Good Friday

 Any day that I can blag off work is cause for celebration but when it's coupled with great weather, good wildlife and a couple of pints then it really is a top drawer occasion. I began my day at Eyebrook in the company of regular wildlife spotting pal Alan Shorrock before moving on to Priors Hall.

Wood Sand, Blackwits and Ruff

Six Pintails near the island were an early highlight at Eyebrook though most of the other good stuff was at the sharp end. Waders continue to feature strongly here and two Wood Sandpipers were a decent sighting. Other waders here included a brace of Black-tailed Godwits, three Dunlin, a Green Sandpiper, a Ruff, two Snipe, at least one Greenshank and twenty plus Ringed Plovers. There were plenty of gulls too but I could only pick out a single adult Yellow-legged in amongst them. Slightly more interesting was a juvenile Black Tern whose favourite perch were some buoys in between the tern rafts. Pick of the passerines were two Whinchats which showed distantly from the Rutland bank. Perhaps one of the best sightings this morning was an Otter which was hunting in amongst the water weed where the brook meets the reservoir, every sighting of Otters is appreciated.

Pintails, Black Tern and Otter

Alan wanted to check Priors Hall out for Southern Migrant Hawkers so we left Eyebrook at about noon and made our way over there. It took a while but we did manage to see at least one SMH which on closer investigation proved to be my third individual here. Plenty of Migrant Hawkers were here too though many were trying to escape the heat by resting amongst the reeds and sedges. Both Common and Ruddy Darters were present in good numbers while damsels were represented by Emerald and Willow Emeralds. few butterflies were seen though Red Admiral and Brown Argus were both noted.

** Update   Since I originally posted this my "Emerald " damselfly has been re-identified as a Scarce Emerald by the county recorder making it potentially only the third county record - I really should take more days off.

SMH, Emerald and Willow Emerald.