I was out early today as I was
helping with a summer wildfowl count at Rutland Water and wanted to visit
Eyebrook Reservoir before going to there.
A Green Woodpecker flew over the road as I approached Blaston and there
was a Buzzard perched in a roadside tree on the far side of the village. I arrived at the southern end of Eyebrook
Reservoir just after 06:30 and found a Dunlin and a Whimbrel on the
island. I then drove slowly towards the
northern end and heard a Lesser Whitethroat sing. I parked and walked back along the road
hearing the Lesser Whitethroat sing on several occasions and I saw it rather
poorly as it moved on the far side of the hedge but it then flew some way down
the road. I returned to the car and
drove to the northern coral seeing an Osprey flying off to the north as I
pulled up. The exposed mud was almost
bird less with just a few Teal in evidence and so I checked the old oak for
Little Owls but they were not showing and I then went and parked facing the
inlet on the Rutland bank. I did see a
couple of Little Ringed Plovers flying around but other than half a dozen
Shelduck there was nothing else and so I went on to Rutland Water.
I went to the fishponds hoping
to catch Steve to see what areas he would like me to count. He was already there and we agreed that I
would count South Arm Three, the Wet Meadow and the new lagoons.
I drove to the Old Hall to
count South Arm Three and there were quite a few Tufted Duck just off shore and
I found a female Scaup as I went through and counted them. There were quite a few birds on the water but
most were Tufted Duck and Coot, although I also had Mute Swan, Greylag Goose,
two Shelduck, Gadwall, Teal and Mallard but surprisingly no Goldeneye.
When I had finished in the
south arm I went to the Egleton car park and walked to the Wet Meadow. As I walked round to Snipe hide I saw a
couple of Chiffchaffs and two Blackcaps as well as hearing several more Chiffchaff
and Blackcaps as well as a Willow Warbler.
There were four Shelduck and a pair of Pintail as well as Gadwall, Teal,
Mallard and Shoveler on the Wet Meadow.
I continued on to tern hide on Lagoon Six seeing Willow Warbler,
Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler on route.
There was an Oystercatcher sitting on a nest just in front of the hide
and another standing on a nearby island.
Other wildfowl included Mute Swan, Greylag Geese, Canada Geese, Egyptian
Geese, Wigeon, Gadwall and Coot.
Chiffchaff
Oystercatcher
Lapwing
Lapwing
From Pintail hide that also
overlooks Lagoon Six there was another pair of Oystercatcher with again one
sitting.
I walked on and counted lagoon
eight from the path where there were quite a few Greylag Geese, a couple of
Shelduck and a single Oystercatcher. I
retraced my steps and went on to Lagoon Seven, which does not have public
access and can only be viewed from the entrance of Shelduck hide. However as I was doing the count I was
authorised to view it from inside the perimeter but keeping mainly hidden
behind the bank. I went to the far end
and looked back up the lagoon and one of the first birds I saw was an Avocet,
which was quickly followed by a Greenshank.
I called Steve as I suspected he needed Greenshank for his county year
list. As we were talking a godwit
suddenly appeared and then disappeared just a quickly. He had almost finished his count and said he
would join me and then finish lagoon one from harrier hide. Whilst I was waiting I walked around a little
further to get of view of the godwit and was able to confirm that it was a
Black-tailed. Steve arrived and viewed
the lagoon from the sluice gate and quickly found the Avocet and Greenshank but
not the godwit and so he joined me and then godwit obligingly appeared. There were also Mute Swan, Greylag Goose,
Egyptian Goose, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard and Tufted Duck on the lagoon and a Red
Kite was seen just off to the west.
I now had just lagoon five to
count and I was finished Steve joined me in Shelduck hide in the hope that the
Greenland White-fronted Goose would be present. Whilst we were searching for the goose we
found a two Oystercatcher, a Little Ringed Plover and two Redshank but we could
only see Greylag Geese. A goose then
called, which sounded a bit like a Pink-footed Goose, and we saw the Greenland
White-fronted Goose drop in. Steve went
off to harrier hide and after few more minutes completing the count from
Shelduck I went into the 360° hide to make sure I
hadn’t missed anything.
With the count complete I went
back to the car for lunch before handing in the figures and heading off to
lagoon three.
Steve had counted lagoon three
this morning and hadn’t seen anything special but as I walked along the winter
trail another birder informed that there were eleven Little Gulls and two Arctic
Terns over the lagoon. As I approached
the path to Shoveler hide a heard a gull call I wasn’t particularly familiar
with and when I looked up I found a superb summer adult Little Gull. Whilst I was watching, it continued to call
but it was the only one I could see. On
reaching the hide I found another two adults and two first-summer birds feeding
low over the water. I called to Steve to
let him about the gulls and he was up at the dam seeing very little and said he
would come straight back. As I looked over
the water I couldn’t find any Little Gulls but did find a female-type Marsh
Harrier at the far end of the reedbed. I
called Steve to make him aware that the gulls had disappeared but that I now
had a Marsh Harrier. When he arrived in
the hide I hadn’t seen the gulls again and the harrier had also
disappeared. He wasn’t sure as to
whether to go to sandpiper to see if the Little Gulls were on lagoon four or
stick it out in Shoveler in the hope they would reappear. Whilst scanning he found the two Arctic Terns
amongst the Common Terns and he then picked up a Little Gull. More Little Gulls then appeared and we could
see that there were two first-summers, a second summer and at least two summer
adults. They suddenly began to climb
higher and eventually we could see that there were twelve, nine of which were
summer adults. As we watched them they
seemed to move off to the east but also seemed to drop low over South Arm
Three. As I scanned the sky to try and
find them again I noticed that the Marsh Harrier was back over the reedbed and
we were able to determine that it was probably an immature as there was no
yellow on the forewing but this also gained height and appeared to depart.
Steve went back to the centre
to hand in his count figures and went to sandpiper hide on lagoon four. I found a couple of Oystercatchers, a Little
Ringed Plover, a Ringed Plover, a Ruff and a couple of Redshank and more Common
Terns resting on one of the spits.
Finally I went to both Bittern and plover hides but other than two more
Little Ringed Plovers from plover hide there was nothing new. I walked back to the centre but other than a
few more Common Terns found nothing else of note on lagoon one.
As it was such a cracking
afternoon I decided to call at Eyebrook Reservoir again on my way home. I drove around to the northern coral and
found three Little Ringed Plovers at the inlet, which were displaying flying
around and calling for quite some time.
There was also a single Oystercatcher on the Rutland bank and there were
now ten terns present. Two were sat on
one of the raft, which were clearly Common Terns as were another two but the other
six that were a little further away were Arctic Terns. There were also more hirundines present with
most being Swallows but there was also a few Sand Martins amongst them as they
fed over the water. I then noticed some
higher and initially picked out a couple of House Martins but eventually had as
many as six and whilst scanning these found two Swifts, which were my first of
the year.
An excellent day with five
year ticks and ninety-one species recorded.
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