I was out with Dave today and
we visited Eye Brook Reservoir first today.
We had three Red Kites and a Buzzard on route and we had another Red
Kite and three Buzzards at the reservoir.
There were signs that the water was beginning to drop but other than
nine Snipe there was little else of note, although there was a large number of
Teal at the inlet.
From Eye Brook Reservoir we
went to the north arm at Rutland Water where there had been three Common Scoters
and a Red-breasted Merganser yesterday.
We soon found the Black-necked Grebe and there was also thirteen Dunlin
but there was no sign of either the scoter or the merganser. Dave then thought he had seen a scoter towards
the tower but after we had both looked all we could see were a few
Goldeneye. However after a few minutes
he said he had some scoter in the same area and a quick scan with the scope
produced six female Common Scoters. It
was surprising that we had not seen them when we scanned before but they were
all diving together and stayed under quite a while.
There were also seven Barnacle Geese feeding on the north shore and
three Little Egrets were scattered around the shore.
A Sparrowhawk was observed
over Burley Wood but there was no sign of any other raptors. There was also a second-winter Caspian Gull
resting on the north shore. As we were
scanning the fishponds for a Scaup Dave thought he heard a Brambling calling
and after a while searching I picked up a male feeding in the trees next to the
road. Dave was having trouble finding it
but I managed to get it my scope long enough for him to get on it. We also saw six Siskin close to the Reserve
Manager’s cottage.
We eventually moved off to the
Bird Watching Centre and then walked to snipe hide on the wet meadow where Dave
picked up a male Stonechat. We went to
fieldfare hide but other than a Little Egret and several Goldeneye there was
little else of note. We then walked back
to tern hide, seeing c.150 Golden Plover flying over, but there were just two
Mute Swans present on lagoon six. As we
continued round towards the 360° hide Dave
picked up a Curlew flying towards the wet meadow. There were more birds on lagoon five but the
only bird of note was a Sparrowhawk that landed on one of the islands briefly
before heading off towards Egleton.
After lunch we went to
shoveler hide on lagoon three where the water levels had fallen further. There was a Dunlin, a Ruff, two Green
Sandpipers and thirteen Redshank feeding in the now shallow water in front and
to the left of the hide. There were two
pairs of Red-crested Pochard feeding at the far end of the lagoon. We moved off to lapwing hide. I noticed a small party of birds way out on
the water and set up my scope only to find they were flying towards the hide
and that they were six female Common Scoter and almost certainly those seen
earlier in the north arm. As they approached
they turned and gained height just as a C-130 Hercules flew low over the water
and the last I saw of them was as they headed off west gaining height. The Hercules caused quite a lot of
disturbance and Dave announced he thought he had a Red-breasted Merganser in
flight. It landed and we were able to
scope and confirm that is initial identification as a female/first-winter
Red-breasted Merganser. It then flew
closer to the hide and I was able to get some photos in what was very pool
light.
Female/first-winter Red-breasted Merganser
We returned to shoveler hide
where there were now six Snipe and fourteen Redshanks as well as the Ruff and
two Green Sandpiper but most were now much closer to the hide. There was also a Little Egret feeding just
outside the hide.
Ruff & Redshank on lagoon three
Redshank on lagoon three
Green Sandpiper on lagoon three
Green Sandpiper on lagoon three
Ruff on lagoon three
We finally went to dunlin hide
on lagoon four for the gull roost. There
was a Shelduck on lagoon four and Golden Plover were flying in an eventually
reached c.150 and possibly the same birds we had seen earlier. Four Dunlin were also observed as the evening
progressed.
There were plenty of gulls
coming and going, mainly Black-headed Gull and Common Gull but there were also
good numbers of Lesser Black-backed, Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls. However there was no sign of the third-winter
Glaucous Gull that had come in the previous two nights. We only saw one adult Caspian Gull and a
single adult Yellow-legged Gull.
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