ducklings along with two adults but three of the young were considerable larger than the other two and it is likely that they could be the what is left of the two broods that have been on Lagoon One. A Hobby was then observed over Lagoon One and two more distant Buzzards were observed and just before we left the hide a Curlew appeared. I then picked up a party of Black-tailed Godwits over Lagoon One and after a couple of circuits they dropped onto the long island. Once on the deck most of them disappeared from view and it wasn’t easy to get an accurate count whilst they were flying but I thought there was more than twenty.
We continued on to Harrier Hide but all we saw was a Red Kite passing over and so we moved on to Fieldfare Hide where again it was pretty quiet. We did see fourteen tiny Mallard ducklings feeding along with a single female off Brown’s Island and three Little Egrets.
We retraced our steps towards Harrier Hide but went into Tern Hide on Lagoon six where there were two Oystercatchers and we then had a third as we walked along the track towards Lagoon Eight. We hadn’t seen anything else of note until a Sedge Warbler obliged as we approached the 360 Hide. From the hide we found an Egyptian Goose escorting a single young bird and there was also another Little Egret.
European Hare
We called at Mallard Hide on the way back hoping to see the Black-tailed Godwits but we couldn’t see them but on contacting Steve they were still there but the most he had been able to see was eighteen. We continued on back to the Bird Watching Centre where we were able to see a few of the godwits on the ground but less than Steve’s eighteen. As we were scanning the lagoon the godwits suddenly got up and flew around a couple of times before dropping back into the vegetation and both Ken and I thought that there was at least twenty-two. I then got a text from Steve indicating that the Mediterranean Gull was back on Lagoon Four.
Ken called it a day but I set off for Plover Hide hoping that the Mediterranean Gull would remain this time. Steve was still in the hide when I got there and fortunately the adult Mediterranean Gull was also still present. However it wasn’t easy to see clearly as it was sleeping and the vegetation on island three was partially obscuring it. It did stand up on a couple of occasions and revealed a metal ring on its right leg, indicating that it was probably the same adult that had been seen on a number of occasions last year. Erik had joined us in the hide and shortly afterwards the Mediterranean Gull took to flight and gradually climbed quite high before drifting off to the north-east.
I made a brief visit with Erik to Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three, where I saw my only Wigeon of the day and two Shelduck escorting a brood of three but with nothing else we returned to the car park. After a brief chat I set off for home, seeing a Buzzard over the road near Billesdon.
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