Afternoon trip? A Dotterel!

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Whilst working yesterday at the General Hospital I got a text from the LROS twitter news that Matthew Berriman had found a Dotterel at RAF Cottesmore in Rutland in a group of 500+ Golden Plovers.
So finishing work mid afternoon I was soon on my way down the A47 towards the soon to be closed RAF Base.
Meeting up with a group of Leicester Twitchers including John Hague, Ben Croxtall, Paul Fossey and Neil Hagley, there told me that the Dotterel had flown off with a small group of Goldies when one of the RAF finest had flown by just a few minutes earlier. Oh Bugger!!
Over the next hour or so the Plover flock got up and flew around the large ploughed fields, and then slowly the flock regrouped and finally settled in the ploughed field. This was my chance and with Matthew and Matt Mulvey scanning the flock we finally picked up the Dotterel again.
Although this wasn't a county tick as I had seen one at Eyebrook Resv in the mid 90's, it was good to see such a rare bird for VC55(only the eighth record for the county?!).
Other sightings in the area included at least two Wheatears, Red Kite, and a single Curlew.

Comments

The Leicester Llama said…
I don't know where you've got your 'fifth record for the county' from Dave, but according to The Birds of Leicestershire and Rutland there have been at least eight previous records involving at least 36 individuals. Two of these 'records' involved flocks seen at Cottesmore over extended periods in the springs of 1984 & 1985, but these have both been treated as single records despite gaps of up to 17 days between sightings.

It's an interesting coincidence that the book also mentions (and effectively dismisses) three allegedly seen near Tur Langton on 'the unlikely date of March 29th 1879'!
30 March 2010 at 20:45
davidearlgray said…
Andy,I didn't check the book last night and thought it was around five times that Dotterel had been seen in the county!Good record for March and it wouldn't surprise me if its still around?
31 March 2010 at 20:00
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