I called at Wistow Church on
route to Eyebrook Reservoir where I found a Nuthatch and a Treecreeper and
there were good numbers of House Martins in the fields with a few Swallows.
When I arrived at Eyebrook
Reservoir it felt much cooler as there was now a cool westerly wind. The Little Owl was visible in the old oak as
I approached the reservoir, which was the first time I had seen it since July
19th. A Little Egret flew
further up the stream as I glanced over the inlet bridge but there was nothing
else of note. I could see that there
were fewer birds at the inlet with very few geese and only a few Lapwing and
Black-headed Gulls. I parked off the
road and scanned the area of exposed mud but could only find eight Dunlin. There were plenty of duck, which were mainly
Mallard interspersed with a few Teal and I did eventually find an adult and
three juvenile Shelduck. Another birder
informed me that he had seen a Black-tailed Godwit on the Leicestershire bank
and a Whinchat in a field closer to Stoke Dry.
I parked further on but there was no sign of the godwit although there was
at least ten Swift amongst the numerous House Martins feeding over the
reservoir.
I stood in the gateway to the
field in which the Whinchat had been seen and had Swift, Sand Martin, Swallow
and House Martin over the field and a good number of Linnets. Roger had called to say he was on his way
over and joined me in the field when he arrived. I had not seen the Whinchat and there was no
sign before we departed to Rutland Water but we did have two Willow Warblers, a
Lesser Whitethroat and Whitethroat in the hedgerow and three Red Kites, three
Buzzards and two Kestrel over the fields and I had seen an Osprey earlier.
Roger went to Rutland Water
via the Little Owl site and joined me in the Lyndon Centre having no luck with
the owl. There was quite a bit of
activity on the feeders outside the centre with at least eight Tree Sparrows
present. Having signed in we set off for
shallow water hide where we hoped to see a female Scaup and Wood Sandpiper that
had both been present recently. On route
we had a couple of Yellow Wagtails on wires and a Chiffchaff in a mixed flock
of tits. On reaching the hide we soon
found a Ruff, three Black-tailed Godwits, a Common Sandpiper, a Green
Sandpipers and eventually the Wood Sandpiper, which was feeding on the far
side. A Yellow Wagtail was observed
amongst a party of Pied Wagtails and two Little Egrets were observed in
flight. Roger then found a Whinchat just
to the right of the hide and it eventually showed well, perching on the barbed
wire that runs to the left of the hide.
We had scanned the wildfowl for the Scaup but there was no sign,
although there was an increase in the number of Shoveler. A Hobby was observed as it hunted between LAX
Hill and Heron Bay.
Yellow Wagtail
Common sandpiper
Whinchat
Whinchat
Whinchat
We walked back to the centre
and called at tufted duck and deep water hides but there was still no sign of
the Scaup but there were eleven Common Terns and a single Oystercatcher below
Lax Hill and six Little Egrets in Heron Bay.
After some lunch we went
around to the Egleton Reserve and initially went to the centre to look over
lagoon one. It was generally rather
quiet but I did find a single Pintail amongst a party of Gadwall. I called Ken, who had gone down to lagoon
four, to see what he had seen but there was nothing unusual. Whilst we were debating what to do next my
phone rang and it was Tim giving us advanced news of a Spotted Crake at deep
water hide on the Lyndon Reserve. The
debate stopped and we headed back to the Lyndon Centre but I was a bit
surprised as I thought it was most unsuitable site for a Spotted Crake. I called Ken to make him aware of the crake
on route and we arrived we set of for deep water hide. On arrival there were a couple of birders
present but no sign of the crake and so I called Tim who informed me it was
from wader scrape hide. I am not sure if
I misheard him or whether he did say deep water hide but we were soon heading
off to wader scrape hide. I called Ken
again to make him aware of the mix-up and as we arrived Tim Mackrill was just
leaving and he informed us it was still showing. It wasn’t too long before Roger and I were
watching the bird and it performed exceptionally well over the next couple of
hours. It suddenly occurred to me that I
hadn’t received a tweet from Andy and so I gave him a call and although he had
heard something it hadn’t been confirmed, which it now was and he tweeted the
information.
Apparently it had been found
earlier but the observers assumed it was a Water Rail and the true identity wasn’t
established until Andy Howes saw it later.
If only Roger and I had visited the hide earlier we might well have
found it.
Juvenile Spotted Crake
No comments:
Post a Comment