I called at Eyebrook Reservoir
first today and not surprisingly the Little Owl was not in evidence and was no
doubt keeping out of the cold wind. I
stopped on the bridge at the inlet and a Red Kite passed over and a few minutes
later a familiar bugle-like call of Whooper Swans was heard and thirty-one flew
in from the northeast and landed close to the island at the southern end of the
reservoir. Two Shelduck were observed
and a Green Woodpecker was heard calling with a Marsh Tit being observed at the
Stoke Dry feeders.
I headed off to the north arm
at Rutland Water where it was still quite chilly in the fresh breeze but I did
get much better views of the Slavonian Grebe today as it was closer and there
was no heat haze. It was watched for a
while in the company of the four summer plumage Black-necked Grebes as they
gradually moved further up the north arm.
I found the two juvenile Long-tailed Ducks but was unable to locate the
female and all ten Barnacle Geese were still present on the north shore. As I was scanning the water for the third
Long-tailed Duck I noticed a group of swans flying fairly low towards me. Having seen the Whooper Swans at Eyebrook
Reservoir I suspected that these might also be Whooper Swans. I quickly got them in the scope and was able
to confirm that they were. The seven
birds flew further into the fishponds before turning left and heading for the
reserve. Whilst in the north arm I had
also seen a female Goosander, two Oystercatcher and three Redshanks.
Two of the seven Whooper Swans over the north arm
On reaching the centre there
was very little on lagoon one and I decided to walk towards redshank hide and
then come back for my lunch, although I did see the seven Whoopers flying off low
the west. As I approached redshank hide
there was a nice male Lesser Redpoll feeding the alders and I managed to get
one or two nice photos of it. I then
walked back to the car park for lunch and to meet Ken who planned to meet me at
12:00. I was also told that there were
two Avocets on lagoon three, which were the first of the year for the counties.
Lesser Redpoll
Ken arrived just after I had
finished my lunch and we went straight to shoveler hide on lagoon three. There was no sign of the Avocets so we moved
on to plover hide on lagoon four were we had distant views of an Avocet and
several Curlew. There were pairs of
Ringed Plovers on both island two and three and a red-headed Smew was observed
to the left of the hide and the seven Whooper Swans were present.
We called at shoveler hide
again on lagoon three seeing just four Shelduck and a Redshank and soon moved
off to sandpiper hide on lagoon four.
Lesser Black-backed Gull over lagoon four
The Whooper Swans were dozing
quite close to the hide and we had better views of the two Avocets, which were
on island eight. There were also
thirty-two Golden Plovers on another island and I found a single Dunlin on
another. The Whooper Swans started to
move around a little with some giving a soft call and expected them to perhaps
continue on their migration but they remained and proved some good photo
opportunities as they swam to the left.
Interestingly there were two birds that had paler bills and were a
little duskier around the neck and we suspected that they were probably birds
in their third calendar year.
Whooper Swans on lagoon four
Whooper Swan on lagoon four
Whooper Swans on lagoon four
Whooper Swans on lagoon four
On getting back to the centre
there were two male and a female Red-crested Pochard visible on lagoon two and a
Black-tailed Godwit on the long island.
The Red-crested Pochard was my first of the year and the Black-tailed
Godwit my first county record for the year.
Ken, Chris Park and I returned
to the north arm where we had poor views of the grebes and a Great Northern
Diver but also found the third Long-tailed Duck. There were masses of gulls assembling on the
northern shore but they were mainly Black-headed and Common Gulls with a few
Great Black-backed and the odd Lesser Black-backed and Herring. Four Red Kites flew over the north arm
heading south and we suspected they were probably going to roost and fifteen
Brambling came into their roost just after 17:00.
Buzzard over the north arm
Red Kite over the north arm
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