Dave, Ken, Roger and I had
planned to go to Oxfordshire today for butterflies but as the forecast wasn't
too good we decided to go local.
Dave, Roger and I set off for
Eye Brook Reservoir first, which was fairly quiet but we did find a single
Little Ringed Plover, five Snipe, a Common Sandpiper and a Green Sandpiper and
there were also nine Little Egrets and three Common Terns. An adult Yellow-legged Gull arrived during
our stay as did a single Common Gull, which was are only one of the day.
Having exhausted Eye Brook
Reservoir we moved off to the north arm at Rutland Water. There were a few passerines calling near
where we park but they were difficult to see in the dense foliage. We spent a short while trying to see them and
did locate a single Blackcap and two Mistle Thrushes. We eventually walked down the path to the
spit overlooking the north arm but it appeared rather quiet. There was a single Oystercatcher on the north
shore and a Common Sandpiper close to the bund and four Greenshanks on the
south shore. Eleven Common Terns were
observed towards Dickinson’s Bay and I counted twenty-eight Egyptian
Geese. A single Yellow-legged Gull was
observed and there were five Little Egrets feeding close together on the north
shore and another three between them and Dickinson’s Bay. A Buzzard was also seen briefly and a party
of at least twenty-five Blue Tits contained a single Great Tit and two Blackcaps.
We moved off to the Old Hall
as there had been two Turnstone reported yesterday on the island. As we arrived there was clearly quite a few
hirundine, which was mainly House Martins with a few Swallow and two Tree Sparrows
were observed perched on an overhead cable.
There must have been at least eighty House Martin, which is a good
number this year and at one point they were all trying to settle on the new
mansion with many clinging to the walls.
There was no sign of the Turnstone but we did find two Little Ringed
Plovers, four Dunlin and two Common Sandpipers and there was another six Little
Egrets. The wildfowl appeared to be
still increasing but most were some distance away and we were unable to locate
anything unusual amongst the masses of Tufted Duck.
Feeling we had seen all there
was to see, we moved on to the Egleton Reserve and after checking out lagoon
one form the centre, where there was two Ruff, at least three Green Sandpiper
and more Little Egrets we moved off to sandpiper hide on lagoon four.
The first bird I noticed was a
juvenile Black Tern amongst several Common Terns on one the islands on lagoon
four. We counted thirteen Ringed Plovers
and found two Ruff and two Greenshank on the lagoon. The female Pintail was found in its usual
feeding area and there were eight Yellow-legged Gulls roosting on one of
exposed areas. From sandpiper we moved
off towards lapwing hide and called at crake hide on route. There were quite a few Teal feeding to the
right of the hide and a roosting Greenshank and a Green Sandpiper dropped in,
whilst a Cetti’s Warbler was heard close by.
Whilst searching unsuccessfully for the Cetti’s we did find a couple of
Sedge Warbler.
Painted Lady near sandpiper hide
Painted Lady near sandpiper hide
Small Copper near lagoon four
Small Tortoiseshell near lagoon four
Some of the duck were much
closer to lapwing hide than they had been from the Old Hall and we soon found a
couple of Goldeneye and then Dave found a female Common Scoter.
Ken joined us in shoveler hide
on lagoon three where there was another two Little Ringed Plovers, a single
Dunlin, five Ruff and seven Snipe. Roger
then thought he had seen the Black-necked Grebe in the same area as I had seen
it on Tuesday but it had disappeared behind the reeds. It then came out again and Ken, who was
scoping the bird, felt that there might be a second and Roger who had also seen
the second bird agreed it might be but neither of them could rule out Little
Grebe. We decided to go to buzzard hide
where we hoped we might get a better view.
I soon found one of the birds, which was soon joined by a second,
confirming there were at two and we all agreed that they were both juveniles
despite one being slightly larger than the other. Whilst we were in the hide we saw two Water
Rails and another Sedge Warbler and a Reed Warbler. I had telephoned Tim to make him aware that
there were two Black-necked Grebes and he asked whether or not we would like to
go on to lagoon one and count the butterflies feeding on the mint. I said we would have our lunch and then make
a decision.
We returned to the car park
and had lunch when it went more overcast and we even had a little rain. The consensus was that we should not count
the butterflies due to the weather and go to the Lyndon Reserve for the
afternoon. I suggested that we should at
least wait for Tim to return from lunch and inform him of our decision.
Common Darter on the summer trail
I went to have a look at the
feeding station whilst the others went into the centre and to viewing
area. When I joined then Roger had found
a Clouded Yellow butterfly that was feeding on the mint in front of the centre. This was a new for me a Rutland Water and I
called Tim to let him know. He was in
Oakham and said he would soon be back.
It was still there when he returned and as we discussed the find his
phone rang. It was John Wright who
informed him he was watching a Black Stork over the north arm. We all soon vacated the centre and stood in
front where Joe the assistant reserve manger had picked it up as it was soaring
around. I picked up through the bins
almost immediately and soon had it in the scope. I could see that it was clearly a stork that
was blackish above with a blackish neck and underwing with white lower breast,
belly and vent. The wings were held
straight out with the neck and head stretched out in front and the legs
behind. The reddish bill was visible
even at the range we were looking and the legs also appeared reddish. It eventually drifted off to the west and was
lost from sight. This was only the
second record for the Leicestershire & Rutland and the first for Rutland
the first being of two birds in the Husbands Bosworth area on July 18th,
1991, which were only observed by one lucky observer. It was therefore a County tick for Dave,
Roger and thank goodness for the poor weather forecast. We were also extremely lucky to be in the
right place at the right time at Rutland Water as we could so easily have
missed it.
Having been allowed outside to
see the stork we pushed our luck and asked if we could see if we could photo
the Clouded Yellow. No problem and we
walked the few yards to where the butterfly was last seen and fond resting
quite close to the path. After taking a
few photos we returned to the centre and the viewing area.
Clouded Yellow near the Bird Watching Centre
An Osprey was observed in
flight at the back of the lagoon and then another was noticed on the manmade
nest in front of the poplars and five Green Sandpipers were eventually
found. A Hobby then provided nice views
towards the 360° hide and was seen even closer at
little later. As it appeared to be
feeding in front of mallard hide we decided to walk the short distance to the
hide for hopefully a better look. The bird
was still hawking when we arrived and could be seen taking numerous butterflies
as they were feeding on the mint. It
also provided some excellent photo opportunities. A summer plumage Golden Plover was also found
amongst the Lapwing.
Hobby hawking close to mallard hide
It had been a great day out
with an unexpected first for the Counties, plus a first for Rutland Water in
terms of the Clouded Yellow.