Dave and I went to Eye Brook
Reservoir first today as a Green-winged Teal had been reported on Monday but
there was no sign although there were plenty of Teal. There were two nice male Smew close to the
island and we counted twenty-four Dunlin, five Snipe and a single Golden Plover
at the inlet. An unusual visitor was a
Water Rail that was observed amongst some vegetation exposed by the low water
level. Two Tree Sparrow were also worthy
of note, which were quite a common species here but have become less so in
recent times.
Coal Tit at Eye Brook Reservoir
From Eye Brook Reservoir we
headed off to the Lyndon Reserve at Rutland Water but on arrival we found the
feeders still empty. We moved to the
area of the old teal hide and I soon located a male Scaup juts off to the left
amongst a raft of Tufted Duck. As I
scanned the base of Lax Hill with the scope I found six Curlew and a single
Redshank and a Little Egret was feeding closer to Manton Bay. I continued to scan the area close to Manton
Bay and picked up the female Red-breasted Merganser as it swam towards wigeon
hide.
Having exhausted the south arm
we moved off to the north arm and the fisherman’s car park where there appeared
to be very little and there was no sign of the regular Long-tailed Duck or the
more elusive Great Northern Diver. We
then went further and parked close to where the track follows the reservoir
before walking towards Armley Wood.
There was still no sign of either the Great Northern Diver or
Long-tailed Duck but there was a red-headed Smew feeding with a group of Little
Grebes close to Barnsdale and two drake Goosander flew by. A Raven was also observed over Burley
Wood. We made one final attempt in the
north arm from the end of the Reserve Manager’s cottage road. Still no sign of the diver or the duck but we
did locate a Slavonian Grebe.
On checking in to the centre
after some lunch there was nothing new and lagoon one just produced a female
Goosander and a Little Egret. We then
walked to shoveler hide on lagoon three and it was surprisingly quiet as we did
so. There were two Green Sandpipers and
a Redshank visible and I managed to find six Snipe amongst the grass and
reeds. We eventually decided that there
were six red-headed Smew on the lagoon and three distant Pintail. A Water Rail provided some excellent if brief
views as it moved through the water and reeds close to the hide. With no sign of the Bittern we decided to
return to the car park and give the Green-winged Teal at Eye Brook Reservoir
another go. As we walked back we saw a
single Redwing in one of the meadows and there were four Tree Sparrows close to
badger hide. Like Eye Brook Reservoir
Tree Sparrow are now quite unusual on the Egleton Reserve where they were once
quite numerous. Two Fieldfare close to
the car park were are final birds of the visit.
Water Rail on lagoon three
Tree Sparrow
Back at Eye Brook Reservoir
there appeared to be far fewer Teal than this morning and there was still no
sign of the Green-winged Teal. We did
have a female Goosander on the feeders stream and three, two males and a
female, flew behind the island. A flock
of seventeen Golden Plover flew over the island and one of the drake Smew
provided some nice views as it fed close to the island and a pair of Pintail
were observed to alight on the back of the island. A Red Kite also flew over the island causing
panic as it approached. As the light began to fade and the temperature drop we
called it a day and headed off home.
As we were driving along the
Stockerston Lane we flushed two Buzzards and I picked up the Little Owl perched
in a roadside tree close to Slawston.
No comments:
Post a Comment