Rod's Birding: A day in Leicestershire & Rutland

I left home quite early again today heading for Eyebrook Reservoir. The recent fresh northerly wind had dropped a little but it was overcast and felt pretty cold.

I hadn’t seen a great deal as I turned onto the northern approach road and when I stopped to look for the Little Owls I could hear one calling but was unable to find it. A stop at the bridge produced a couple of Buzzards, a Chiffchaff, a Garden Warbler and a Tree Sparrow and Willow Warbler and Blackcap were singing. I stopped to view the inlet and had a Whitethroat in song flight and there were a couple of Little Egrets and at least ten Common Terns over the water. There were also good numbers of hirundines, which were mainly Swallow and House Martin but also a few Sand Martins.

I made my way to the Egleton car park at Rutland Water and then walked towards the northern lagoons. As I walked towards Redshank Hide on Lagoon Two three Shelduck flew over and I heard Cetti’s Warbler, Willow Warbler, Blackcap and Garden Warbler. I went into Redshank Hide to look for the female Ruddy Duck but there was no sign but there were two superb male Pochard and two Oystercatcher flew over.

I continued along the summer trail and heard Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Garden Warbler and Nightingale. The Nightingale was near Osprey Hide but the cover here is so dense I have yet to see this bird.

I went into Sandpiper Hide to view Lagoon Four and found two Little Ringed Plovers, fourteen Ringed Plovers, ten Dunlin and a Turnstone quite close and scanning further afield I was surprised to find that the Knot was still present and also the Grey Plover. They were where they had been on Saturday and so I went to Plover Hide hoping I might get a few shots of them. I called to Steve to alert him and he was at a private site looking for a Hoopoe but there was no sign and presumably it had gone.

When I went into the hide the Grey Plover and Knot were on the end of Island Three and a fired off a few shots in what was poor light. Steve and Terry came into the hide and after looking at the Knot and Grey Plover Steve found a Sanderling amongst several Ringed Plover and Dunlin, which was a county year-tick for me. They left the hide shortly afterwards intending to do their normal circuit of the reservoir. I stayed a while longer but with nothing new I made my way to Bittern Hide and met Steve and Terry coming out of the hide as I did so. They had seen three Little Gulls and two Black Terns over Lagoon Three and on entering the hide I soon located one Black Tern and two of the Little Gulls. I did eventually see both Black Terns and all three Little Gulls and as I left the hide had brief views of a Nightingale on the fence.

Grey Plover

Summer plumage Knot

I went to Shoveler Hide to get a different view of Lagoon Three and heard a Lesser Whitethroat as I did so. On entering the hide, I found the Little Gulls and Black Terns but there was little else except for several Common Terns. Steve then called and informed me that there was a Great White Egret in the North Arm and as I hadn’t seen one in the UK since March I set off back to the car park hoping it would still be there.

Swift over Lagoon Three

Goldfinch on the path

After parking at the end of the unnamed road I walked out to the spit in the north arm. Steve had warned me that I might flush the Great White Egret as it was on the end of the spit and when I didn’t I wasn’t too hopeful of seeing it. A quick scan around the southern bay dispelled my pessimistic view as I found it on the southern shore. It still had a yellow bill and was therefore probably a non-breeding bird but it was a surprise with none being present for over a month. There were quite a few Common Terns in the arm along with two Black Terns and a Little Gull that were probably the same as those seen on Lagoon Three. I scanned Burley Wood and found a Red Kite, Osprey and Kestrel and there were plenty of Swifts, Swallows and House Martins over the arm, with Swifts possible exceeding a thousand birds.

Common Tern

From the North Arm, I drove to the Lyndon Reserve as there had been several waders reported on Lax Hill near Goldeneye. After checking in at the centre I walked the short distance to Teal Hide to scan the base of Lax Hill. As I scanned along the shore there was no sign of any waders and so I counted the Common Tern and was surprised to find that there were fifty, with the majority close to Brown’s Island. I scanned the shore again at the base of Lax Hill and found a wader feeding the grass, it was clearly a summer plumaged godwit and once I could see the whole of the underparts I was able to identify it a male Bar-tailed Godwit. As I continued to watch it a much greyer bird appeared, which was presumably a female but they then both disappeared into the grass and I didn’t see either of them again. As I walked back to the centre there was a Willow Warbler and Blackcap singing and I saw three Tree Sparrows around the new nest boxes.

Ken had arrived at Egleton and so I went back to the car park and found him waiting after he made a brief visit to Mallard Hide on Lagoon One. It was now approaching 12:00 as so I decided to have an early lunch rather than a late one. Terry then arrived in the car park, which was a bit of a surprise as he and Steve don’t normally get back from their circuit until around 13:00. When I expressed my surprise, Terry informed us that Steve had been involved in accident. Apparently, he had gone into the right turn lane for Edith Weston and a woman driver that was waiting in a que of traffic at some temporary lights a little further on just turned into the side of him. He was ok but was keen to get his car in for repair and after dropping Terry off at the Volunteer’s Centre had headed off home to make arrangements for his car repair.

Ken and I had a quick look on Lagoon One from the centre, which produced nothing of note and so we moved onto Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four.

From Sandpiper Hide we could only find the Turnstone amongst the roosting terns and so we went to Plover Hide. When we arrived in Plover Hide there were clearly more waders but there appeared to fewer Ringed Plover and Dunlin than I had seen earlier. We soon located the Grey Plover and the Knot and two Little Ringed Plovers and as we continued to scan we heard a Whimbrel but we didn’t see it. Shortly after this Ken found a female Bar-tailed Godwit but we then moved to Bittern Hide.

Female Linnet

Male Linnet

We saw several Reed Warblers whilst in Bittern Hide and Ken picked up a Hobby flying along the bund between the lagoon and South Arm Three. From Bittern Hide we made our way to Lapwing Hide to view South Arm Three but other than a few Common Terns we saw little else and went back Shoveler Hide for a different view of Lagoon Three.

Ken didn’t stay too long before moving back to Sandpiper Hide but I remained in Shoveler Hide but other than an Osprey didn’t see anything else new for the day.

When I reached Sandpiper Hide Ken was still there and he had seen all we had seen earlier but hadn’t found anything new. Two curlew-type birds then flew low over the lagoon, which I thought were Whimbrel and then confirmed when they landed. Shortly afterwards a Curlew called and one flew from behind the hide and landed on the far side of the lagoon. Ken then found a superb male Yellow Wagtail, which was only my third of the year.

I stayed a little longer in the hide then Ken and was joined by Colin and Chris and Tim joined us shortly afterwards but we didn’t see anything else of note and I soon called it a day.

I had recorded ninety-five species today, with ninety being at Rutland Water that included fifteen species of wader.