Dave, Roger and I had agreed
we would go to the high point of Goadby Road out of Hallaton to check it out
for visible migration. However with the
winds being light northerly we did not expect any visible migration but decided
we would go anyway. Roger parked the car
off the road and we continued to walk further along the road. The light wasn’t too brilliant on arrival and
we were unable to get any details on a flock of birds progressing along the
edge in front of us but suspected they were probably Tree Sparrows. I did find a Chiffchaff in the hedgerow and
we had further views of probably the same bird at the top of the hill. There were plenty of bird in the dense wooded
copse and we could hear Tree Sparrows and saw Chaffinch and Blue Tit. We heard and saw both Skylark and Meadow
Pipit, with some appearing to be moving into the wind and we also saw five
Swallow clearly moving north. We heard
Golden Plover calling and I picked it up as it flew off to the west only to
turn and comeback towards us. As Roger
and I started to walk back down the hill, Roger picked up a bird perched at the
top of one of two hedgerow trees. We
were unsure what it was and Roger went back to the car for his scope. I continued to observe the bird and it moved
slightly as another bird flew over, turning to face me. I was now pretty sure that it was a Wheatear,
which was confirmed by Dave and Roger when they got back with their
scopes. After fetching my scope we
walked back to the top of the hill but saw much of the same but also three Jays
and a flock of c.100 Linnets. We
eventually decided to go to Eyebrook Reservoir.
As we entered the road to the
reservoir Roger picked up a Wheatear on the spoil heap but there was no sign of
the Little Owls. Despite the water level
looking good for waders we could only find five Snipe. There was a distant Little Egret and I
counted eight Pintail and then Dave noticed an adult female Shelduck amongst
the small party of Black-headed Gulls. A
party of birds that had moved along the hedgerow kept us entertained for a
while and contained Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long-tailed Tits, a Chiffchaff and
Reed Buntings. There were also several
Dunnock and Yellowhammer in the corner of a set-a-side strip.
Roger then drove to the dam at
Rutland Water where we soon found the Red-necked Grebe that was now in full
winter plumage and there was also a single Grey Wagtail along the dam. Four Red Kites were also observed beyond
Empingham village.
We then parked at the bottom
of the road to Barnsdale and walked the short distance to Dickinson’s Bay where
there had been a couple of Black-necked Grebes recently. There was no sign of the Black-necked Grebes
in the bay but I did count twenty-seven Pintail. I started to scan into the north arm where
there were plenty of Wigeon and Tufted Duck and eventually found the two
Black-necked Grebes appearing to be closer to the fishponds.
When we arrived at the
fishponds and walked towards the spit we soon found the Black-necked Grebes but
they were still some way off. I found a
Ruff on the north shore and it was joined by a second and when they flew one
came back with two Ringed Plovers and then Dave found a Greenshank. There were two Barnacle Geese on the north
shore, which are presumably some of the regular wintering flock. Scanning over Burley Wood we found three Red
Kites, a Sparrowhawk and at least four Buzzards and I also found a Hobby
between the wood and the reservoir. As I
walked back up the road to join Roger and Dave a Grey Wagtail flew over the
cottage.
After having some lunch in the
Egleton car park we established that the two Great White Egrets had been
disturbed on lagoon one by a working party and had flown off to the north of
the reservoir. We checked out lagoon two
from Smew hide but there was no sign of the egrets but there were another
fifteen Pintail. From Lapwing hide Dave
picked up a Goldeneye on the main water and Roger found a Black-tailed Godwit
on lagoon two.
Grey Heron on lagoon two
Cormorant over South Arm Three
We also checked out lagoon
three from Buzzard hide but there was very little as there was another working
party in front of Bittern hide. We tried
Shoveler hide and we did see five Snipe and a Green Sandpiper flew in and
stayed briefly. I then picked up a Water
Rail on the edge of the reed island and shortly afterwards Roger found another
right under the hide.
In sandpiper hide on lagoon
four there were seven Yellow-legged Gulls amongst the flock of gulls, which
were mainly Black-headed Gulls but there was also Common, Lesser Black-backed
and Great Black-backed Gulls. A single
Ruff was the only wader we found and there was an immature Shelduck.
As we were walking back to the
centre other birders indicated that there was still no sign of the Great White
Egrets and so we went into Redshank hide to check out lagoon two but it was
very quiet.
Great Spotted Woodpecker in the Egleton Meadows
When we walked into the centre
one of the volunteers informed us that there was a Great White Egret at the
back of the lagoon. We went up stairs to
the viewing area and were soon scoping one of the two Great White Egrets but
the second remained elusive. There was
another Ruff towards harrier hide and two Curlew were feeding behind the long
island but other than five Little Egrets there was little else and we called it
a day.
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