I was out pretty early today
and headed for Eyebrook Reservoir seeing a Buzzard alongside Harborough Hill
Road as I dropped down the hill towards the reservoir. There was no sign of either of the Little
Owls along the minor road to the reservoir and so I continued and parked
overlooking the inlet. The exposed mud
was pretty much devoid of birds with just a few Lapwings being the only waders. As I was scanning the area a Barn Owl
appeared on the Leicestershire side as it hunted over the grassed edges of the
reservoir before crossing the stream and perching on a fence post. After moving fence posts looking for prey it
flew a little closer and I was able to get a reasonable shot of it. I had pointed out the owl to a dog walker and
as we watched it return to the Leicestershire bank and head south along the
shore he picked up a second bird flying down the road towards us. This bird tended to work the Rutland bank
south of us and like the other it to flew south and disappeared. A Little Egret flew in from the east and
landed in the stream and a Green Woodpecker flew over the reservoir from the
Rutland side to Leicestershire side. The
only other bird of note was a very pale Buzzard observed perched on top of a
hedge on the Leicestershire side.
Barn Owl
Barn Owl
I eventually decided to move
on and whilst heading towards the Stoke Dry car park presumably the second Barn
Owl came out of a row of trees running from the road to the reservoir. It flew a short distance along the eastern
shore before turning and flying back into the trees. I checked out the feeders but there was very little,
just a few Blue and Great Tits, a Blackbird, a Robin, a few Chaffinch and two
Goldfinch.
I headed off across country to
Normanton at Rutland Water seeing nothing of note on route. After parking in a farm gate I noticed a sign
saying “Important Parking Information Please Read” and so I thought I had
better take a look. There was a header
sheet and then two A4 sheets underneath that were full of text. It was damp and typical legal jargon, which
was kind of difficult to interpret quickly.
However it seemed to be that the Rutland Council were implementing their
rights to take action against anyone parked within a certain distance from
Edith Weston. Although I was off the
road I didn’t want to take the risk in getting a ticket for just a quick visit
and decided to move on.
I called at the old Luffenham
Airfield to see if there were any migrants but other than a few Meadow Pipits
there was nothing of note.
I dropped down to the Lyndon
Centre and walked the short distance to Teal hide to view the south arm. Erik had seen a Common Scoter from here
yesterday afternoon but there was no sign this morning. The water was almost like a mill pond making it
fairly easy to pick up birds and it wasn’t too long before I had the Great
Northern Diver, which was just loafing on the surface between the hide and the
Old Hall. I could see an Osprey on the
Manton Bay and it was great news to hear that both the male and female are now
back and appear to be taking up residency.
The only other birds of interest were a couple of Shelduck in south arm
two and two Oystercatcher feeding at the base of Lax Hill. Whilst I was in the hide I heard a Blackcap
singing and so I went outside to look for it.
It sang several more times before it went quiet and unfortunately I
didn’t see it. As I walked back I saw
what I assumed would be a Marsh Tit in the bush next to the feeders but as it
sat eating a sunflower seed I could see that it was in fact a Willow Tit. Having finished the seed it flew back to the
feeders, took another and flew off out of sight. Marsh Tits are more regular at the feeders
and this was only my second sighting this year.
There were also five Tree Sparrows in the hedge behind the feeding
station.
I drove to the Old Hall next
to hopefully see the Slavonian Grebe but after walking around to the vantage
point I was unable to find it, although I did see a female Scaup and had
further views of the Great Northern Diver, which was still loafing on the
surface. As I neared my car Terry called
to say he had seen the Red-necked Grebe from Whitwell and that it was in front
of Armley Wood. After a brief discussion
about exactly where it was and also that he hadn’t been able to find the
Slavonian Grebe, I drove to end of the peninsula. Armley Wood is situated on the southern shore
of the north arm and is a good mile walk from where I had parked. I set off along the track and had seen very
little until I reached the wood where I then saw two Chiffchaffs in quick
succession, one just outside and the other a few meters inside. I continued to walk through the wood scanning
the water through the trees as I did so and after walking almost right the way
through the wood still hadn’t found the grebe and all I had seen were a few
Tufted Duck and a couple of Great Crested Grebes. As I started walking back I was thinking I
might not see it as I picked up one of the Great Crested Grebe again and
realised there was another bird close by, which turned out to be the Red-necked
Grebe, success and worth the walk.
