When I left home this morning
it was a little misty but by the time I got to Eyebrook Reservoir it was quite
foggy and I struggled to see the old oak and could see very little of the
water. A Nuthatch had been reported on
the feeders in the Stoke Dry car park and as I had never seen one at the site I
decided to sit and observe the feeders for a while. There were plenty of birds around the feeders
including, Blue and Great Tits and a single Coal Tit, plenty of Chaffinch on
the ground with several Blackbirds, Dunnocks and Robins and six Goldfinches
were hogging one of the feeders. However
there was no sign of the hoped for Nuthatch and I gave up after an hour. I drove back down the reservoir and could
just make out the Great White Egret in the fog but saw nothing else of note.
I eventually decided to head
for Rutland Water and as it was still quite foggy went to the feeding station
at Lyndon. It was pretty quiet with few
birds visiting the feeders and I suspect that a Sparrowhawk had perhaps made a
visit. A Marsh Tit made several visits
but there was nothing else of note.
When I arrived in the Egleton
car park it was still foggy and Steve pulled in just after me saying he had
seen very little and that Terry had given up and gone home.
When I went into the centre
the fog had lifted quite a bit and I could see right across the lagoon. As it was still misty I decided to walk round
to harrier hide in the hope of seeing a pair of Stonechats that had been
present for the last two days. I spent a
good forty minutes in the hide without any joy but had a pair of Goosander
flying over lagoon one and a Sparrowhawk flew low to the right of the
hide. I eventually gave up and headed
back to the centre calling at both Snipe and Mallard hides. There were three Shelduck and a pair of
Pintail on the wet meadow and from Mallard hide I counted eleven Pintail. There was also a single Snipe to the right of
the hide and a Red Kite flew over.
After some lunch I drove the
end of the Hambleton Peninsula as a Brent Goose had been reported again on
Sunday, seeing my second Sparrowhawk of the day along Church Road. When I arrived Steve was sitting having his
lunch having already looked for the Brent without success. I walked to the end of the peninsula to scan
for the Great Northern Diver but with the exception of a party of Fieldfare and
Redwing in the first field saw very little else, although there was a lot of
Great Crested Grebes on the main water.
As I was walking around the end of the peninsula Steve called to say he
had found the Great Northern Diver near the tower in the north arm. I stopped to view the north arm from the
beginning of the service road near Hambleton.
I soon found the Great Northern Diver, which sitting on the surface just
to the left of the tower and I also found the two Black-necked Grebes a little
closer to Dickinson’s Bay.
A quick check in the north arm
from the end of the cottage road produced very little with the two Barnacle
Geese being the best and so I returned to Egleton. I walked to Shoveler hide on lagoon three
where I found a single drake Smew on the lagoon and then continued onto Lapwing
hide. A working party was working near lagoon
two, which meant that most of the birds were some distance away but I did find
a single drake Scaup, a drake Smew and a pair of Goosander.
I went back towards lagoon
four and headed for Bittern hide and was surprised to find the usually dry area
underwater but there was nothing of note.
As plover hide is so close I decided to have a look at lagoon four from
there. There were a few gulls resting
and bathing and I counted eight Shelduck and eighteen Pintail. Steve joined me in the hide as the gull
numbers increased but there was nothing unusual amongst the more common
species, although up to seven Lesser Black-backed Gulls was more usual. A drake Smew then flew in and another drake
and two red-heads arrived later with the first then joining them to the right
of the hide. Nine Curlew were also
observed on island seven and a text from Steve after I had left the hide
informed me that they had increased to thirteen.
Considering the weather I
hadn’t done too badly but it was disappointing as yesterday and been superb
weather wise with almost wall to wall sunshine.
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