I visited Eyebrook Reservoir
on route to Rutland Water seeing a couple of Red Kites near Blaston on
route. I arrived at the southern end of
Eyebrook Reservoir and saw another Red Kite as I went down the hill to the
reservoir. As I drove along the southern
shore and just before I reached the turning to the bridge a flock of circa
thirty Fieldfare were observed but there was no sign of the Little Owls in the
old oak. I stopped on the north shore
overlooking than now extensive area of mud and there were c.150 Golden Plover
and four Dunlin and two Shelduck were feeding in the water. There was clearly fewer gulls than on
Saturday and also there appeared to small numbers of wildfowl, which included
Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Wigeon, Gadwall; Teal; Mallard, Tufted Duck and
Goldeneye. There was also two more Red
Kites over the fields to the west of the reservoir.
I went straight to the north
arm at Rutland Water were it felt very raw in the brisk northerly wind. There were five Little Egrets in the
fishponds and another two in the north arm but there was no sign of the Great
White Egrets or Black-necked Grebes but I did find a single Redshank on the
south shore and seven Goosanders in the fishponds. With no sign of the Great White Egret I
decided to go to Dickinson’s Bay as they had been reported there recently. After parking the car I walked down the lane
and was joined by Steve and Terry as I began to scan the bay. Steve indicated that Terry had seen one of
the Great White Egrets from the main road as they drove by. A scan in the far corner produced both birds
along with another two Little Egrets.
Further scanning produced nine Pintail, a Green Sandpiper and five
Redshanks and there were four Red Kites over Burley Wood. Steve found the Black-necked Grebes some
distance off but they gradually came closer and provided better views. He also found three female Common Scoters a
long way down the north arm towards the dam.
Steve and Terry had seen a red-headed Smew from Wigeon hide earlier and
also two adult White-fronted Geese and the Greenland White-fronted Geese on the
fields behind lagoon five but they had flown towards Manton Bay.
When I reached the reserve I
checked lagoon one first and counted fifty-seven Pintail and also saw a single
Curlew. There was a Great Spotted
Woodpecker on the feeders as I started to walk out to Wigeon hide. I stopped and had brief look from Snipe hide
on the wet meadow seeing another Little Egret and then saw another Great
Spotted Woodpecker on the feeders from 360°hide
but there was no sign of any geese.
On reaching Wigeon hide there
were plenty of Tufted Ducks and Wigeon in south arm two and fewer Gadwall,
Teal, Mallard, Goldeneye and Great Crested Grebes but I couldn’t find the
red-headed Smew. There was a female-type
hybrid Scaup amongst the Tufted Duck but nothing else was observed. There was a party of geese in the field on
the opposite side of Heron Bay containing both Greylag and Canada Geese and
also the two adult White-fronted Geese but the juvenile White-fronted Goose
wasn’t with them. Steve then rang to
enquire why I hadn’t told them about the drake Smew in the fishponds, which was
probably as I hadn’t seen it. When I got
back to the car park I went back to the north arm and found the drake Smew
close to the bund, although it was rather elusive initially it did eventually
give good views. There were also now
thirteen Goosanders present and I can only assume they and the Smew were
perhaps close to the bank when I had looked earlier.
After some lunch I went to the
reserve and walked to Shoveler hide on lagoon three in the hope of finding the
first-winter Red-necked Grebe. Steve and
Terry joined me in the hide but we were unable to locate the grebe and
presumably it may have gone as it had been totally loyal to this lagoon during
its stay. There was a male and three female
Red-crested Pochard and two Black-tailed Godwits on the lagoon and plenty of
common wildfowl, including Wigeon; Gadwall; Teal; Mallard; Shoveler, Tufted
Duck and Goldeneye. We called at Buzzard
hide but there was still no sign of the grebe and so we continued onto Lapwing
hide to overlook south arm three. There
were two male and three female Red-crested Pochard just to the left of the hide
and a drake Goosander amongst the Tufted Duck and Coot close to the Green
Bank. Another party of Tufted Ducks
close to Brown’s Island contained a female Scaup and Terry located two more
Green Sandpipers.
I called at Shoveler and
sandpiper hides on the way back to the centre but there was still no sign of
the Red-necked Grebe and other than two Shelduck and several Shoveler there was
very little on lagoon four.
I had another quick look from
the centre before going back to the car park.
Whilst having a coffee before setting off home Terry came back and
informed me he had had a male Hen Harrier fly over him when he was at the
bottom of the ramp to sandpiper hide, which is an excellent bird for the
counties. Needless to say it appeared to
just pass through.
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