I was out with David today and
we initially drove to the southern end of Eyebrook Reservoir and made our way
around the Leicestershire shore calling at both corals. It felt rather cold in the brisk northerly
wind and there was little song. We heard
a Whitethroat singing but were unable to see it as it seemed determined to remain
hidden in the now leafed hawthorn hedge.
A Chiffchaff was more obliging and appeared briefly in a roadside
tree. We continued along the northern
access road to check out the old oak for Little Owls but there was no sign and
we returned to the Rutland shore. We
stopped briefly at the bridge where we heard both Willow Warbler and Blackcap
before parking facing the inlet. Whilst
the area looks quite suitable for waders we could only find a few
Lapwings. The gull numbers have also
reduced significantly with just a few Black-headed Gulls and a single Common
Gull being present. There were still
quite a few Teal but other wildfowl were only present in small numbers but did
include eight Shelduck and three Goldeneye.
As we continued to scan the shore we found a single Yellow Wagtail and a
White Wagtail but there was little else.
An Osprey was observed and there were two Red Kites on the
Leicestershire side with one on over the Rutland fields and we also found a
Buzzard perched on the Leicestershire side and three others were observed
sarong above Park Wood.
Osprey
Male Yellowhammer
Male Yellowhammer
We eventually moved off to the
north arm at Rutland Water and parked at the end of the cottage road. It was still pretty cold in the northerly
wind and there was very little on the water or the edges and we mainly
concentrated on Burley Wood. There were
quite a few Sand Martins over the wood and we also saw two Red Kites, two
Sparrowhawks and at least six Buzzards and a Blackcap was heard singing close
by and four Common Terns were observed over the water.
We moved on to the Egleton
Reserve and on entering the centre found that a Black Tern had been seen on
lagoon one and two more on lagoon three earlier today. The light was pretty awful over the lagoon
from the centre but we did find a Dunlin and a Ruff. As I was watching the Ruff it suddenly became
alert and it and all gulls took off from the islands. David then said he had the Black Tern in
front of the poplars as I scanned there were plenty of Black-headed Gulls in
flight and I did pick up the Ruff but couldn’t locate the tern. He then said he had lost it but found it
briefly again before it was gone again and never did get on it. When the birds settled down again the Ruff
returned and there were a few Common Terns on the posts at the back of the
lagoon but there was no sign of the Black Tern.
Eventually we decided to go to
Snipe hide on the Wet Meadow, hearing Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap and
Sedge Warbler on route and actually observing a couple of Chiffchaffs. There were two pairs of Pintail on the flash
and six Shelduck on the Wet Meadow and three Ospreys were observed to the north
but with little else we moved on to the 360° hide on lagoon
five. There was a group of volunteers
painting the hide when we arrived but we were able to gain access and we found
the Greenland White-fronted Goose, four Shelduck, two Oystercatcher, two Ringed
Plovers and two Redshanks.
Drake Pintail on the Wet Meadow
As we walked back to the
centre we had further views of a Chiffchaff at the end of the path behind
lagoon one but saw nothing else of note.
Chiffchaff
Chiffchaff
After lunch we headed for
Shoveler hide on lagoon three where hopefully we would have better luck with
the Black Terns. There were sixteen
Common Terns feeding over the lagoon but there was no sign of any Black Terns
and presumably they had all left. There
were also two Shelduck and a Little Egret but very little else was observed.
Drake Shelduck on lagoon three
Drake Shoveler on lagoon three
Female Shoveler on lagoon three
We called at sandpiper hide on
lagoon four were there were fifteen Shelduck, two Oystercatchers, two Little
Ringed Plovers, two Ringed Plovers, four Dunlin, a Redshank and another twelve
Common Terns.
On returning to the centre
there were three Curlew but very little else except two Ospreys gliding into
the wind, which initially gave the impression of skuas or gulls.
With news of two Black Terns,
a Whimbrel and a Greenshank at Eyebrook Reservoir we decided to go back there
in the hope they would all still be there.
Unfortunately the Black Terns hadn’t stayed too long and the Whimbrel
and Greenshank had flown up the reservoir.
As we stood in the northern coral there were several Common Terns and
David felt one might be an Arctic. We
watched the individual for some time but it was quite distant but I agreed that
it was probably an Arctic Tern. We drove
further up the reservoir and found that they were two Arctic with Andy Mackay
indicating he was pretty sure he had seen three. There were also four Little Ringed Plovers at
the inlet and the Greenshank was also seen a little further south on the
shore. So there were no Black Terns but
at least the Arctic Terns were a year tick.
With a report of at least two Black Terns at Rutland Water we thought
that we might have to return but a call to Erik enabled us to understand that
it was actually a report covering the earlier birds. We did try a see or hear a Grasshopper
Warbler on the Rutland side, which David did hear but I didn’t and it wasn’t
seen before we headed off home.
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