Deja Vu

 Yet another trip to Eyebrook today in the company of Alan Shorrock, at this time of the year it's always worth a look. The early morning cloud sadly did not burn off as the weather forecast suggested it might and  our plans to go looking for Shozzer's Southern Migrant Hawker at Priors Hall had to be shelved. We spent most of our time on the Leicestershire side of the res and enjoyed a reasonably productive day.

Red Crested Pochard and Cattle Egret

After a brief stop at Sam's Dyke we moved on to the island where a female Red Crested Pochard was having a snooze. Two distant Ruff were also noted on the shoreline near the dam and the regular Yellow-legged Gull was also noted. At the inflow there was plenty to look at including the juvenile Cattle Egret which was out on the mud and feeding amongst the cattle. Waders were well represented with a Wood Sandpiper being the highlight, I don't know if this is the bird I've seen on other visits or a new one. Fifteen Black-tailed Godwits represented my highest ever total on site and they were backed up by three Ruffs and three Dunlins. As we were watching the inflow a flock of Ringed Plovers arrived, I counted twenty birds but there may well have been more. On several occasions the birds were spooked, once by an Osprey and then by two Hobbies. After a refreshment stop at the 'spoons in Corby we returned to the res but did not manage to add much to our list despite having the added expertise of Phil and Ken to help us out.

Waders