A day in Leicestershire & Rutland - July 7, 2018

With England playing Sweden this afternoon, David and I planned to go out locally and return early enough to get back to see the match.  Roger was also planning the same and agreed to meet us at Rutland Water.

David and I initially went to Wistow church yard hoping to catch up with a Spotted Flycatcher, which we didn’t see but did have a range of commoner species that included a Eurasian Nuthatch.  Roger had called whilst we were on site and we agreed to meet in on the Lyndon Reserve.

We hadn’t seen a lot on route and we when arrived in the Lyndon car park, Roger was already there but we were unsure where he was and on ringing him we got temporary unavailable and so set off for Wader Scrape Hide.

As we walked down the path between the centre and Deep Water Hide there were a number of birds feeding on the path, most of which were Linnets but also included a Common Whitethroat and a couple of Common Reed Buntings.  They flew up into the bushes as we got closer and I found a couple of juvenile Eurasian Tree Sparrows, whilst scanning the bushes.  A Common Chiffchaff was then observed and a second heard before reaching Tufted Duck Hide and in the meadow before the hide we found a Marbled White, which was our first sighting at Rutland Water, where there have been very few records.

When we reached the hide, Roger wasn’t there but he arrived shortly after us and he had been in Teal Hide looking for a Great Northern Diver that was reported last weekend but hadn’t seen it.  The two adult and two juvenile Western Ospreys were all present and the juveniles where now flying quite strongly.  We could see nine Little Egrets in Heron Bay and there was another five in Manton Bay.  As we scanned through the wildfowl we found a pair of Mute Swan with two cygnets and two female Mallard with broods of eight and four.  At least three Sedge Warbler were seen just in front of the hide with one display flighting frequently and a Red Kite was observed to the north.  We also saw at least two Water Voles, which are not often seen.

As we walked back towards the centre we had another Common Whitethroat in one of the meadows and heard a Blackcap.  When we reached the centre, we stopped briefly to view the feeders where two Red-legged Partridges feeding under the feeders were a bit of a surprise.  From Lyndon we headed for the Egleton Reserve, seeing a Common Kestrel near the garden centre and a Red Kite on the east side of Manton village.

As we walked towards the Bird Watching Centre we heard a couple of Blackcaps and had a brief view of one of the Spotted Flycatchers in the woodland.  On entering the centre and viewing Lagoon One, all we could find of note were two Black-tailed Godwits and so set off for the northern lagoons.

We heard a Common Chiffchaff and a Blackcap before we reached the large meadow and as we approached it we heard and then saw a Northern Raven soaring to the north and on reaching the meadow found two.  We heard another Common Chiffchaff and Blackcap before we reached the end of the Summer Trail and headed for Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three.

Another birder, Marcos, indicated that he had seen a couple of Green Sandpipers and as we looked we managed to find four. There was a Tufted Duck with a brood of six and we found four Common Pochard but there was no sign of the female with the brood I had seen recently although there was a single Mute Swan with five young visible.  We decided to go to Buzzard Hide to get a different view of the lagoon and where the light would certainly be better.  As we walked along the path we heard a Sedge Warbler and a Eurasian Reed Warbler.

On reaching the hide it soon became obvious we could see birds we were unable to see from Shoveler Hide and as expected the light was much better.  There was another female Tufted Duck escorting a brood of eleven and I picked up the bright red bill of an eclipse male Red-crested Pochard on an island amongst a flock of Eurasian Coot.  David then found the male Northern Pintail that was still moulting into eclipse plumage and we found another Mute Swan with five cygnets and at least one Eurasian Reed Warbler was heard before we went to Sandpiper Hide.

There was a party of six Common Redshank near island six and we found three more towards island seven.  The illusive Eurasian Reed Warbler showed and there were three Yellow-legged Gulls amongst a party of resting Great Black-backed Gulls but there was no sign of the reported Common Sandpiper.

We decided to go to Dunlin Hide hoping we might find the brood of Little Ringed Plover that had been reported recently and perhaps the Common Sandpiper.  As we walked along the track we heard a Garden Warbler giving an alarm call but were unable to locate it.  When we arrived in the hide Marcos was there and had found the Common Sandpiper, which was feeding along the western shoreline but quite some distance away and there was a single Common Shelduck.  We then found a Little Ringed Plover at the far end of island eight and Roger and David saw at least one young before it ran out of sight.  Further scanning produced a single Common Ringed Plover near island six and a Common Buzzard over the Volunteer Training Centre.

As we walked back to the car park for lunch we had another Blackcap and after lunch made a brief visit to the viewing area where we saw a pair of Mute Swan with six cygnets and a Eurasian Curlew.  On the way home we had a Common Buzzard at the bottom of Wardley Hill but saw nothing else of note.

Comma

We had seen seventy-eight species in not much more than half-a-day and also a good selection of insects, including our first ever Marbled White at Rutland Water.