It was cold and overcast today
and there had been a slight frost overnight.
I decided to go to Great Easton in east Leicestershire first as it is a
good sight for Cuckoo. On the journey
over I saw two Buzzards, one near Newton Harcourt and the other near Stonton
Wyville and the Little Owl obliged near Slawston where I also saw a Tree
Sparrow.
On arrival there was a Buzzard
flying off to the north. I walked along
the footpath, which was an old railway track, to the west which goes along one
edge of the plantation, that reminds me of a miniature Lakenheath Fen and is a
pretty unique habitat in Leicestershire.
There were plenty of Willow Warblers singing but few other migrants were
in evidence. As I continued along the
path two Willow Tits appeared briefly in the hedgerow but for long enough to
identify them. It was just after this that I realised that I had left my phone
in the car and decided to go back and get it.
As I approached the end of the more dense woodland a Cuckoo called but
only the once and I didn’t manage to see it.
Having collected my phone I retraced my steps and continued to the end
of the first section of path before walking back. I had at least three Chiffchaffs, nine Willow
Warblers and a single Blackcap. On
getting back to the car I heard the Cuckoo again but again it only called the
once and then went quiet. As I stood
talking to a guy walking his dogs I heard my first Whitethroat of the year but
like the Cuckoo I couldn’t locate it.
Before I left I walked down a side track to some barns and found a Barn
Owl roosting in a box and heard the Cuckoo for a third time but with the same
result.
Having had two new birds for
the year but failing to see either I moved off to Eyebrook Reservoir. I stopped at the first viewing area seeing
quite a few hirundine over the water, mainly Sand Martin but with a few
Swallows. A Snipe also got up off the
island flying to the other side a dropping out of sight. There were a couple of Willow Warblers
singing by the bridge and the small area of mud at the inlet produced a single
White Wagtail but no waders. Again there
were plenty of hirundine and again mainly Sand Martins and a few Swallows but
there were also at least three House Martins.
There were two Common Terns resting on one of the new nesting platforms.
I moved onto the north arm at
Rutland Water where it felt bitterly cold in the brisk northeast wind. The female Red-breasted Merganser was in the
fishponds but there was very little else and so I moved onto the reserve.
I walked to snipe hide on the
wet meadow first where there were two Avocets and a three Black-tailed Godwits
on the flash. A Barnacle Goose was
feeding amongst a group of Canada Geese and single Curlew was visible on the
lagoon one meadow. There were six Common
Terns over lagoon one and a Red Kite passed over just in front of the hide,
causing some disturbance but everything soon returned.
Female Pheasant at the Egleton feeding station
Red Kite over the wet meadow
Black-tailed Godwit alighting on the wet meadow
Roger joined me in the hide
and shortly afterwards we decided to go as far as fieldfare hide to see if the
Great Northern Diver was still in the same area as yesterday. As we walked towards fieldfare hide we had
several Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Sedge Warbler between the two
hides. I found the Great Northern Diver
almost immediately and today it was close enough to be able to see the extent
of its summer plumage. There were plenty
of white spots on the back and the head and neck were much darker and the
pattern on the side of the neck was visible, although its head was still rather
greyish. After watching it for a while
it started to move off towards gadwall hide and so we started to make our way
back to the centre. We called at tern
and pintail hides on lagoon five but other than a couple of Shelduck and a pair
of Oystercatcher there was little else.
We continued on towards the 360° hide
and saw the female Osprey on the nest on Manton Bay and another Oystercatcher
on lagoon eight. From the 360 there were
three Oystercatchers, two Avocet, two Little Ringed Plover, a Ringed Plover and
a Redshank.
Oystercatcher on lagoon six
After some lunch we set off to
dunlin hide on lagoon four and found our first Greenshank of the year, two
Oystercatcher, a Little Ringed Plover, two Ringed Plover and four Dunlin. Lagoon three produced out first Wigeon,
Pochard and Little Egret of the day but there was nothing unusual. A visit to sandpiper hide on lagoon four
produced another Little Egret, twelve Common Terns and two White Wagtails and
two Osprey and a Raven over Burley Wood.
I walked back with Roger to
the centre who departed and I went into the centre to view lagoon one where
there was a further Osprey observed flying over the poplars.
I decided to call at Eyebrook
Reservoir on the way home and drove around to the viewing area on the west
bank. As I set my scope up to view the
area of visible mud I heard the familiar call of a Whooper Swan and found it
quite close to the viewing area. A
nearby Mute Swan seemed to take a dislike to it and repeatedly approached it in
an aggressive manner and eventually the Whooper flew off to the west and did
not appear to come back. There were
still a few hirundies present and there were now ten Shelduck but there was
nothing else of note and I set off for home.
Whooper Swan
A Red Kite was seen near
Blaston as I drove home but I saw nothing else of note.
No comments:
Post a Comment