Red-necked Grebe
As I walked back through the
wood I had nice views of a Marsh Tit and a Treecreeper but had seen very little
else by the time I got back to the car.
I checked out the north arm
from the end of the cottage road but other than a couple of Shelduck saw little
else and headed for the Egleton Reserve.
Once on the reserve I went to
the centre to find that contractors were removing most of the timber from the
now dead ash tree near the centre and there was a working party out on the
island on the lagoons and so there was very little in evidence on the lagoon. I therefore decided to take an early lunch
before heading off to the southern lagoons and whilst having lunch a Buzzard
passed over the car park. Once I had
finished my lunch I set off to Snipe hide on the Wet Meadow seeing or hearing
at least six Chiffchaffs on route. When
I arrived in the hide there were far fewer Shelduck than of late, with only
four being present but there was still a pair of Pintail on the flash. As I scanned I found two Oystercatchers, two
Snipe and two summer plumaged Black-tailed Godwits and a Little Egret was
observed nearer to harrier hide.
Oystercatcher
Black-tailed Godwit
Black-tailed Godwit
Black-tailed Godwit
Black-tailed Godwit
Black-tailed Godwit
Black-tailed Godwit
Black-tailed Godwit
Black-tailed Godwit
I continued on to tern hide on
lagoon six where there were another coupe of Oystercatcher and a Redshank and
seven Sand Martins to the west and from Pintail on lagoon six I found a second
pair of Oystercatcher. As I walked to
Shelduck hide on lagoon five a Hare came with a few feet of me before squeezing
through wire fence on to lagoon eight meadow.
I scanned lagoon seven from the slope to Shelduck hide but other then
three Shelduck there was little else.
From Shelduck I saw single Oystercatcher and Ringed Plover and four
Redshanks.
Erik called me to say he was
on the reserve and joined me as I was walking back towards the centre. He had seen a Common Tern from the centre
over lagoon three and so, it being a year tick, we headed in that direction. There had also been a report of a Willow
Warbler near grebe hide, which was on route.
As we neared grebe hide we spent a short while trying to find the
reported Willow Warbler but there was no sign.
We continued on to Shoveler hide on lagoon three and it didn’t take too
long to find the Common Tern. Terry was
also in the hide and whilst looking through some soaring Buzzards he picked up
a Sparrowhawk but with little else he went to Lapwing hide to look for the
female Scaup I had seen earlier and hopefully the Slavonian Grebe. After he left Erik picked up a Red Kite over
Burley and I found an Osprey in the same direction. Terry then returned having seen the female
Scaup and a possible hybrid and we then all went to sandpiper hide on lagoon
four. I stood talking to Norman and when
I joined Terry and Erik they had located a single Dunlin, which was on island
two. I had just got on the Dunlin, when
Terry said is that a Garganey behind but I just caught a glimpse of the bird as
it disappeared behind the island. With
Erik also thinking it might have been a Garganey we went to plover hide to try
and get a better view. However there was
no sign and Terry then suspected what he had seen was a female Mallard, which
we could see, and it did have a face pattern suggesting a female Garganey. It was disappointment all round but Terry
then found a Little Ringed Plover on one of the islands, which was his first of
the year.
Erik and I then went to
Bittern hide on lagoon three as Terry headed off home. Whilst in the hide we heard a Water Rail and
there were quite a few martins coming and going. Erik did pick out a couple of Swallows but
all I was seeing were Sand Martins and we then realised that we were watching
two different groups of birds with at least thirty being involved.
I decided to have a final look
over lagoon four whilst Erik made his way back to the centre. As I scanned the gulls they were still mainly
Common Gulls with a few Black-headed Gulls and a single Great Black-backed
Gull. I then noticed a small gull that
was tail-end on and suspected it was a Little Gull. It was roosting and so I couldn’t see too
much of the head and being end on didn’t help, although nearby Black-headed
Gulls looked bigger. It eventually
picked its head up and I was able to confirm that it was a first-summer Little
Gull. I called Erik who then returned
but unfortunately it had disappeared and he was unable to find it.
I finished the day on
eighty-three species that included two year ticks, Little Gull and Common Tern,
but with the exception of Osprey, migration still feels a little slow but with
a good weather forecast for the next few days hopefully it will pick up.
No comments:
Post a Comment