As I was getting ready to
leave home this morning I heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming in the
trees at the bottom of the road but couldn’t locate it from the drive. A second bird then began drumming from another
tree about two hundred meters away and when I scanned the tree for the second
bird found it almost immediately. They
both continued to drum but despite several further scans I still couldn’t
locate the first and nearer bird.
As usual I headed for Eyebrook
Reservoir first before going to Rutland Water and arrived at the southern end
just about as the morning rain was stopping.
I had seen very little on route except for several sightings of
Red-legged Partridge, seeing seven alongside the road. I arrived at the southern end of Eyebrook
Reservoir and found a single Tree Sparrow in the bushes near the old feeding
station. As I drove around the western
edge of the reservoir I saw another twelve Red-legged Partridge and assumed
that the overnight rain had encouraged them to feed on the roadside
verges. I called at both corals but saw
very little from either, except for two Pintail at the northern end. I eventually went to check out the old oak
for Little Owl and found a single bird sitting in its normal position. There were also over one hundred Fieldfares
in the field but I could only find two Redwings amongst the flock. I stopped on the eastern side overlooking the
intake and was surprised to find a male Goosander resting on the shore of the
stream, as they are quite scarce here these days. There was also a Ringed Plover and three
Dunlin feeding on the exposed mud and there were six Shelduck between the inlet
and the Stoke Dry car park. With little
activity at the feeding station I left Eyebrook Reservoir and headed for
Rutland Water.
I arrived in the north arm at
Rutland Water in still very murky conditions and a freshening wind. There was a single Shelduck on the north
shore and two were in the bay on the south shore as was a single Redshank but
there was very little else. Still not
having seen an Osprey this year I stayed quite a while seeing at least six
Buzzards over Burley Wood but nothing else.
I headed for the Egleton Bird
Watching Centre and was going to have a quick look on lagoon one and then walk
to Snipe hide on the Wet Meadow and Shelduck hide on lagoon five before Roger
arrived mid to late morning. However he
called before I had set off to Snipe and I felt it would be a bit rushed to go
there as it would only take him about fifty minutes to get here and I therefore
stayed in the centre. There was very
little with a pair of Shelduck, a couple of Pintail, an Oystercatcher and about
twelve Sand Martins being the best.
I walked back to the car park
when I thought Roger should be arriving and timed it to perfection as he
arrived just as reached the gate. Roger
was hoping to catch up with the summer plumage Red-necked Grebe and we were
advised that it was still present and was quite close. I got my camera and we set of to the end of
the Hambleton Peninsula and walked to the south shore of the north arm. There was no sign of any close birds when we
arrived and the only Tufted Ducks, which it was apparently with, were just of
Armley Wood. As we scanned west down the
north arm Roger picked the grebe up some distance beyond the Tufted Ducks and
the views were rather disappointing.
Roger suggested that we should walk to Armley to get a better view but
after a discussion we decided it would still be quite distant and returned to
the car.
We headed for the north arm
and as we arrived at the end of the road there was some heavy rain for a while
and we were both pleased we hadn’t walked to Armley Wood for the grebe. As forecast the rain didn’t last too long and
we walked further down the spit to view the north arm. We couldn’t find the hope for Pink-footed
Geese and other than a Curlew and a couple of Redshanks we saw nothing else.
We headed back to the Egleton
car park and after some lunch went to the Bird Watching Centre to view lagoon
one. There were now four Pintail and
three Curlews and I could see another two Shelduck on the Wet Meadow along with
a Little Egret.
Grey Heron on lagoon one
Grey Heron on lagoon one
Grey Heron on lagoon one
The weather was now much
better although it was still quite windy and we set off to the northern
lagoons. A birder returning said they
hadn’t seen a Black-tailed Godwit that was present earlier and so we continued
on to Bittern hide hoping to see it from there but all we could find of note
were a couple of Shelduck. Being close
to plover hide on lagoon four we made a visit and found a single Ringed Plover
resting on island three and two Oystercatcher on island five. Just as we were about to leave the Ringed
Plover took flight only to be joined by a second with them both settling on
island two. Roger found several more
Ringed Plovers but there was very little else and so we went to Shoveler hide
on lagoon three to see if the Black-tailed Godwit was there but we had the same
result as we did from Bittern hide.
Muntjac in the Egleton Meadows
Muntjac in the Egleton Meadows
Great Crested Grebe on lagoon four
We called at sandpiper hide on
lagoon four and we hadn’t been in there too long when the party of resting
gulls all took to flight and a quick scan produced an Osprey amongst them. It looked as though it was going to land on
one of the perches but decided not to as the gulls continued to harass it. Most of the gulls did not return whilst we
were in the hide but I did see least five Ringed Plovers, two Dunlin and two
Redshank and there was also six Pintail and circ forty Shoveler on the lagoon. As we scanned Burley Wood I saw a Red Kite and
several Buzzards and I picked up a party of c.200 Golden Plovers wheeling
around in the distance.
Brian who was in the hide with
us said that he had seen the Black-tailed Godwit before he came to sandpiper
hide and so Roger and I went back to Shoveler hide and I found it almost
immediately feeding on the shore of the small pool. There were also two Oystercatchers, which
were presumably the same as those seen on lagoon four, a Snipe and a Curlew.
A final visit to the centre
produced nothing new, although there were perhaps a few more Sand Martins than
earlier.
I called at Eyebrook Reservoir
on route home to check out the gull pre-roost.
I initially had a look from the Rutland bank at the inlet finding that
the three Dunlin were still present at there were also five Snipe. There were quite a few gulls assembled and so
I drove around to the Leicestershire bank and the coral to get a better
view. There was nothing unusual as they
were mainly Black-headed and Common Gulls, although there was a couple of
Lesser Black-backed Gulls. All of a
sudden they all rose together and headed off presumably to Rutland Water. A few minutes passed and then another lot
dropped in that were again mainly Common Gulls but also both Lesser
Black-backed and Herring Gulls but this time they only stayed a few minutes
before heading off. A third lot arrived
but this time came down a little further to the south but these had no sooner
assembled before they were up and way.
The Ringed Plover was found again and two Oystercatchers and a Redshank
were found with three Little Egrets flying in, presumably to roost and a Red
Kite was over Stoke Dry Wood.
I finally called it a day and
headed home seeing nothing of note.
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