Eye Wood

 An after work sortie to Eyebrook reservoir with my brother David began at the bridge this afternoon. My hope was to find some Willow Emeralds in the willow on the reservoir side of the stream. Initially my search drew a blank though a close though brief view of a Kingfisher and a fly over Siskin kept interest levels up. Eventually I did find an emerald though I couldn't get a pic as it chose perches that were obscured by twigs before flying across the road into some hawthorns.

Red Kite

The sharp end was home to both a Red Kite and a Buzzard feeding on the corpses of Greylag Geese, I'm hoping that these birds were not victims of avian flu. Rather more pleasant were a group of eight Dunlins and a flock of twenty seven Golden Plover. There was no sign of the Little Stint that had been reported here for a couple of days but it could well still be present. Southwest of the island a pair of Pintails were feeding though the highlight for me was a Wood Sandpiper which I managed to get a couple of record shots of. We left as the sun was beginning to set, with the nights beginning to draw in it's unlikely I'll get many more evening birding sessions in.

Wood Sandpiper