It was a little misty when I
left home for Eyebrook Reservoir and it remained so for most of the day,
although it did brighten with some hazy sunshine by late afternoon. On route to Eyebrook Reservoir I saw a Buzzard
on the dead tree as I approached Cranoe and after passing through Slawston
there was a Barn Owl sitting in what had previously been a Little Owl site.
A parked overlooking the inlet
at Eyebrook Reservoir and was surprised that I couldn’t find a single Lapwing
and there were no other waders on view.
There was a Little Egret in the stream and eight Shelduck between in the
inlet and the Stoke Dry car park and a Red Kite was observed over the field
just east of the bridge.
With little else I moved off
across country to Normanton at Rutland Water and then walked towards the
church. There was a drake Mandarin in
the fishing harbour and I found a Chiffchaff feeding close by. I called in at the old Luffenham airfield,
which had been excellent for Wheatears and other migrants last year but the
golf practice was devoid of birds except for two Common Gulls.
The Lyndon Centre is now open
as the first Ospreys are expected to return any day now. In fact the Manton Bay female returned on
this day last year but there was no sign this morning. I did walk down to the new wader scrape hide
to view Manton Bay and although I saw plenty of birds as I walked down there
was nothing unusual. The new hide is excellent;
it’s even got padded seats, as it provides an excellent view of the bay. The area directly in front of the hide has
been cleared out and the narrow channels are now clearly visible. There was nothing of note in the bay but
there was another Chiffchaff feeding amongst the reeds along with a couple of
Wrens and two male Reed Buntings.
Wren from Wader Scrape Hide
I called at Tufted Duck hide
on route back to the centre but there was nothing of note, although a summer
plumaged Little Grebe did provided some nice photo opportunities.
Little Grebe from Tufted Duck Hide
Little Grebe from Tufted Duck Hide
Little Grebe from Tufted Duck Hide
Egyptian Goose from Tufted Duck Hide
Coot from Tufted Duck Hide
As I continued to walk back I
saw a Green Woodpecker as it flew from the last meadow before the centre, there
was another Chiffchaff in the last piece of scrub and there were at least six
Tree Sparrows on the feeders.
As I was leaving the centre I
saw John Wright and spent quite some time talking to him about is autumn trip
to Georgia, which sounded absolutely incredible, both in terms of numbers and
species. I would recommend his blog,
Wrights Wanderings, which has some super photos of the birds
(http://wrightswanderings.blogspot.co.uk/).
I left Lyndon and headed for
the Egleton Reserve and after parking went to the centre to check the
book. There wasn’t too much in the book
but the Greenland White-fronted Goose had present on lagoon one earlier and so
I went upstairs to take a look. As I
scanned through the Greylag Geese on the islands I picked up a likely candidate
and when I got the scope on it, it turned slightly to reveal its white
blaze. There was also four Dunlin on the
islands and three Shelduck and four Pintail on the lagoon.
After checking the feeding
station and having brief views of a Marsh Tit I set off to Snipe hide on the
Wet Meadow. There were eighteen
Shelduck, most on the flash, which appears to be a preferred location for this
species at present and there was also seven Pintail on the flash. The only other birds of note on the meadow
were two Little Egrets and with little else I moved on to Shelduck hide on
lagoon five. A quick scan of lagoon
seven before entering the hide produced nothing but from the hide I found two
Ringed Plovers and three Dunlin and heard Oystercatcher but couldn’t locate
it. As I left the hide I had a longer
scan of lagoon seven and found three Shelduck, a Pintail, a Dunlin and a
Redshank and I did find two Oystercatchers on lagoon five from the 360°
hide. A quick check of
lagoon one from Mallard hide produced nothing new. As I was almost back at the car park, Terry
called to ask where I was and to let me know he had just had a male Marsh
Harrier close to the badger hide but it had unfortunately headed off towards
lagoon three and four. A Great Spotted
Woodpecker flew over the car park and a Goldcrest was observed whilst I was
having my lunch.
Female Reed Bunting at the Egleton feeding station
Again there were plenty of
common birds in evidence and I did have a couple of Redwing and Treecreeper,
which I initially heard singing, as I walked along the path. As I walked through the gate near sandpiper
hide the phone went and it was Terry again who said he had a distant grebe but
was unsure as to what it was, either Slavonian or Black-necked. I wasn’t too far from Lapwing hide and so I
joined him. The grebe was right up
against the green bank and Terry had done extremely well picking it up as it
was persisting in keeping close to some bushes and diving quite
frequently. After watching it for quite
some time we agreed that it was a Slavonian Grebe and probably the one I had
seen on Friday in south arm two. Terry
then picked up a female Scaup amongst a party of Tufted Ducks and then both
Great Northern Divers. The divers were
resting and preening on the surface and it is the first time I had seen both
birds together this winter. The general
consensus has been that there was probably only one still there but clearly
they have both been here and are just very difficult to locate.
I visited sandpiper hide on
lagoon four with Terry where we found a Little Egret, five Ringed Plovers, four
Dunlin and two Redshanks and I also counted another nine Shelduck, twelve
Pintail and thirty Shoveler. A pair of
Egyptian Geese was observed escorting three goslings. Terry departed and went around to plover hide
where I found a single red-headed Smew. Quick
visits to Bittern and Shoveler hides before returning to the centre produced
very little and certainly nothing of note.
There were now seventeen
Redwings feeding in the first meadow and I saw another Great Spotted Woodpecker
near Redshank hide. I then had a very
brief view of a Water Rail as it stepped out on the path, presumably on its way
to the other side of the stream, but quickly shot back when it saw me. A quick look form the centre produced a
single Curlew in flight.
Terry had seen the two Pink-footed
Geese in the north arm near Dickinson’s Bay but when I got to the fisherman’s
car park there was just single Greylag and Canada Geese on the shore. From the end of the road at Tim’s cottage I
saw three Barnacle Geese, three Oystercatchers and plenty of Black-headed and
Common Gulls but very little else.
I called at Eyebrook Reservoir
again on the way home finding a couple of Snipe but there were fewer gulls this
evening with most being either Lesser Black-backed or Herring Gulls with a few
Black-headed.
On route home I had a Buzzard
just before the Horninghold turn, which was almost my last bird of the day.
I had seen a good range of
birds today with eighty-three species recorded including a few highlights but I
am still waiting to see my first Sand Martin.
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