Birding highlights included finding a calling Quail in roadside fields between Harston and Woolsthorpe by Belvoir in the Vale of Belvoir just 100 metres inside the Leicestershire county boundary!
Not far from the Vale of Belvoir I also visited Saltby Airfield hoping to find Turtle Dove which I had recorded at this site in the last few years. However disappointing I didn't find any Turtle Doves but I did see good numbers of Dingy Skippers (30+) on the nearby limestone outcrops.
Ok so your asking were are the chicks?! Well the chicks came in form of seven Red-crested Pochard chicks by the car park at Watermead CP South when I returned to my local patch later in the evening.
I'm not sure if it's the first time that Red-crested Pochard have bred in Leicestershire but it is the first time in the Soar valley recording area!
Dingy Skipper@ Saltby Airfield
Dingy Skipper@ Saltby Airfield...
And again...
Female Red-crested Pochard and chicks @ WCPS
Another shot of Red-crested Pochard...
