I was out with Roger today and
our aim was to catch up with a couple of wintering birds, namely Great Grey
Shrike and Long-eared Owl. Whist it was
still overcast and dull today at least there was no fog and the visibility was
excellent.
As Roger had not yet caught up
with the Great White Egret we headed for Eyebrook Reservoir first. We saw a couple of Buzzards on route one just
after Cranoe and the other near Stockerston.
As we approached the reservoir another Buzzard was observed and both
Little Owls were in the old oak. There
appeared to be some disturbance as we approached the bridge and we saw what was
presumably the Great White Egret dropping in.
We pulled up off the road to view the area of mud and saw the Great
White Egret before we even got out of the car.
There was a flock of Lapwing that had been disturbed beginning to settle
again and as we scanned I found a Red Kite.
As we were watching the kite all the Lapwing and ducks flew out of the
shallow end and a few seconds later a male Peregrine passed overhead. As we watched the Lapwing flock return and
begin looking to settle we picked up six Dunlin amongst the flock and I found a
second Red Kite. It had been a very
productive few minutes and we decided to head for Deenethorpe in Northamptonshire
for the Great Grey Shrike but not before checking the Stoke Dry feeders. There appeared to be fewer birds than
yesterday but within a few minutes the Nuthatch appeared, which was a new bird
at the site for both me and Roger.
We saw just a single Buzzard
on route to Deenethorpe but as we parked at the bridal path a Red Kite was
observed over the wood. We scanned the
area seeing a Buzzard but nothing else as so we walked along the bridle path
towards a farm building where we found a large concentration of Yellowhammers
and certainly more than I have seen for sometime, which was a welcome
sight. As we scanned the Yellowhammers
we also found several Chaffinches and a couple of Tree Sparrows. With still no sign of the shrike I called
Malcolm as he had been three times and seen it on each occasion. He advised us where he had seen it but also
that it could be quite elusive and ranged quite some distance. We walked back along the track to the road
and then down the road into a dip. There
were ten Red-legged Partridges alongside the scrubby area Malcolm had seen the
shrike but all we saw were a couple of Skylarks and more Chaffinch and
Yellowhammer. I walked back up the road
and walked a short way into one of the fields to scan further. With no joy in the first field I walked
through a gap to scan another hedge and after finding another Yellowhammer I
found the shrike perched on top of the hedge.
I called Roger over but just as he got to me it flew but fortunately
came back up and perched in a more exposed position briefly before dropping and
then reappearing on top of the hedge. It
remained in the same position for quite some time before it finally dropped off
the hedge again after which we were unable to find it again.
Our next target bird, the
Long-eared Owl, was at Deeping Lakes but we called at Blatherwycke Lake on
route were we found twenty-two Mandarin Ducks.
When we arrived at Deeping
Lakes to other birders informed us that the owl was showing but before rushing
off we took our lunch. After a bite to
eat we walked the short distance to the hide overlooking an island and found
the owl quite easily as a whitish post was a good reference point. Whilst we could see most of the bird its eyes
were disappointingly covered by a single branch. The lake was fairly quiet but there nine
Goosanders and a nice party of Goldeneye were displaying. As we walked back to the car park we saw a
Little Egret and Great Spotted Woodpecker and on reaching the car I found a
Green Woodpecker perched on a fence post.
Pair of Goosander
Having got both the target
birds we decided to call at Rutland Water on the way home. When we arrived we drove down to the water at
Barnsdale as I hoped we would see the Great Northern Diver and Black-necked
Grebes, which would have been visible from here yesterday. We soon found the two Black-necked Grebes but
there was no sign of the diver and so we went to Egleton. As Roger needed to get back reasonably early
we just went into the centre where there were forty-two Pintail feeding in the
flooded grassy areas quite close to the centre.
Whilst scanning the lagoon we also found three Snipe and two Curlew.
As we were leaving we saw Tim
who informed us that the Great Northern Diver was quite close to the cottage
but despite an extensive search we were unable to locate it and called it a day.
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