A day in Leicestershire & Rutland - April 26, 2018

David, Roger and I had agreed to meet Malcolm at Rutland Water and to then look for a Garganey that was present yesterday before potentially heading for Gibraltar Point for a Red-rumped Swallow.

When we arrived at Rutland Water, Malcolm's car was there but there was no sign of him.  When I called him, he had been to Lagoon two looking for the Garganey without success and he said he would make his way back to the car park.  Whilst waiting with no news of the Red-rumped Swallow we discussed our options, which was to either go to Frampton Marsh or remain at Rutland Water.

When Malcolm eventually got back he wasn’t too keen to go to Frampton as he suspected that it would be quite cold in the fresh easterly wind and with still no news on the Swallow we decided we would stay at Rutland Water.

We made our way to the northern lagoons, seeing two Eurasian Oystercatcher near the centre and a Garden Warbler near the badger Hide, but we didn’t see a great deal else before deciding to go to Lapwing Hide to view South Arm Three and Lagoon two.

There were sixty Common Terns feeding over the water, but we were unable to find any Arctic, and a Western Osprey passed over.  We checked the western edge of Lagoon two, but there was still no sign of the Garganey and so we headed for Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three where we found the second-summer Mediterranean Gull and there were three Common Shelduck and a Common Pochard on the water.  To the left of the hide there was a Little Egret and an Eurasian Oystercatcher.

We decided to go to Dunlin Hide on Lagoon Four and found four Common Shelduck, four Eurasian Oystercatcher, a Pied Avocet, sixteen Common Ringed Plover, seven Dunlin, a Whimbrel, a Eurasian Curlew, two Common Sandpiper, four Common Redshank and fifteen Common Tern.  A Western Osprey still appeared to be trying to attract a female and was seen adding sticks to the man-made nest.

A Red Kite was seen towards Hambleton, another and a Common Buzzard were observed over the Volunteer Training centre and another six Common Buzzard were observed over Burley Wood.

Great Crested Grebe on Lagoon Four

Grey Heron on Lagoon Four

Western Osprey landing on the perch on Lagoon Four

Redshank on Lagoon Four

Redshank on Lagoon Four

As we walked back to the car park for lunch we saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker near the centre and after lunch we went back to the northern Lagoons, but other than a Peregrine Falcon over Burley Wood it was pretty much the same on Lagoon Four and we decided to call at Eyebrook Reservoir on the way home.

A brief visit to the viewing area in the centre before leaving produced three Common Shelduck, two Common Pochard and a Black-tailed Godwit.

There was a Little Egret, two Common Buzzard and four Common Terns of note at Eyebrook Reservoir and a small number of hirundine, which were mainly Common House Martin but also a few Sand Martin and Barn Swallow.

We called it a day a little earlier as Roger and I had booked a week’s holiday with Heatherlea to Orkney and specifically North Ronaldsay.