Rutland Water Wander

 Alan Shorrock and I made the short hop over the border to visit Rutland Water today where we enjoyed a mix of sunshine and showers. Luckily the hides saved us from being drenched and after a slowish start we managed to assemble quite a decent list of birds.

Small Copper and Ruddy Darter

We began our walk at the visitor centre where a good selection of butterflies included a Small Copper as well as quite a few fresh looking Red Admirals. The best birds seen from the centre were a couple of Great White Egrets. A rather dull period followed in which a few Ruddy and Common Darters were the highlights while Alan saw a Southern Hawker.

Record shot time - Caspian Gull and Common Sandpiper.

Lagoon Four began the revival with a dozen Dunlins showing that were mostly black bellied adults and there was also a Ringed Plover nearby. At least two Common Sandpipers were also present while Shozzer and a couple of the other people in the hide saw a Whimbrel. Gulls featured fairly strongly here too with a few Common Gulls now beginning to appear. Of more interest was an immature Caspian which showed distantly, I took a couple of heat hazy record shots. Also present was an adult Yellow-legged Gull which if anything was even further than the Caspian.

Wader selection.

We moved on to Lagoon Three where two immature Black Terns were showing. A trio of Great White Egrets were feeding here with two of them appearing to be at odds with each other given that there was the occasional bout of squabbling going on. Five Black-tailed Godwits were matched in number by Green Sandpipers and there was also an immature Avocet. Final thing of note was a Snipe, we left not too long afterwards reasonably content with our haul.

Great White Egret and Black Tern views