Roger and I were planning to
go to Derbyshire today for a Spotted Crake but with news of one at Eye Brook
Reservoir yesterday we changed our plans and went to Eye Brook Reservoir.
We arrived on site and were
surprised to find a lack of birders, which was the case throughout our
stay. We had seen the Little Owl in the
old oak as we approached the reservoir and it was quite pleasant at the inflow
in the sunshine as there was virtually no wind.
There were several birds calling close to the inlet, which included
several Long-tailed, Blue and Great Tits but there was also two nice Willow
Warblers. We initially looked from the
crake from the bridge and the road at the northern end but there was no
sign. A Grey Wagtail flew over and there
were several Little Egrets and a couple of Snipe feeding at the inlet. We decided to walk to the corral that gives
access to view the northern end but who ever built it must have been at least
five foot ten as any one smaller has a restricted view, which is further
hampered by an island of sedge. Finding
it pretty useless we continued to the fence area to look back towards the
inlet, more distant but at least we could see.
We found a couple of Dunlin and then two Ruff amongst the roosting ducks
and there were several Snipe and a Green Sandpiper feeding on the Rutland
bank. Two Rave were also observed as
they flew south east of the fields on the western edge of the reservoir.
With still no sign we went to
the Rutland bank to observe the other shore, particularly the island of sedge
where it had initially been seen yesterday.
A Yellow-legged Gull arrived and we did have several Yellow Wagtails and
a single Whinchat but there was still no sign of the crake. A Buzzard flew over the inlet disturbing
everything and another was seen towards the dam. We eventually agreed to go to Rutland Water
and try again on route home this afternoon.
Linnet at Eye Brook Reservoir
At Rutland Water after a brief
view of lagoon one, we walked to sandpiper hide on lagoon four. There were two Greenshanks fairly close to
the hide and we did find a third as well as a juvenile Little Ringed Plover and
a Ruff. There were nine Little Egrets
and Roger located a Barnacle Goose amongst the masses of Greylag and Canada
Geese.
We moved the short distance to
shoveler hide on lagoon three where there three Black-tailed Godwits and a Ruff
that were immediately obvious. As we
scanned we found two more Black-tailed Godwits and two Common Sandpipers and a
juvenile Shelduck made a brief appearance.
Roger then said he had a harrier over the reedbed. It was a male Marsh Harrier, which was nice
as most sighting here are either females or juveniles. As it went towards the back it flushed a
juvenile and we watched both as they quartered the reedbed before they both
disappeared. Chris Heard had joined us
in the hide and picked up the juvenile again, which I got onto and watched it
fly behind a large tree only to perch in a bare tree to the left. I then saw that there was another bird
perched in the same tree, which I was sure was another juvenile. Chris then said he was still following a
juvenile in flight, which I then saw over the wood. I went to scope the two birds perched but
they both had dropped out of the tree but could now been quartering the
reedbed. We had seen four birds, a male
and three juveniles, which is exceptional for Rutland Water. A Hobby then flew in front of the hide and
was watched as it flew north towards the north arm. This had disturbed the birds close to the
hide but they gradually returned and were joined by two Greenshanks.
Greenshank over lagoon three
We walked back to the car park
and after some lunch returned to the Bird Watching Centre to view lagoon
one. Chris was in the viewing area and
said he had just had a Spotted Redshank, several Ruff and a Green
Sandpiper. The Spotted Redshank soon
reappeared and was a nice juvenile and probably the bird Dave and I saw on
Thursday. We eventually found thirteen
Ruff, three Snipe and six Green Sandpipers.
A Hobby was observed harassing a Buzzard and there were two Hobbies at
one point and a single Kestrel, which appear to be getting scarce at the
reserve. There were ten Little Egrets on the lagoon and another seven were
observed in flight over lagoon five after some disturbance. It had been quiet productive this afternoon
but we finally decided we should return to Eye Brook Reservoir.
On arrival at Eye Brook
Reservoir we saw one of the guys present this morning who informed us a birder
had claimed to have had brief views of the crake at 13:00. We scanned the area for an hour without
success and there were no further reports after our departure but this species
can be very illusive, so it might still have been present. We did find an additional Ruff and a juvenile
Shelduck made a brief appearance and there was a nice party of nine Yellow
Wagtails.
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