David and I went to Laude Park
Wood to look for Broad-leaved Helleborine but couldn't’ find them, although we
may have been too early. I hadn’t been
to this reserve before and we walked down the path from the main entrance as
far as a crossroads and then returned. There
was a Spotted Flycatcher just inside the gate and when we reached the
crossroads we saw our first Ringlet of the year and also had three Meadow Browns,
a couple of Speckled Wood and a male Broad-bodied Chaser and a Great Spotted
Woodpecker flew over. As we walked back
we also saw a Marsh Tit and a Chiffchaff and a Treecreeper just before leaving
the wood. As we walked back to the car a
single Red Kite was observed and we then headed off to Bloody Oaks Quarry.
When we arrived at the quarry
the weather had improved and there were plenty of sunny periods during our
visit. When I reached the gate to the
entrance to this small reserve I could see several butterflies that included a
Marbled White, which turned out to be quite common and we must have seen at
least twenty during the visit. There
were several Pyramidal Orchids near the entrance including two white forms and
we saw many more throughout the reserve.
Pyramidal Orchid
Pyramidal Orchid
As we walked further into the
reserve we continued to see butterflies and there were many more Ringlets, with
a few Meadow Browns and several Small Tortoiseshells. We then found several Bee Orchids, including
two Wasp Orchids, which were my first encounter with this variant. We were still seeing plenty of Marbled Whites
and Ringlets and then we had a brief view of a possible fritillary and after
further searching found a couple of Dark Green Fritillaries and eventually
finisher up with at least five. We also
had a couple of sightings of Large Skipper, a rather drab Painted Lady, two
Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnets and a Burnet Companion. Having spent almost ninety minutes on site
and with the weather appearing to be deteriorating we moved onto Rutland Water.
Bee Orchid
Wasp Orchid
Wasp Orchid
Marbled White
Small Tortoiseshell
Dark Green Fritillary
Dark Green Fritillary
Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet
Large Skipper
We had lunch at the end of the
unnamed road and then looked in the fishponds and North Arm. Several Little Egrets were observed in flight
as was an adult Yellow-legged Gull and there was a single Shelduck, two
Oystercatcher and a Common Tern in the North Arm but other than numerous Mute
Swans and Greylag Geese there was very little else. Over Burley Wood we had a Red Kite, a
Sparrowhawk and at least three Buzzards and I saw a couple of Swift.
On reaching the Bird Watching
Centre, Lagoon One also proved to be rather quiet with broods of nine and three
Shelduck escorted by the adults being the highlight. There were few insects as we walked towards
the northern lagoons as the weather had become more overcast with a
strengthening wind but we did see six Meadow Browns and four Ringlets. A walk out to Lapwing Hide proved fruitless
with very little being seen and we were soon returning to the Shoveler Hide on
Lagoon Three, seeing a Hobby soaring over Lagoon Four as we did so.
The water level on Lagoon
Three is still quite high and consequently there was nothing too exciting,
although there did appear to be more birds on the today. There was a single Shelduck, two drake
Wigeon, five Pochards on the lagoon and four Common Terns were feeding over the
water.
Juvenile Black-headed Gull
Juvenile Black-headed Gull
Adult summer Black-headed Gull
Juvenile Black-headed Gull
From Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon
Four there was a single Shelduck, two Little Egrets, nine Oystercatchers, three
Ringed Plovers, ten Curlew, two Yellow-legged Gulls and just ten Common
Terns. The terns had been quite active
around island ten but there was no such activity today and it looks as though
the terns had failed either through predation or the recent heavy rains.
A further visit to the Bird
Watching Centre failed to produce anything different, except for a single
Shoveler.
A brief stop at Eyebrook
Reservoir on route home produced four Little Ringed Plovers, nine Common Terns
and about forty Swifts.
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