I was out on my own today and
called at Eyebrook Reservoir before going to Rutland Water. I had seen very little on the drive over and
it appeared very quiet here as well with just a single Shelduck, a Little
Egret, Red Kite and Kestrel worthy of note.
On reaching the Egleton car
park at Rutland Water I decided to head off to Lax Hill and just before
reaching snipe hide on the wet meadow had some nice views of a Chiffchaff
singing at the top of one of the nearby trees.
A good time to see these as there are no leaves on the trees yet.
Chiffchaff
There were two Shelduck and a
Redshank on the wet meadow flash and two Oystercatchers flew over. I could also see the Black-tailed Godwit on
the back of the long island on lagoon one where there were another four
Shelduck and two Oystercatchers.
A continued on to harrier hide
but there was very little from here and so continued on to tern hide on lagoon
six and found two more Oystercatcher on the bund. Fieldfare hide was not very productive with
just a single Chiffchaff as I approached the hide.
Woodpigeon from harrier hide
Wigeon on the bund at lagoon six
Greylag Goose from fieldfare hide
Canada Goose from fieldfare hide
Drake Teal from fieldfare hide
Drake Mallard from fieldfare hide
Continuing on to Lax Hill
there was another Chiffchaff singing but I was unable to locate but then found
another on the path leading to goldeneye hide.
From goldeneye hide I there
were another two Oystercatcher, two Curlew and a Redshank. I scanned on numerous occasions looking for
the Great Northern Diver without success but I did find a female Scaup close to
the Old Hall.
Adult summer Great Black-backed Gull from goldeneye hide
Little Grebe from goldeneye hide
Little Grebe from goldeneye hide
Little Grebe from goldeneye hide
I spent quite some time in
robin hide observing the feeders as there was a Marsh Tit making frequent
visits and a Great Spotted Woodpecker also obliged. There were also several Chaffinches,
Greenfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit and two nice male Reed Buntings and a Red Kite
flew low over the woodland, almost right over the hide.
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Marsh Tit
Grey Squirrel
I went over the top of Lax
Hill and dropped down the hill to the hides overlooking south arm two and
Manton Bay. The female Osprey was
observed perched on the nest but didn’t doing anything whilst I was in the two
hides, which wasn’t for very long as there was little else of note. I moved the short distance to kingfisher hide
on lagoon eight, finding yet another pair of Oystercatcher and a single
Shelduck. As I continued around to
Shelduck hide there was another Marsh Tit in a small bush right next to the
path.
On reaching Shelduck hide I
looked back from the entrance ramp onto lagoon seven, for which there is no
access at present. I counted eight
Shelduck and there was also two Egyptian Geese but very little else. I went into Shelduck hide to view lagoon five
and found two more Egyptian Geese and a single Green Sandpiper. There was a small party of Common Gulls
between two of the islands but very few other birds. From the 360°,
which gives and elevated view of lagoon five, I found two more Shelduck and
three Oystercatchers, although two of the Oystercatcher could easily have been
those that flew over the wet meadow earlier.
Ken had called and was waiting
in the car park for me and so I made my way back to the car park for an early
lunch.
After lunch we went towards
the northern lagoons, seeing a nice Sparrowhawk on route, and initially went to
bittern hide where we found Bob. There
was very little to see other than a good number of Tufted Duck and a few
Pochard out on the lagoon, although I did have a brief view of a Water Rail,
which both Ken and Bob missed.
There were volunteers working
on fencing outside of plover hide and we found them having lunch in the hide as
the weather had now turned rather nasty and we had several rather heavy showers
during the reminder of the afternoon.
From the hide there were two Ringed Plovers on island three and I found
the red-headed Smew behind island two.
Three Avocets were also taking shelter from the driving rain behind
island two and there was at least one Redshank.
Ken and I called at shoveler hide on lagoon three where we spent quite
some time. There were two pairs of
Red-crested Pochard on one of the islands and what a stunning duck the males
are. They did swim around for a while
but were always quite distance but I was able to get some record shots.
Gadwall over lagoon three
Pair of Red-crested Pochard
Two Snipe and three Shelduck
were the only other birds of note and we thought about leaving but it started
to rain again. The rain had only been
stopped a few minutes when Ken announced there was a female Marsh Harrier over
the reed-bed. It had a nice creamy crown
and forehead but there was no sign of any cream on the forewing and we assumed
therefore that it was first-year bird.
It continued to quarter the reed-bed for some time before a Buzzard had
a go at it and shortly afterwards it departed low to the south.
Finally we went to sandpiper
hide on lagoon four but other than two Dunlin so very little else and we called
it a day and returned to the car park.
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