Roger and I visited Eye Brook
Reservoir first seeing the two Little Owls as we approached the reservoir. We stopped by the road bridge where we heard
a Raven call and then saw two being harassed by some corvids between the
reservoir and Stoke Dry Wood. We also
had some rather nice views of a Blackcap and two Garden Warblers that were
feeding in the trees overhanging the stream and two Swallows flew over. We stopped a little further on but the water
level is still very high and there was little of note except for a single
Swift, Sand Martin and four House Martins.
We then went to the north arm
at Rutland Water but there are now very few waterfowl, although Roger did think
he might have had the Great Northern Diver some considerable distance away and
there were three Common Terns over the water.
There was a single Little Egret feeding on the south shore and a Little
Ringed Plover and Yellow Wagtail on the north shore. Over Burley Wood we did see a single Red
Kite, four Buzzards and an Osprey.
On reaching the Egleton
Reserve we had a look on lagoon one form the centre but the light was poor and
we only saw two Little Egrets and so we moved off towards snipe hide and the
wet meadow. There were a few warblers in
evidence on route and we heard Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap,
Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler but only managed to see a single Chiffchaff. From
the hide we found two more Little Egret and two Oystercatchers. There was a pair of Shelduck, a Mallard and
two Teal on the flash and a single Wigeon was also observed. There was also a
very heavy hail shower whilst we were in the hide.
We continued to fieldfare hide
and heard more warblers including Willow Warbler, Blackcap; Garden Warbler;
Lesser Whitethroat, Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler and this time had views of
Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler albeit rather briefly. There was a Little Egret close to fieldfare
hide and another three Shelduck and a Sedge Warbler showed rather nicely.
Stock Dove from fieldfare hide
Little Egret from fieldfare hide
Little Egret from fieldfare hide
Little Egret from fieldfare hide
Shelduck from fieldfare hide
The Lesser Whitethroat was now
singing constantly but we were unable to see it due to the dense
vegetation. It was now after twelve we
decided to return to the car for lunch.
On the walk back most of the warbler had stopped singing but we did have
further views of a second Chiffchaff and a nice male Blackcap.
After lunch we walked to the
new bittern hide on lagoon three where we were joined by Ken. This hide gives a nice view over both lagoon
three and the reedbed and will hopefully produce some good birds in the
future. There were nineteen Common Terns
feeding over the lagoon and several Reed Warblers were singing but they all
remained rather illusive.
Cormorant from bittern hide
Little Egret from bittern hide
Little Egret from bittern hide
Little Egret from bittern hide
Little Egret from bittern hide
We walked the short distance
to plover hide on lagoon four where we spent some time looking over the lagoon. There were two Avocets close
by and a Lapwing was still sitting on island three but there was no sign of the
Ringed Plover that was also sitting to its left. We also saw several Ringed Plover and Dunlin
but very little else and so we moved off to sandpiper hide.
We spent some considerable
time in sandpiper hide and found two Oystercatcher, another four Avocets, two
Little Ringed Plovers, six Ringed Plovers, eleven Dunlin and two Redshanks and
Roger also found the Greenshank. An
Osprey was observed over towards Hambleton village and provided nice if
distance views and we found two Yellow Wagtails on the lagoon.
We walked back to the centre
and made a concerted and successful effort to see a Chiffchaff as Ken had not
seen one this year due to his time on his World Cruise. A brief stop in redshank hide allowed good
views of Sand Martins but there was little else of note and we returned to the
centre.
The light was now better
looking out from the centre and we found a female Pintail and a single Dunlin although
there was little else.
It had been a pleasant day but
perhaps disappointing for early May, which is usually a good time for migrant
waders and terns in the right conditions.
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