Ruff Patch

 It's my back shift week and that means that I have to work on Saturday as well, the compensation for this unpleasantness is that I had my lieu day today. Not for the first time this month I opted to visit Eyebrook and I did so in the company of Alan Shorrock. There was a little more sun than there has been for most of this week so far though a fairly stiff north easterly breeze kept the temperatures down.

Speckled Wood

Sam's Dyke and the island were pretty quiet and it was only an Osprey that provided any interest until we reached the inflow. Here things perked up a bit and there were a few waders to look at as they fed in the muddy margins. Other than Lapwings it was Ruff that was the commonest with a total of fifteen having been reported this morning, I didn't quite manage to see them all as my peak count was fourteen. There was also a quartet of Ringed Plovers and at least one Dunlin. Neither Shozzer nor I were enjoying staring into the breeze and we decided to move round to the Rutland side and stand with the wind to our back.

Greenshank and Curlew

A stop at the bridge produced sightings of freshly emerged Speckled Woods but few other insects. Two Snipe and another Dunlin were added to our day's total at the inflow but initially it looked as if that was going to be it until a familiar call announced the arrival of a Greenshank. We watched it for a while but were soon to be distracted by the sound of Curlew calling, two dropped in on to the mud at the sharp end. They didn't hang around for long and after a preen and a bit of a probe departed northwards. Plenty of gulls arrived during our stay but there was nothing that interesting amongst them and we moved on to near the car park below Stoke Dry.

Snipe and Osprey

From here we were treated to distant views of three Ospreys and rather better views of a juvenile Peregrine which sent most of the birds hurtling skywards in panicked flight. Once things at settled down a bit I continued to scan the shoreline and was delighted to find a Sanderling associating with several Ringed Plovers and a Dunlin. It showed well if rather distantly and I grabbed a few record shots of fthis infrequent visitor. The Sanderling attracted a few admirers and we chatted to Phil, Cheryl and Ken for a bit before heading back to Corby.

Sanderling, Dunlin and Ringed Plover.