I was out with Roger today and
we called at Eyebrook Reservoir first seeing the Little Owl at Slawston on
route. It felt quite cool at Eyebrook
Reservoir and there was very little of note, five Shelduck being the highlights.
After spending at thirty
minutes at Eyebrook Reservoir we moved on to the north arm at Rutland
Water. There was a female Red-breasted
Merganser in the mouth of the fishponds before it flew further into the
fishponds. The three Long-tailed Ducks
were also found and then Roger found the Great Northern Diver, which is now
showing quite a few spots on the back.
Birds of prey were quite active over Burley Wood and we saw at least
four Red Kites, two Sparrowhawks and at least six Buzzards. On the far shore we
found an Oystercatcher and two Redshank and a Little Ringed Plover flew over.
We had a brief look from the
centre, where we found three Curlew, nine Shelduck and two male and a female
Red-crested Pochard, before we set off to snipe hide. We saw a Chiffchaff as we walked through the
wood and heard several others and a Blackcap before we reached the hide. There were two Avocets feeding on the flash
and two Shelduck were also present. Four
Oystercatchers flew over calling and two others were observed feeding on the
wet meadow.
Three of the four Oystercatchers over the wet meadow
Rook on the wet meadow
We continued towards fieldfare
hide and eventually saw a couple of Willow Warblers and heard a third. Two more Chiffchaff were also heard but there
was no sign of yesterdays Sedge Warbler.
As we walked back towards the
centre it started to rain and so we headed for snipe hide again and as we
approached the hide an Osprey flew directly over the path.
Osprey
There was nothing new from
snipe and as the rain eased we continued walking back to the centre. We hadn’t gone too far when we met Ken who
then came back with us. We had some nice
views of a Chiffchaff as it sang from a tree just before we entered the
woodland on the edge of lagoon one. The
Blackcap was heard again but it failed to show and on reaching the car park we
had a bite to eat and drink.
Chiffchaff
We went straight to shoveler
hide on lagoon three were we found another male Red-crested Pochard and a
Common Tern, which was my first of the year.
Two Buzzards flew high over the lagoon heading south and a Little Egret
fed towards bittern hide.
Little Grebe on lagoon three
Feeling we had exhausted the
possibilities on lagoon three we moved to plover hide on lagoon four, hearing a
Cetti’s Warbler on the way.
There was a Redshank on island
three and an Avocet was asleep just beyond the island. There were a few distant Ringed Plovers and a
Dunlin on the exposed area and we eventually decided that there were six Ringed
Plover and three Dunlin. There was also
two distant Avocets, also roosting, and there must have been at least six
Redshanks scattered around the lagoon.
Avocet on lagoon four
Avocet on lagoon four
Redshank on lagoon four
Bittern hide failed to produce
anything and from Dunlin hide we found a forth Avocet and a Little Ringed
Plover but the hoped for Mediterranean Gulls, present in yesterdays pre-roost
assembly, failed to materialise. A pair
of Egyptian Geese was observed escorting nine young on one of the bunds.
We had a final look over
lagoon one where there were numerous Sand Martins but little else.
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