A day in Leicestershire & Rutland - August 2, 2016

I left home this morning and headed for Eyebrook Reservoir seeing a single Buzzard on route.  I stopped at the bridge on reaching the reservoir and found a couple of Chiffchaff amongst a mixed flock of Long-tailed and Blue Tits.  As I was looking down the steam and Snipe flew over calling but otherwise it was pretty quiet and so I moved on to overlook the inlet.  There were three juvenile Dunlin on the small area of mud and two Little Egrets were feeding in the stream.  There were at least ten Common Terns over the reservoir and an Osprey was observed at the southern end.

From Eyebrook Reservoir I headed for the Lyndon Reserve at Rutland Water and found six Tree Sparrows on the feeders.  From Teal Hide I was able to make out one of the juvenile Ospreys on the nest and there were six Common Terns between the hide and Manton Bay and a single Little Egret at the base of Lax Hill.

There was an event on at Lyndon and so I moved onto the North Arm and found another Little Egret on the north shore of the fishponds.  As I walked towards the spit I found a single Oystercatcher on the north shore and there was a Common Sandpiper and two Green Sandpipers in the bay south of the spit.  There were another four Little Egrets on the south shore and two Common Terns feeding over the water.  As I walked back to the car an Osprey was carrying a stick into the woodland just north of the fishponds but I wasn’t able to see whether or not it was attempting repair or build a new nest in preparation for next year.

From the North Arm I went to the Egleton Reserve and found one of the Great White Egret and a female-type Marsh Harrier on Lagoon One.  From the centre I went to Snipe Hide but it was rather disappointing with very little on the flash and so I was soon heading for Harrier Hide.

There was a single Green Sandpiper on the flash from Harrier Hide but other than four Common Terns I saw nothing else and continued onto Pintail Hide where I found a second Great White Egret.

I moved on to the 360 Hide, seeing very little on route until I reached the ramp to the hide when I had a brief view of a Sedge Warbler.  There was another Green Sandpiper on Lagoon Five and four Oystercatchers flew over with three landing on one of the islands but other than five Little Egrets there was little else and I made my way back to the car park for lunch.

Steve and Terry were in the car park and they informed me what they had seen earlier on Lagoon Four and so after lunch I headed for Plover Hide to see if I could find two Garganey they had seen.  I started scanning the lagoon and found eight Black-tailed Godwits feeding just to the right of where the gulls rest and there was also a single Curlew.  I called Steve to inform him about the godwits and found that he and Terry were in Dunlin Hide and couldn’t see them.  He told me where the Garganey had been seen this morning and that Terry had located a Turnstone, which they had heard but couldn’t find this morning.  There were very few birds where they had seen the Garganey but I eventually found them feeding in front of another island.

With the Turnstone apparently in front of Sandpiper Hide I bypassed Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three and went straight to Sandpiper Hide.  Steve and Terry had also gone there to try and locate the godwits and they could at least see some of them.  Terry said he couldn’t see the Turnstone but fortunately it had just moved to another spit and it was a nice summer plumage bird.  There were also three Little Ringed Plovers, four Ringed Plovers, four Dunlin and Green Sandpiper on the lagoon, along with nineteen Little Egrets, eleven Yellow-legged Gulls and forty-nine Common Terns.  Steve had seen up to five Curlew but they were split into two groups, however as we were trying to relocate them Steve picked up a bird where four of them had been but it turned out to be a Whimbrel and we found the Curlew altogether near the gulls.

Terry departed and Steve went to Shoveler Hide and I followed him shortly afterwards.  He had seen a female Red-crested Pochard amongst the concentration of wildfowl the light was making viewing difficult and it was some time before located again.  Steve then moved onto Lapwing Hide and after five minutes or so I returned to the car park and headed off.

 Terry departed and Steve went to Shoveler Hide and I followed him shortly afterwards.  He had seen a female Red-crested Pochard amongst the concentration of wildfowl but the light was making viewing difficult and it was some time before he located again.  Steve then moved onto Lapwing Hide and after five minutes or so I returned to the car park and headed off.

I decided I would call at Eyebrook Reservoir again on the way home as due to a road closer I would almost have to pass it.  When I arrived Phil was there and he said there were three Dunlin, a Ruff and a couple of Redshank and a possible Garganey.  However when we go a good look at the possible Garganey it appeared to big and turned out be just a Mallard with a very strong facial pattern that recalled a Garganey.  The three Dunlin were all adults and clearly different to the one I had seen earlier today and so the diversion had been worthwhile.

I had a Kestrel near Cranoe on the way home and a Great Spotted Woodpecker calling as I got out of the car at home but I couldn’t locate it.