Rod's Birding: A day in Leicestershire & Rutland

I set off this morning heading for Church Langton as Malcolm had seen the three Waxwings early yesterday morning. When I pulled into the car park it was rather dull with a fresh westerly wind and there was no sign of the Waxwings during my short stay and the only bird of note was a single Kestrel.

Eyebrook Reservoir was to be my next site and I saw two Red Kites as I approached Blaston and then a Green Woodpecker in flight as I passed through the village.

I approached the reservoir from the north I found one of the Little Owls on view in the Old Oak as I headed for the bridge over the inlet stream. The reservoir was still full but there was a Great White Egret and three Little Egrets in the inlet stream. There was activity around the feeders with the best being a couple of Tree Sparrow and there was a Buzzard soaring over the ridge to the east. There was plenty of Teal around the inlet with a few Wigeon scattered around but the only wildfowl of note were three Shelduck, a drake Shoveler and seven Goldeneye.

I was soon on my way to Rutland Water and went to the North Arm first as there had been a Red-breasted Merganser present for several days. There was a male and four female Goosander in the fishponds but as I walked out towards the spit the sun came out, making viewing difficult. Steve then called and said that he and Terry had seen the Red-necked Grebe near the tower, the Slavonian Grebe towards the fisherman’s car park and two Black-necked Grebes just off Dickinson's Bay. With the light causing problems looking towards the car park and there being no sign of the Black-necked Grebes, I decided to head to the car park where the light would be better and I might have a chance of seeing the Red-necked Grebe.

After parking I climbed over the gate to view the north arm towards the fishponds and soon found the Slavonian Grebe and on scanning the far shore I picked up the two Black-necked Grebes. With no sign of the Red-necked Grebe I decided to walk up the road and then along the footpath to get closer to the tower. I scanned the area from the top of the hill but with still no joy I dropped down to a spit to get a better view of the arm towards Armley Wood. However, I got the same result seeing very little and certainly not the Red-necked Grebe.

After getting back to the car I went to the Egleton Reserve and after checking the book set off for Snipe Hide on the Wet Meadow. As I walked to Snipe Hide I heard three Chiffchaffs singing between the centre and the hide but failed to see any of them. As I opened the flaps in the hide I was greeted by two Avocets that were feeding furiously on the flash and a Great White Egret appeared in the far corner of the flash. There were also a couple of Shelduck and several Shoveler on the flash and I found a single Pintail and a male and four female Goosander on what is visible of the long island on Lagoon One. A couple of Oystercatcher flew from behind the hide and lander on the long island on Lagoon One and as I scanned the sky I picked up five Sand Martins but they didn’t appear to stay too long as I couldn’t find them later.

Little Egret on the Wet Meadow

Avocet on the Wet Meadow

Avocets on the Wet Meadow

Great White Egret on the Wet Meadow

I moved onto Harrier Hide where there were two Shelducks and a Pintail on the Wet Meadow flash but there was no sign of the hoped-for Whimbrel or Curlew towards Brown’s Island, although the Whimbrel was there later. Visits to both Tern and Pintail Hides on Lagoon Six produced just a couple of Oystercatcher and so I moved onto the 360 Hide on Lagoon Five. As I walked past Lagoon Eight there was a single Shelduck and a Little Egret but little else.

On reaching the 360 Hide on Lagoon Five I found two more Little Egrets and a single Oystercatcher but the best were two pairs of Red-crested Pochard, with the males looking superb and they were close enough to get a few photos.

Drake Red-crested Pochard

Female Red-crested Pochard

Red-crested Pochard

Drake Red-crested Pochard

As I walked back to the centre I saw my first Peacock butterfly of the year and there were two Redwings in the meadow adjacent to the car park. After lunch, I went to the centre to view Lagoon One and saw the two Avocets flying over and heading north.

With little else new on Lagoon One I headed for the northern lagoons and went to Plover Hide on Lagoon four where I found the two Avocets, along with seven Oystercatchers and a couple of Redshanks. I then went into Bittern Hide but with noting of note I moved onto Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three, where the water level is now exceptionally high and all I could find of note was a single Shelduck.

Avocet over Lagoon Four

Drake Shoveler on Lagoon Three

Female Teal on Lagoon Three

Drake Gadwall over Lagoon Three

Adult summer Black-headed Gull over Lagoon Three

Gerry had joined me in Shoveler Hide and had seen a couple of Dunlin and a Curlew on Lagoon Four and so I decided to go to Sandpiper Hide next to get a different view of the lagoon. I soon found the two Dunlin and Curlew and finished up with six Dunlin and found two Ringed Plovers. There were twenty-two Shelduck on the lagoon and whilst counting these I found three red-headed Smew, which were my first of the day. I called Steve as I was hoping Gerry was with him, which he was, and reported what I had seen. I didn’t add anything new to what Steve and Terry had seen and they had already made Gerry aware and it was only a few minutes later when Gerry arrived. I pointed out the Smew and Ringed Plovers and a couple of Pintail provided and excellent photo opportunity and just after this Gerry found a superb male Wheatear. We called Steve to make him aware and he then joined us in the hide but had a nervous wait as the Wheatear had disappeared out of view. Although it seemed quite some time before I picked up again it then showed quite nicely in the evening sun and was still present when I left the hide and headed back to the car.