I went to the Lyndon Reserve
at Rutland Water this morning as three Ring Ouzels had been reported late
yesterday. I set off from the car park
towards Shallow Water hide as the ouzels had been reported in the meadow behind
the hide. There were three Red-legged
Partridges in the first field to the south of the reserve and I had a couple of
Chiffchaffs near Deep Water hide. As I
approached the meadow behind the hide I checked it several times but it not
easy due the hedge between the path and the meadow. I did have another Chiffchaff but there was
no sign of any of the Ring Ouzels and so I made a visit to the hide. Both of the Ospreys were present, the female
on the nest and the male eating a fish from one of the perches. Other than a Shelduck and a couple of Common
Terns there was very little else and returned to try and take a further look at
the meadow. There was a pair of
Blackcaps along the path to the hide and a Great Spotted Woodpecker was
observed. I checked the meadow several times
as I walked back towards the centre but there was still no sign and I assume
they had gone. A Willow Warbler was seen
near Deep Water hide as I returned and three Tree Sparrows were seen near the
centre.
I called Steve who was in the
north arm with Terry but they had seen nothing of note and so I decided to go
to Barnsdale Wood to look for a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker that had been reported
recently. When I arrived the entrance
gate was locked and so I parked outside and walked down the hill through the
first piece of woodland where I had a couple of Goldcrest and a Nuthatch but it
was surprising how little song there was.
On reaching the bottom I then walked up the slope but other than a
Kestrel I saw or heard very little. On
reaching the top I went towards the children's play area, which is where the
recent sightings of the woodpecker had been.
Again it was very quiet although I did find a male Blackcap that was
singing and another Nuthatch was calling just through the gate at the
bottom. I walked through the gate and
continued towards the coniferous area and saw a Buzzard over the wood and had
another Blackcap. All of a sudden my phone
burst into life and there were message from both Steve and Tim indicating that
there was an Alpine Swift over the hotel.
I quickened my pace and tried to call Steve for more information but
there was no signal, which is probably why I hadn’t received either of the
calls. Although I wasn’t too far away it
is quiet hilly and a good walk back to the car.
I eventually managed to call Steve who said it was still there and
explained where they were seeing it from.
I reached the car and drove down the hill and just grabbed my bins and
joined a group of four Steve, Terry, Tim and Matthew. Thankfully it was still flying quiet high
above the hotel and I was relieved to get my second County year tick of the
year. Having seen it I went back to the
car for my scope and camera and when I got back I called David and Roger. Roger was aware of its presence but was
struggling to get over as he has grandchildren duties on Tuesday but David
didn’t know but said he was coming over.
I managed to find it in the scope and watched it for several
minutes. As more birders began arriving
I decided to walk further along the track to try and get at least a record shot
and did managed to get a few, although it wasn’t easy as the bird remained high
and the sky was quiet bright. Just as I
got back to the group David arrived and was relieved to find it was still
present and as we stood watching I had a tap on the shoulder and it was Roger
who had also made it. It wasn’t long
after that it flew off to the west and was not seen again and sadly several
people missed it.
Alpine Swift
I left and went to the Egleton
Reserve and walked to Snipe hide on the Wet Meadow. There was a Chiffchaff singing just outside
the hide and a pair of Pintail was still present on the flash but only four
Shelduck were present. A walk to
Shelduck hide on lagoon six produced very little and there was little visible
on lagoon seven. The Greenland
White-fronted Goose was present on lagoon five and there were a couple of
Redshank on the lagoon. After the
excitement of the swift it now appeared pretty quiet and I started to make my
way back to the centre with intention of calling at Mallard hide. I had almost reached the hide when Roger
called to say that Ben had called to say that there was a Redstart and two
Whinchat at Eyebrook Reservoir. Neither
of these birds is easy to get in the Counties these days and so I continued on
to the car park and headed for Eyebrook Reservoir.
Drake Shoveler from Shelduck hide
I left and went to the Egleton
Reserve and walked to Snipe hide on the Wet Meadow. There was a Chiffchaff singing just outside
the hide and a pair of Pintail was still present on the flash but only four
Shelduck were present. A walk to
Shelduck hide on lagoon six produced very little and there was little visible
on lagoon seven. The Greenland
White-fronted Goose was present on lagoon five and there were a couple of
Redshank on the lagoon. After the
excitement of the swift it now appeared pretty quiet and I started to make my
way back to the centre with intention of calling at Mallard hide. I had almost reached the hide when Roger
called to say that Ben had called to say that there was a Redstart and two
Whinchat at Eyebrook Reservoir. Neither
of these birds is easy to get in the Counties these days and so I continued on
to the car park and headed for Eyebrook Reservoir.
When I arrived at Eyebrook
Reservoir there were quite a few other birders present and after walking
through the gate I was soon watching a nice male Whinchat alongside a
Wheatear. Further scanning produced
another male Whinchat and Wheatear and there were two Oystercatchers on the
shore but the Redstart was not playing ball.
Paul had gone closer to the water and found the Redstart feeding from
some hawthorn bushes but by the time I got alongside him, it had disappeared
again. However we now have some idea
where it was and it wasn’t too long before reappeared and provided some nice
views of what was a stunning male.
Feeling quite satisfied with the excursion I went back to the car and
had my lunch and afterwards went to the northern coral and the Rutland bank but
there was very little a Red Kite, a couple of Buzzards and two Common Terns
being the best.
I returned to Rutland Water
and went to the Old Hall to view the south arm where I found Steve and Terry
but other than a Curlew flying over we had little else.
On reaching the Egleton car
park I saw Mike who said someone had seen three Whimbrel on lagoon four and
that there was also a Spotted Redshank.
As I started to walk towards the lagoons Terry arrived having dropped
Steve off at the cottage for his car.
Terry said Steve had had a call from Tim confirming what Mike had said
and we went down the service road to sandpiper hide on lagoon four. Steve was already in the hide but it was
pretty full and Terry decided to go plover hide to get a different view. Steve had seen Little Ringed Plover, Ringed
Plover and Dunlin but not either the Whimbrel or Spotted Redshank. I eventually saw four Pintail, an Avocet, a
Little Ringed Plover, four Ringed Plovers, six Dunlin, three Curlew, a Common
Sandpiper, four Redshanks and a Wheatear but there was no sign of the reported
Whimbrel or Spotted Redshank. Terry then
returned but he also hadn’t seen any of the reported birds and we did wonder
were the three Whimbrel actually Curlew and was a dark looking Redshank the
reported Spotted Redshank. We will
probably never know.
Terry hadn’t seen the Avocet
and went to Dunlin hide whilst Steve went to Shoveler and I went to Bittern
hide on lagoon three. Just as I was
approaching the hide Steve called to say that there was a Raven heading towards
Hambleton ad then said that there were two.
I opened the flap in the hide but there was no sign of the Ravens and
they were obviously not high enough for me to see. I had heard a Sedge Warbler near the hide and
there was a Common Tern over the lagoon.
As I was looking out of the side flap all hell broke out with virtually
everything taking to flight and a quick look through a front facing flap
produced an Osprey with an enormous fish, which it was struggling to fly
with. With little else I returned to the
car park and after a final chat to Steve and a coffee I headed off home, whilst
he headed for Warren Hills and hopefully three Ring Ouzels.
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