Treasure Hunt

After waking at about 02.00 this morning and finally giving up and getting up at 05.00, I messed about with the new Virgin media TiVo box I set off out to join Jim Graham at Cropston Reservoir in the pouring rain. We were there to help (or hinder) Julie Meyer with her Treasure Hunt. Jim had a clue taped to the leg of his tripod.

War Of The Worlds

Julie almost gave up from her quizing of us but at the last minute spied the clue taped to the tripod. What’s the War Of The Worlds reference? listen in from 27 minutes

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The weather was atrocious but there were good numbers of Hirundines around with one Arctic Tern among the Commons, on the dam were Common Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover and a superb male Yellow Wagtail.

Friday The 13th

I had yesterday off on what is considered to be a unlucky day. In the morning Russell Parry and I had been at Manor Farm, Grace Dieu to survey the birds and check on some of the nest boxes that LROS had provided. One of the boxes in the orchard was being attended by a pair of nest building Great Tit while the Wagtail box in the marsh was occupied by a… Robin!

I returned home and started doing a few chores, I was just cutting the lawn when a text came in – BLACK-WINGED STILT at Rutland Water. Not everyday Andy’s news messages are in block capitals… must be good. After exchanging a few phone calls and grabbing a bite to eat I met Dave Gray in the car park at Rutty. A quick dash to Dunlin Hide on Lagoon IV and there it was, a stunning Black-winged Stilt.

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

Plenty of other migrants present including six Avocet, a couple of Little Ringed Plover and a stunning male Yellow Wagtail.

The last twitchable county record of Black-winged Stilt were two birds at Eyebrook Reservoir on 26 May 1945 so this one was well twitched. After extensive research The Drunkbirder has unearthed a photo of one of the 1945 birds.

Black-winged Stilt

Walking back to the cars, Dave and I stopped off the look at the captive bred Snake’s Head Fritillary population. The BFG are still to accept these Fritillaries as free-flowering.

Snake's Head Fritillary

Snake's Head Fritillary

Snake's Head Fritillary

Cossington Meadows

After meeting up with Dave Gray at Birstall GPs and a coffee, We moved on to Cossington Meadows. Not much on the reserve of note… plenty of Swift and at least 21 Swallow plus a few House Martin and Sand Martin but no rarer hirundines – I bet Mark Reeder is fed up missing a R-r Swallow on his patch whilst he’s scoffing Scotch Pies.

A few waders on Tern Pool including three LRP, Redshank and at last a Common Sandpiper (that’s No129 for the Soar Valley).

Little Ringed Plover

Little Ringed Plover

A walk round the Churchyard – bad mistake with the ‘open gardens’ taking place, tough it was good to chat with warden, Chris Hill – produced not a lot but this male Orange Tip posed nicely – can’t wait to get my Sigma 150mm Macro for insects.

Orange Tip

Speckled Wood are also pretty common now – this was a pretty good specimen.

Speckled Wood

The area by the ‘Moat’ is starting to look pretty good for dragonflies… bring it on!

'The Moat'

Digiscoping Discoveries

Last week when I made an ill-fated attempt to get Ring-billed Gull on my County list I bumped into Paul ‘Oldonamo’ Powell and Chris ‘Big ‘Un’ Lythall in Dunlin Hide. With no Ring-billeds to tick off on my bird-spotting list I had to content myself with trying to digiscope the beautiful 2S Mediterranean Gulls on show. The ‘Big ‘Un’ was also digiscoping away and getting some good crisp shots whereas I was getting frustrated by a set-up that rarely focused well. Thankfully Chris put me right with my camera set-up and away I went.

Now I can maybe start digiscoping with some confidence… here are a couple of early offerings. The Med Gulls were taken on 8 April 2010.

What superb Gulls…

This more distant Green Woodpecker was taken at Cossington Meadows on Sunday 11 April 2010.

This Little Ringed Plover was taken a few minutes later on Tern Pool.