Dave, Roger and I set for
Eyebrook Reservoir at around 07:30 and arrived just after 08:00. The Little Owl was in the old oak as we
arrived but it managed to elude me as it dropped into the foliage and didn’t
reappear. At the inlet we found a single
Curlew Sandpiper, a couple of Dunlin and a single Curlew but the Curlew flew
off just after we arrived. There were
four adult Shelduck, which had arrived since my last visit and I counted twelve
Pintail. We had seen a Red Kite whilst
looking for the Little Owl and what was presumably the same bird was observed
quartering the fields on the Leicestershire bank. A Buzzard was seen perching on some
vegetation on the edge of a field attempting to catch one of the many Pheasants
released for shooting.
We eventually moved onto to
the north arm at Rutland Water when news broke of a Masked Shrike at
Spurn. We considered going but both
Roger and Dave needed to be home early and in all probability we would have
only an hour on site and therefore decided we would go tomorrow.
On reaching the north arm the
weather was still pretty grim with a cool northerly wind and swirling
mist. There was an adult Little Gull
feeding over the water and we found five Pintail and three Red-crested Pochard
amongst the mass of wildfowl and Coot.
There were a couple of Ruff, a Snipe and a Greenshank on the north shore
and a Common Sandpiper and two more Greenshank were observed in flight over the
southern shore. There were two Little
Egrets on the north shore and we saw Hobby and a Great Spotted Woodpecker in
flight.
On reaching the Egleton
Reserve we went into the centre and spent an hour looking over lagoon one. It was fairly quiet but we did find three
Pintail, two Ruff and a Black-tailed Godwit and a Kingfisher performed just in
front of the centre.
After some lunch we headed off
to Lapwing hide where there had been two Goldeneye yesterday but there was no
sign today, although we did find two more Pintail and another eight were
visible on lagoon two, where there was also a couple of Green Sandpipers and a
Greenshank.
From Shoveler hide on lagoon
three there was another Ruff, five Snipe and four Green Sandpipers but all we
found amongst the mass of commoner wildfowl was a single Pintail. I did pick up a single Water Rail on the edge
of the reed island but it soon disappeared.
Ken had now joined us and he
had seen a Little Stint close to plover hide and so we went to take a
look. There was very little on the
island in front of the hide but Roger found the Little Stint and three Ringed
Plovers on island one, which were rather distant and we also found another five
Ruff before moving to sandpiper hide.
Whilst in the hide we found an adult Shelduck and a Green Woodpecker flew
from the left going behind the hide, which Roger then located on one of the
posts along the entrance track to the hide.
As I checked my phone for an update on the shrike there was another
message of a Jack Snipe from snipe hide on the wet meadow.
It is quite a walk from
sandpiper to snipe hide and on getting there we could only find three Snipe and
ten Golden Plovers flew over. A
Kingfisher also paid a visit perching on bushes on the far side of the
flash. Another birder then entered the
hide who had seen the Jack Snipe earlier and we had not been looking in the
right place but unfortunately now having the right location it was not easy to
see the area, although it wasn’t visible anyway. We tried from harrier hide but again with no
success although we had a second Hobby as we walked along the track.
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