Dave, Roger and I had a later
start today as the weather was forecast to be wet until about 09:00 and there
was still some light drizzle when Roger arrived at 08:00. We picked up Dave and set of for Eyebrook
Reservoir. We saw very little on route
but it had stopped raining by the time we arrived at the reservoir. We stopped at the southern gate where we saw
a Whitethroat and a Yellow Wagtail but there was no sign of any of the Tree
Sparrows. We continued on and stopped
briefly at the first corral where we found a single Barnacle Goose amongst a
party of Greylags. We checked out the
old oak and the northern end but there was no sign of the Little Owl and we
moved back to view the inlet. There is a
nice area of mud now and we found five Little Ringed Plovers, a Common
Sandpiper and Green Sandpiper amongst the Lapwing and a single Shelduck was
also present. A second Shelduck was
observed on the water and there were four Common Terns and at least four young
on the islands. A couple of Red Kites
and a single Buzzard were observed to the west of the reservoir and circ twenty
Swift were hawking high over the reservoir.
Feeling we had seen all that was there we moved to the Egleton Reserve
at Rutland Water.
On arrival in the car park
there was a lot of activity as there were two events taking place. We met Rick in the car park and after a brief
chat we went to the centre to view lagoon one.
It was good to see that the four young Little Grebes were all present
and were now diving and feeding without the support of the adults and there was
also a brood of nine Gadwall. There were
a couple of Little Egrets on the lagoon and another six flew over heading
towards Manton Bay.
We decided to go to snipe hide
on the wet meadow and as we did so the sun began to break through and we saw a
few Meadow Brown and Ringlets and a single Green-veined White as we walked
through the wood. On reaching the first
pool we found a couple of emerging Common Darter and there was also plenty of
Common Blue Damselfly as well as an Emerald Damselfly and a Blue-tailed
Damselfly. We continued on and just
before reaching snipe hide we found three Broad-bodied Chasers, two males and a
female and also several Large Skippers.
Male Broad-bodied Chaser
Female Broad-bodied Chaser
A Red Kite that we had
originally seen whilst watching the chasers was observed again over the Bird
Watching Centre from snipe hide. There
was a Green Sandpiper on the wet meadow flash and three Oystercatchers dropped
onto the meadow. There has been a Reed
Warbler singing just in front of the hide for some time but I have not yet seen
it and today was no exception but a Sedge Warbler was observed as it flew into
the reeds. A Hobby was observed on
several occasions as it hunted over lagoon one and two Buzzards were over Brown’s
Island with a third towards the north arm.
As we walked back we added Red
Admiral and Comma to the day list and both of the emerging Common Darters were
still resting on the reeds but where now looking a little darker.
Comma
As we were having lunch Pat
and then Ken arrived with Pat informing us that he had seen very little on any
of the northern lagoons. Dave, Roger and
I decided to go to Great Casterton to look for a Corn Bunting, whilst Pat and
Ken stayed at Rutland Water.
We soon found the stone wall
dividing the pea and cereal fields and in walking a few yards into the pea
field we were able to see the appropriate bush.
Initially there was no sign of the Corn Bunting but as we watched a bird
flew in and perched low down.
Fortunately we could still see it and were able to confirm that it was a
Corn Bunting. We could see that it was
singing at times but were unable to hear it to the distance and the wind. This is now quite a rare bird in the counties
and it wasn’t too long ago when it was quite easy to see at this site but my
last sighting was in January 2012.
Whilst we were looking for the Corn Bunting a Hobby flew along the road
a Red Kite and four Buzzards were observed over the fields.
We moved off towards Ketton
and stopped along Water Lane to see if we could see any Grey Partridge but the
crop was now well advanced and it was quite difficult to see into the field and
there was no sign of any partridge. We
did fine a couple of Brown Plume moths and a Yellow-tail caterpillar before we
moved on to Ketton.
Brown Plume
Yellow-tail caterpillar
When we arrived at Ketton it
was more overcast but there were plenty of Ringlets and a few Meadow Browns and
Marbled Whites on the wing. I was also
surprised to see a few spikes of Bee Orchids still in flower just next to the
car park. On walking round the small
quarry we found five Commas, more Marbled Whites, a Gatekeeper and a Small
Heath. We also found another Brown
Plume, a Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet and a Cinnabar as well as a single
female Broad-bodied Chaser. Before we departed we had been joined by Andy,
Chris and Colin and another butterfly, which was only seen in flight, remained
unidentified.
We eventually called it a day
and headed off home.
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