Rutland Water Bank Holiday Monday

 As my birder's wife was due to visit a dear friend of ours, I took the opportunity to accompany the Capt for a visit to Rutland Water to help secure her with a few birds missing off her year list.

Our first stop was Manton Bridge where we got her the first species of the day, Osprey, where there was still 4 in residence.  We then made our way to the main Egleton Reserve and Lagoon IV where all the wader action seemed to be occuring.

The water in Lagoon IV was quite low, which offered plenty of opportunities for waders and it was not long before we had spotted Ringed Plovers, Dunlin, Redshank and Ruff.  After a short while we managed to find a Sanderling and a Little Stint before it flew left behind an Island.  In a bid to refind the Little Stint, we moved hides and from the new hide although we could not relocate the bird, we did relocate the Sanderling, along with a Greenshank and a Spotted Redshank.  Further searching produced a female Garganey and a Black Tern.

After the highly productive time we had at Lagoon IV, we headed back to the Visitor Centre, encountering a large tit flock on the way which myself and another birder could have sworn included a female Redstart.  Unfortunately, the flock was moving very fast and we could not relocate the bird again.

 

We then made our way home firstly via the Lyndon Reserve to obtain Tree Sparrow for the Capt's ever expanding list and then Eyebrook Reservoir (which unfortunately had nothing of interest).