Rod's Birding: A day in Leicestershire & Rutland

I was out with David and Roger today and with very little nationally we had agreed to just go local and headed for Eyebrook Reservoir. Just after passing through Cranoe David picked up a couple of Raven, which I managed to see out of the rear window of the car. Roger had missed them and so we stopped just after turning towards Slawston but there was no sign but we did see a Kestrel and eight Swallow flew over. We hadn’t seen a great deal else as we turned onto Stockerston Lane heading for the southern approach road to the reservoir. We stopped briefly at an area where bird seed is produced but all we saw were forty-plus Red-legged Partridge and a Kestrel.

After turning onto the approach road, we parked near the gate to the fishing lodge where we saw more Red-legged Partridge, five distant Red Kites and party of twelve Swallow that appeared to be passing through. We stopped again to view the hedge running northwest from the reservoir but other than a Buzzard in the field it was quiet.

A stop at the island coral produced just a single Little Egret and a few Cormorant and a brief stop at the track to Holyoaks produced at least fifty Red-legged Partridge with another eleven on the road before we reached he northern coral.

There was a Yellow-legged Gull amongst the flock of gulls that was made up of mainly Black-headed Gulls but there was also a few Common and Lesser Black-backed. There were two Dunlin on the exposed mud and we then found six Ruff and a Greenshank along the Rutland shoreline and David found a single Pintail, a Snipe flew over and there was another Red Kite over the Rutland fields.

We drove to the Harborough Hill Road before turning back to view the old oak but there was no sign of any Little Owls but two Jay few over before we went back to the reservoir to view the inlet from the Rutland bank.

There was another Red Kite and three Buzzards over the Leicestershire fields and then David found a party of waders along the Leicestershire bank that contained four Ringed Plover and three Dunlin. He then picked up a bird perched in a tree, which turned out to be a very pale Buzzard that appeared to be mainly white on the visible underparts. I then thought I had two Ravens but they disappeared behind the hill top and whilst looking for these we found two Kestrels and a female-type Marsh Harrier. Roger then got me onto two corvids on the ground which were Ravens and we then watch them fly off to the northeast.

Feeling we had exhausted Eyebrook Reservoir we moved off to the North Arm at Rutland Water. After parking along the unnamed road, we walked out to the spit and found seventeen Ringed Plover, a Little Stint and four Dunlin feeding to the right of the spit.

Juvenile Ringed Plovers

Juvenile Ringed Plover

Little Stint

There was a nice party of sixteen Pochard in the southern bay and Roger found the Black-necked Grebe amongst a party of Tufted Duck to the north of the spit. There was a Yellow-legged Gull perched on one of the signs along the bund and on scanning Burley Wood we had a Red Kite and five Buzzards.

Black-necked Grebe

We eventually moved off to Egleton and went into the centre to view Lagoon One before lunch. When we got up into the viewing area there appeared to be very little, particularly on the long island possibly due to disturbance from volunteers. We did however have a good thirty minutes before lunch; I picked up six Snipe in flight and shortly afterwards Roger found a male Sparrowhawk perched on one of the long island fence posts. David then found one of the Great White Egret at the back of the lagoon and two Shelduck behind the long island. I then picked up a Jay in flight and three Sand Martins flew over.

As we walked back to the car for lunch we heard a Chiffchaff calling and a Jay flew over whilst having lunch.

After lunch, we set off for the northern lagoons and called in Grebe Hide to try and locate the American Wigeon. There were plenty of Wigeon on the lagoon but we didn’t find the American Wigeon and when a party of volunteers went back to clearing the islands many of the wildfowl took to flight.

Having not succeeded with the wigeon we went to Lapwing Hide to view South Arm Three. David and Roger were scanning the Tufted Duck looking for a Goldeneye when I picked up a distant Black Tern and two Great White Egrets near Gadwall Hide but with nothing else we made our way back. I called at Buzzard Hide briefly before joining David and Roger in Shoveler Hide and found a couple of Pintail, and saw a Marsh Harrier mobbing a Buzzard with the help of two corvids. The Buzzard landed in the woods and the harrier continued to fly over the wood with two corvids showing no interest.

When I got into Shoveler Hide David and Roger hadn’t seen the Marsh Harrier but I then picked it up again and on alerting them, David said they are two Buzzards. I was a little confused as I could only see one bird and then realised that he was watching a couple of Buzzards that were circling towards Hambleton. Roger and I eventually got him on the harrier and then a Hobby flew over. There were four Green Sandpiper to the left of the hide, which were joined by a Greenshank and we eventually found three Snipe. Three Pintail were also seen, which presumably included the two I had seen from Buzzard and we had a Kestrel fly over and a second Marsh Harrier flew west over the lagoon. I then picked up a Water Rail to the left of the hide that performed for a few minutes before disappearing at the far end of the vegetation. Two Cetti’s Warbler were also heard from the hide.

Gadwall over Lagoon Three

Pintail on Lagoon Three

Moorhen on Lagoon Three

Water Rail on Lagoon Three

It had started raining while were in the hide but we eventually made a dash to Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four. I scanned to gulls initially and found four Yellow-legged Gulls amongst a few Lesser Black-backed and large Great Black-backed Gulls. There were at least twenty Pintail scattered around the lagoon and a single Greenshank performed well just in front of the hide. I had mentioned early that we hadn’t seen any Ruff here today when Roger said there your Ruff and one and appeared roughly where the Greenshank had been and they then seemed to follow each other around feeding along the edge. David and Roger had a second Greenshank fly in but I missed it and presumably it was possibly the one from Lagoon Three. We the heard a Kingfisher calling which then landed to the left of the hide and gave nice performance for a few minutes before flying off towards Dunlin Hide. We were about to make a dash to the car when I picked up a Dunlin flying, which then landed near the Ruff.