This was my first day out
since coming back from Brazil and what a difference but at least the sun was shining. I called at Eyebrook Reservoir on route to
Rutland Water and had the two Little Owls in the old oak and twenty Red-legged
Partridges in the same field. I was
surprised to find that there was some exposed mud at the reservoir but could
find just a single Dunlin and nothing else of note.
I went straight to the north
arm at Rutland Water where I soon located the female Long-tailed Duck and the
two juveniles and eventually found two of the Black-necked Grebes. The ten Barnacle Geese were on the north
shore and there was a single drake Goosander in the fishponds with a single
Redshank on the north shore.
At the dam I found the Black
Redstart feeding on the ground but it flew over the wall and disappeared. After quite some time Steve and Terry
arrived at the dam and indicated that they had seen both Black-throated and
Great Northern Divers off Whitwell and a careful scan revealed both. Three Red Kites were observed to the east
over Empingham village and the Black Redstart then reappeared near the pumping
station but with little else I went to the Egleton Reserve.
I made a brief visit to the
centre before lunch and was surprised to see how high the water was, both on,
lagoons one and two. There were c.200
Golden Plovers on the island but they were very restless and were constantly
taking to flight with the Lapwings.
There were eight Pintail and five Goosanders on the lagoon and there was
also a nice party of Shoveler.
There were quite a few
passerines observed in flight as I walked back to the car and just as I reached
the car park a Sparrowhawk flashed through.
After lunch I walked to lagoon four where I located five Shelduck and a
single Oystercatcher, which was my first locally this year. On lagoon three I counted eight Snipe and a
Redshank was also present. A saw a
single drake Smew right at the back of the lagoon but other than a few Shoveler
there was nothing else of note and I returned to the centre where I met Ken.
From the centre I saw a
Bar-tailed Godwit in flight with several Curlew and as they appeared to come
down in the wet meadow we decided to go to snipe hide but not before observing
seven Dunlin. On arrival the godwit was
soon located and we eventually recorded seventeen Curlew. Two C-130 Hercules flew low over the reserve
causing quite a lot of disturbance but the godwit and curlew soon returned and
five Shelduck flew over and two Little Egrets alighted. On returning to the centre we found a female
Stonechat just outside and there were now fifteen Goosanders on the
lagoon. With the wind now quite fresh I
decided to call it a day and headed off home at around 16:00.
Grey Heron over lagoon one
Shelduck over the wet meadow
Curlew and Bar-tailed Godwit over the wet meadow
Bar-tailed Godwit over the wet meadow
Curlew over the wet meadow
Curlew over the wet meadow
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