Rutland Water and Eyebrook - 5/9

Early start for me at RW and a juvenile Marsh Harrier quartering lagoon 2 was a nice start. The same lagoon held a couple of Green Sands and a Ruff. Moving on to Lapwing hide I spotted 8 Greenshank, a dozen Little Egrets and another couple of Ruff. The rest of the reserve was quiet so I travelled down to Eyebrook. At the inflow I found a superb pair of juvenile islandica Black - tailed Godwits and 3 juvenile Ringed Plovers. Taking a walk along the eastern shore it was clear that many of the waders had left although I did find a further 5 Greenshanks chiefly feeding along the west shore. A juvenile Osprey soon appeared and gave a wonderful display of aerobatics and fishing prowess. Further along the path I stumbled into a large tit flock and associated with it were at least 10 Goldcrests. What superb little birds they are ! Finally, on the way back to the lodge I noticed amongst the hundreds of wagtails a single juvenile Grey Wagtail feeding in the bay. This is the first I've seen for many a year and only the 3rd for Leicestershire ! Result !