Waders Star At Eyebrook

 A rare foray out in the company of Mick Ketley who is finally back on his feet after a long run of ill health. Joining us was a recovering Alan Shorrock who has now ditched the crutches following his hip replacement operation. The two former NHS botherers and I headed for Eyebrook where a growing selection of waders have been noted including a Pectoral Sandpiper.

Little Stint record shot and Ruff.

Shozzer weighed in with the first star of the day when he found a Little Stint on the island. The bird was accompanying a small flock of Ringed Plovers before flying off with a couple of Ruffs. Happily for other observers it returned and was seen on and off for most of the day. From here we made our way to the sharp end where three Great White Egrets were the most obvious birds. Another birder drew our attention to the Pectoral Sandpiper which was feeding with a few Dunlin. We were to see it again a little later on though it was always too distant for even me to consider trying to take photographs! It was nice to see a second North American wader of the autumn at my closest reservoir, lower water levels could make this a bumper year for rare waders. At least five Black-tailed Godwits joined more Ruffs and a quartet of Snipe while singles of both Common and Green Sandpipers were noted. Non wader interest was provided by sightings of an immature Yellow-legged Gull and an eclipse Garganey.

Yellow-legged Gull, Garganey and Willow Emerald

A stop at the bridge gave us a chance to watch Willow Emeralds on their usual tree, Alan of course saw the first ones ever recorded in Leics and Rutland here several years ago. Mick and Alan saw a Grey Wagtail from here which I managed to miss though even I managed to see at least three Yellow Wags on the Rutland side of the res. Quite a few Pintails are present on the res at the moment while a single Egyptian Goose was also seen. Returning to the bunker failed to produce further sightings of the Pec and we headed back to the island. Two Greenshanks were a welcome addition to the list and so too was a Curlew which called as it flew over while two Little Ringed Plovers took our wader total for the day to twelve. I wandered off for a stroll and missed out on further views of the stint but I wasn't too disappointed, I've had far worse days than this recently!

Greenshank and Great White Egret