Avez-Vous un Cuppa?

Crap shoot of a male Garganey Crap shoot of a pair of Garganey Nice shoot of Plover Hide After running around like a headless chicken on the Tuesday at Rutland Water, today it was at a more leisurely pace. The Marsh Sandpiper was still showing from Harrier hide and distantly from the visitor centre and had a constant stream of admirers. Checking out other parts of the reserve, I first received a text message from Jim Graham to tell me that a pair of Garganey had been found on the scrape at Wanlip Meadows LRWT, and then Steve Lister phoned me that a Marsh Harrier had dropped into the reedbed on lagoon 3. Walking over to Shoveler hide, I joined Steve in the hide, and it wasn't long before the Marsh Harrier reappeared over the reedbed. The bird looked like a first summer/female bird as it slowly quartered the reedbed. Hopefully in the near future, this will become a regular sight in Leicestershire, if the numbers of breeding birds in the UK continue its steady improvement. Followin...

Stilt Sandpiper what the fu*k part 1 Marsh Sandpiper what the fu*k part 2 Part 1: The day started quietly, as I was working at home downloading my orchid photos from the previous day exclusion to Kent. When suddenly at around 11.00am, Andy Mackay phoned me on my mobile to say that Steve Lister had just seen a Stilt Sandpiper on lagoon1 at Rutland Water, "WHAT THE F**K!" I shouted, I thanked Andy for the message, and said I would meet him at Rutland Water asap. To put this into context, this sighting was a first for the county, a first for the midlands region, and probably only the 25Th time this rare American wader had been recorded in Britain. Driving reasonable quick to Rutland Water, it only took me half an hour to get to the site from my house,where I was told that the bird was showing from Harrier and Mallard hide. Stopping briefly at Mallard hide, I spoke to Andrew Harrop who was watching the bird,and kindly put me onto the bird, which was showing distantly from edge o...

man oh man aye up Monkey! "I'm Lady you know" Field of Monkeys Setting off around 6.45am from home, myself, Sean and Stan (Fellow Orchid Hunters) arrived in Kent just after 9.30am to the sight of constant rain and very strong winds, maybe not a good omen to search for orchids. Checking out the first site of the day for the distinctive Fly Orchid , we soon realised that maybe climbing down a very steep path in not great weather conditions, was probably not the best idea, and I think even Indiana Jones would have had second thoughts! So we decided to head to Chatham, for our next site and hopefully a nice cooked breakfast. Checking out Asda and Tesco in Chatham, to our amazement none of these superstore had a cafe! Driving round Chatham, we finally found a greasy spoon cafe just around the corner from the next orchid site. After finishing breakfast, we moved on to the next site at Darland Bank NR . The site it self was situated right next to a suburban housing estate, and o...

Fulmar Lyndon-by-the-Sea Following a message on my birdnet pager of a Fulmar off Manton Bridge, I hot footed it over to Rutland Water. Parking just up from the bridge, I quickly joined Matthew Berriman on the bridge who was scanning the bay for the bird.Over the next few minutes we scanned the surrounding area, but there was no sign of the bird. Scanning through the crashing waves I suddenly picked up a bird which looked like a Fulmar just off from Shallow Water Hide, slowly the bird moved round so we could see its distinctive tube nose, and confirm my hopes that it was the Fulmar. RESULT! Driving round to Lyndon, I quickly walked down to the shallow water hide, to join the dudes watching the plastic Ospreys, and the keen local birders watching the FULMAR! Over the last fifteen years I have missed at least three twitchable Fulmars in Leicestershire, so I was pleased that I finally added this bird to my county list. After watching the Fulmar for a good half an hour, I moved onto Eyebro...

-} Leicestershire this way please! peek a boo! nice shots bob! Following a text message from Andy Mackay, that someone had reported a Temminck's Stint at Cossington Meadows, I drove down to the reserve to check it out. Walking round to the Plover Meadow, I met up with Roger Brett and his wife, who was watching the Temminck's Stint on the muddy pools. This bird was much more striking in plumage that the previous bird at Wanlip Meadows, but two records in the Soar Valley in the year, just shows what potential this area can produce when it is watched regularly. I took a number of record shots of the bird, and noted that over the last day or so at least five "Tundra-type" Ringed Plovers had also joined the Stint in this section of the reserve. Checking out the rest of the reserve, two Greenshanks were on the Upper Marsh section, and a Grasshopper Warbler was still reeling on and off by the Lower Marsh section. While talking to other birders at Cossington, there let me...

A quick phone call from John yesterday morning had me running around the office like a headless chicken, as a Grey Plover was on the upper marsh section at Cossington Meadows. As my time was very limited in the afternoon and evening ( I had to see a client in the community and then work the late shift at the General hospital!), I made a mad dash to Cossington after finishing work in the community. With only half an hour spare between work commitments, parking by the reserve entrance, I jogged down the main track towards the upper marsh section. Stopping very briefly to look at a Four spotted Chaser (my first dragonfly of the year), I reached the upper marsh section in less than in ten minutes, and realised that I needed to get fit over the summer months and how stupid I was running for a Grey Plover on my local patch! Scanning the pools at the Upper Marsh I quickly located the Grey Plover in the right hand corner,as it was trying to hide behind some vegetation. RESULT! Walking back t...

After checking out Burley fishponds in the morning for the very elusive Purple Heron, I drove over to Merry's Meadow LRWT near Cottesmore, to look for Green winged Orchid. Walking up the track to the reserve, I spotted a small group of Grey Partridge and a fly over Yellow Wagtail (Hopefully breeding in the surrounding area). Walking into the first field of the reserve, you could clearly see good numbers of Green winged Orchids, and I must have counted at least 500+ of these good looking plants. As you would expect I took a few shots of the nearby orchids, and hopefully over the next three months I will try and find a few more orchids on my travels around the UK.

Yesterday evening was a good time to be down at Cossington Meadows, as at around 6.00pm I had an Osprey flying over Plover meadow being mobbed by a number of birds. The Osprey slowly drifted south towards Cossington South/Wanlip North GPs, and was noted to briefly hover over the pits trying to catch a fish! (This sighting was a local patch tick for yours truly).Following this sighting, ten minutes later while scanning the Plover meadow, I found a summer-plumaged Wood Sandpiper feeding at the muddy edges. Wood Sand's is one of my favourite waders, so to find one in summer plumage on your local patch is an added bonus. Other sightings on Plover meadow included the usual waders, and up to five recently hatched Lapwing chicks which was good to see . In conclusion, this was probably the best half an hour of birding down Cossington Meadows I've had for a couple years, and continues the Soar Valley excellent run of form of turning up unusual birds!

Arriving at Eyebrook Res at around 7.00am in the morning, I scanned the reservoir to note that three Greenshanks, a single Oystercatcher and a flock of twelve( yes twelve!) Common Sandpipers had arrived overnight. During the next hour, an Arctic Tern and Six Common Terns went through, but nothing much else of note, so I decided to move on Rutland Water for my annual six months visit. Starting at the Lyndon reserve, I quickly found a couple of Nightingales singing along the track at Gibbet Gorse. Although Nightingales are not the most prettiest bird, there probably have the best song around for any passerine. Walking slowly back to my car, I scanned the reservoir from the Lyndon reserve, and noticed at least thirty Black Terns flying into Manton Bay, RESULT!! Watching the Terns hawking over the water for a few minutes, I then let the visitor centre and Birdnet pager services know of the presence of the Black Terns, and then I moved on to towards the Egleton reserve. As usual ther...