Incoming.

My brother and I took a short hop over the border today and headed over to Rutland Water where we hoped to see a few Spring migrants. While conditions were for the most part overcast it was still a decent day's wildlife watching.

Shovellers and Gadwalls.

A brief stop at the north arm produced sightings of both House and Sand Martins, rather a large flock of the former being noted. A singing Blackcap was the first of many noted, it really seems as if there's been quite an arrival of this species. Tufted Ducks were the commonest wildfowl here though numbers of duck were low.

Record shot time, Common Tern and Whimbrel.

From here we went along to the reserve centre seeing a Curlew from the upper storey of the building, I later got good views of this bird from Mallard Hide. It didn't take us long to see the first of several Ospreys as we made our way towards the first hide, at least one other was seen during the morning. Two Goldeneyes, a male and a female, were seen and it will perhaps not be too long before they head northwards. On the opposite side of the coin incoming migrants included a Common Tern on Lagoon 2 and a Little Ringed Plover on Lagoon 4.

Curlew and Pintails.

Having popped into the centre for a pit stop we moved on to cover the other half of the reserve where at least half a dozen Pintails were a highlight. We also managed to catch up with several Swallows, it's always nice to see them even if a first sighting doesn't always mean that Summer is here. A Whimbrel seen from Snipe Hide was a pleasant surprise as I don't normally see them this early in the Spring. Other waders noted today included Oystercatchers and Redshanks.

Great Crested and Little Grebes and Lapwing.

Not a large amount of other wildlife on view today though we saw both a Muntjac and a Brown Hare while I also saw my sixth butterfly species of the year with two Small Whites being the only butt's seen today. Most of the photos were of the record shot category so apologies for any poor quality pics, though apparently they're worth a thousand words!

Small White and Brown Hare.