I called at Eyebrook Reservoir
first today but other than fifteen Snipe and few Lapwings there were no other
waders at the inlet. There were a couple
of Shelduck and three Pintail on the water and a Red Kite and Great Spotted
Woodpecker were observed in flight.
Whilst at Eyebrook Reservoir I
had a call from Steve informing me that the drake Ring-necked Duck was showing
well in Dickinson’s Bay. I headed
straight off but as I walked down towards the bay two fishing boats came
cruising down the north arm and were causing significant disturbance and I
could see the flock of Tufted Duck gradually taking to flight as the boat
approached. As I got into the bay most
of the birds had flown but fortunately the Ring-necked Duck was still present
with last of the Tufted Ducks. I had a
quick look through Terry’s scope and just got it in my own on it just as it went
with the last two Tufted Duck. It flew
off towards the fishponds circling a few times before eventually coming down in
the fishponds. There were fifty-four
Pintail in Dickson’s Bay and three Red-crested Pochard and Terry picked up a
Marsh Harrier being mobbed by a crow over Burley Wood. I then noticed two Buzzards on the shore line
with one feeding on a dead fish with the second looking on rather anxiously.
Steve and Terry moved onto
Whitwell and I went to the back to the north arm. I had a look in the fishponds for the
Ring-necked Duck but couldn’t find it although it had been seen earlier. As I started to walk down to the spit Steve
called to say they had found a couple of Rock Pipits at Whitwell and so I
headed off to hopefully see them. I
searched the area where they had seen them but there was no sign but I found
later that they moved to nearer the toilet block.
I returned to the north arm
but there was still no sign of the Ring-necked Duck and on walking to the end
of the spit I couldn't find any of the Ringed Plovers and Dunlin that Steve and
Terry had seen earlier. They had also
had another five Red-crested Pochard but there was no sign of these either and
most of the duck were now very distant having been disturbed by several fishing
boats. I did manage to find the two
Black-necked Grebes in the centre of the arm and a Greenshank flew by heading
towards the fishponds. After having my
lunch whilst searching unsuccessfully for the Ring-necked Duck I moved off to
the Egleton Reserve seeing a Raven on route.
On arriving at the Egleton I
went into the centre to view lagoon one.
There was a Redshank and a Green Sandpiper to the right and a Curlew
flew in behind the long island. One of
the two Greta White Egrets also appeared at the back of the lagoon but there
was no sign of the second. A Sparrowhawk
flew over the centre and a Hobby passed over and headed off over lagoon two.
I eventually set off towards
lagoon three and four but took shelter in Redshank hide on lagoon two from a
downpour, which lasted quite some time.
There was very little viewable from the hide except for two Hobby that
flew over before the worst of the rain and female/immature Grey Wagtail that
was present almost all of the time I was in the hide. As the rain eased I made my way to Shoveler
hide on lagoon three. On entering the
hide another birder had is scope set up on a Marsh Harrier that was sitting at
the base of the reeds appearing to be eating something. It eventually took to flight and after
quartering the reeds for a while dropped into them. There were far fewer birds on the lagoon today
but there were five Red-crested Pochards, which I assumed were probably those
seen in the north arm by Steve and Terry earlier. The Marsh Harrier was then observed
quartering the reedbed but then flew off low towards south arm three. One of the other birders indicated that he
had seen two Knot, several Ringed Plover and Dunlin and a possible Little Stint
from Dunlin hide on lagoon four and so I went to take a look.
On entering the hide I found
five Ringed Plovers and two Dunlin quite quickly and then I noticed two other
waders being harassed by Lapwings and I could see that they were Dunlin. A third bird was then flushed by a Lapwing
and as it turned I thought it had a white rump but it dropped behind some rocks
but was soon flushed again by the Lapwing and it eventually settled in front of
the rocks and I could see that it was a nice juvenile Curlew Sandpiper. I
informed Steve and Tim of the find and Steve said he would join me in about
thirty minutes as he was in Snipe hide on the wet meadow. I continued to watch the Curlew Sandpiper and
the two Dunlin as the fed and preened along the front edge of the island. The Dunlin suddenly got rather jumpy and both
flew towards island one with the Curlew Sandpiper in pursuit. They all settled briefly in front of island
one but again the Dunlin took to flight and the sandpiper followed. They flew low over the lagoon when suddenly
the gained height and headed off south and presumable departed. The Curlew Sandpiper had not been reported
earlier and I suspect that they came down in the heavy rain and still had the
urge to head south. As I continued to
scan the lagoon Steve arrived and was disappointed to have missed the sandpiper
by just a few minutes. I then found a
Ruff and Steve picked up a Raven and a Sparrowhawk over Burley and two
Buzzards, one over lagoon three and the other at the back of lagoon four.
I finally decided to call it a
day but Steve was going to have a coffee and then take a look on lagoon three
before coming back to lagoon four to view the gathering of gulls at the
pre-roost.
I was almost back to the
centre when he called to say he had a Goosander on lagoon three, which was the
first of the autumn. I headed back to
Shoveler hide only to be told on arrival that it had disappeared behind the
island. I decided to go and take a look
from Bittern hide but hadn’t gone too far when Steve called to say it was back
out and so I returned to the hide but it had now gone behind the reed
island. I felt my best option was now to
go to Buzzard hide and on entering the hide found the female Goosander heading
back to the island and eventually out of sight again. There were also an additional four Red-crested
Pochard on the lagoon.
It was an appropriate time to
call it a day and I headed off back to the car park seeing a Curlew as I
approached lagoon one.
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