I arrived at the northern end
of Eyebrook Reservoir seeing very little on route and there was no sign of a
Little Owl, although there was still circa seventy Fieldfare and at least five
Redwings in the field. I counted
twenty-five Dunlin at the inlet and there were four Shelduck but very little
else. I found a drake and red-headed
Smew closer to Holyoaks Farm but the feeders were again almost empty and there
was little activity and so I set off for Rutland Water.
I arrived at Edith Western
having travelled across country seeing a single Red Kite at Glaston but very
little else. I parked by the Sailing
Club and walked the short distance to Sailing Club Bay where hopefully there
would be some geese including a Pink-foot.
There were only a few geese, mainly Greylags but also a few Canada, and
they appeared to be paired rather than flocking together and there was no sign
of the Pink-foot. I continued on to the
dam but there were incredibly few birds in evidence a few Goldeneye and Great
Crested Grebes with several Cormorants.
I continued my circuit and
dropped down to Dickinson’s Bay but there was still no sign of the Black-necked
Grebes. I had noticed that there were
plenty of geese on the Hambleton Peninsula from the dam and I therefore drove
to the end and walked to the north arm after parking. The geese were still present but all I found
were plenty of Greylags and a few Canada and there was nothing of note on the
water, although two Oystercatchers were observed. As I walked back a Dunlin called as it took
to flight and I expected it to fly off but it dropped down almost immediately
and started to feed on the edge of the water.
I was no more than a couple of meters away from it and I was able to get
some superb shots of it as it worked the shoreline.
Dunlin
As I walked back up the hill
there was a flock of birds flew into the trees on the left of the path. There were quite a few Starlings but also
circa fifty Fieldfares but as I walked up the track they gradually flew back
over the fields towards the north arm. I
had seen a Red-legged Partridge, which is a species I don’t see too often here,
as I walked down the track but there was no sign as I came back. I had a further scan of the north arm from
just beyond Hambleton for the Black-necked Grebes but there was still no sign
and so I went to the Egleton Reserve.
After a bite to eat I went
into the centre to check the book to find that there had been an Avocet on
lagoon one earlier today which had since disappeared and that the Great White
Egret had been reported from the 360°
hide late morning. I set
off to the 360° hide
but there was no sign of the Great White Egret, although there was a Little
Egret. On lagoon seven I could see a
single Shelduck, a pair of Pintail and two male and two female Goosanders and
from Shelduck hide there were six Shelduck and seven Pintail. With no sign of the Great White Egret I
headed back and called in Snipe hide on the Wet Meadow. There were eighteen Shelduck, six Pintail,
another Little Egret and a Curlew on the meadow and two Oystercatchers flew
over. I then picked up two distant Red
Kites and whist scoping them found there was also a Sparrowhawk with them. As I looked away from the scope another
Sparrowhawk flew from behind the hide and across the Wet Meadow and then landed
on a fence post when I could see that it was a nice male.
Egyptian Geese over the Wet Meadow
Drake Shoveler over the Wet Meadow
Female Pochard on lagoon five
Female Pochard over lagoon five
Adult winter Common Gull over lagoon five
I made my way back to the
centre and then headed off to Shoveler hide on lagoon three. Other than a couple of Shelduck there was
little else on lagoon three but I did see my first Buzzard of the day towards
the new Volunteer Centre. I thought that
I could hear an Avocet calling and so went to sandpiper hide on lagoon four,
which was pretty full, although I did see a single Avocet that was roosting in
the shallow water. I decided I would be
better moving on to Dunlin hide to get a more relaxed view of the lagoon. When I arrived the Avocet was almost directly
in front and I did see and another two Oystercatchers, four Ringed Plovers, a
Curlew and a Redshank. There were also
another twelve Shelduck and fourteen Pintail and I did eventually see a drake
Smew beyond plover hide. Just after
leaving the hide a Green Woodpecker was observed but I had seen very little
else before I reached the centre. There
was nothing new on lagoon one but a Barn Owl was then seen sitting on the next
box to the left of the centre. It
eventually flew off towards the car park and on leaving the centre I saw it in
the overflow car park before it headed off over the fields to the west.
It had been another mixed day
with many of the wintering birds either remaining elusive or maybe departed.
No comments:
Post a Comment