Roger and I were out locally
today and we initially went to Eye Brook Reservoir. There were plenty of Swifts over the reserve
but most of these departed as the cloud moved away. The Shelduck still had five young, which was
a good as I had only seen three during my last visit. A Red Kite and a Buzzard were observed over
the Rutland side and we heard a Lesser Whitethroat and Whitethroat. It was surprising with some many Swift that
there were few hirundine, just two Swallow and a single House Martin. Twenty-five Common Terns were also feeding
over the water.
Swift
There had been a belated
report of a male Red-footed Falcon on Sunday near Lyddington and so we drove
the short distance to the site but not surprisingly there was no sign. We did have a single Sparrowhawk and a couple
of Buzzard and a Whitethroat was singing almost continuously but a Chiffchaff
and Blackcap were only heard occasionally.
Buzzard
From Lyddington we went to the Lyndon Reserve at Rutland Water and walked to wader scrape hide. As we walked along the top path we had views of a Lesser Whitethroat and a Chiffchaff was singing from a suspended wire over the path. We also heard a couple of Willow Warbler and Blackcap and a single Garden Warbler. From the hide we could see both of the adult Osprey and one of the young raised its head but the other two remained out of sight and a Buzzard was observed just west of Manton Bay. There was a male Goldeneye close to Manton Bridge and a single Shelduck was nearby with two others over towards wigeon hide and five other flying into south arm two. A Sedge Warbler provided some nice views close to the hide and we had a Coal Tit and four Tree Sparrows on the feeders at the centre. An unusual bird at Rutland Water was a single Yellowhammer that was feeding under the feeders.
Sedge Warbler
Sedge Warbler
Chiffchaff
After some lunch in the
Egleton car park we walked with Ken to shoveler hide on lagoon three. There were two Green Sandpipers on the edge
of one of the islands and amongst twenty Common Terns feeding over the water we
found two first-summer Little Gulls and then saw a third flying off to lagoon
four. We had at least five Reed Warbler
close to the hide but none of them would show themselves long enough to
photograph. The female Pintail present
for a few weeks was also observed.
Egyptian Geese
Male Shoveler entering eclipse plumage
Male Tufted Duck
Common Tern
We moved to lagoon four were
two of the Little Gulls were resting on a spit and we did find two
Oystercatcher, an adult and a juvenile, a Little Ringed Plover, three Ringed
Plover and a Little Egret. We also had
distant views of two Red Kites, a Hobby and a Peregrine over Burley Wood.
Female Tufted Duck with bill band
There were more wildfowl than
of late on lagoon one but there was nothing of note amongst them. A Hobby then passed right in front of the
centre but disappeared as quickly as it appeared and three Little Egrets flew
in the direction of the wet meadow.
Goldfinch from the Bird Watching Centre
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