I decided to visit Great
Easton first this morning as it one of the more reliable sites for hearing and
possibly seeing Cuckoo. When I set off
the sun was shining brightly although it felt a little cool and when I arrived
at the old railway line at Great Easton the weather was pretty much the same
but it had warmed up nicely when I finally departed. As I parked the car one of the first birds I
saw was a Green Woodpecker that landed on the trunk of a close by tree where it
remained partially hidden.
Green Woodpecker
Not surprisingly as soon as I
got out of the car the woodpecker flew off.
There was a Whitethroat singing close by but I was unable to locate it
as I walked to the barn where there is an owl box. When I reached the barn I could see some
dried grass in the box but there was no sign of any owls and unfortunately I
hadn’t seen or heard any Cuckoos. I went
back towards the car before turning and heading off down the old track and
walked as far as the gate across the track before turning and coming back. There was plenty of song with several
Chiffchaff, Willow Warblers and Blackcaps heard as I walked towards the
gate. On reaching the gate two Swift
flew over and perhaps surprisingly there was a Grey Heron stood in a ploughed
field. As I began to walk back I heard a
Lesser Whitethroat and managed brief views and there were also several Song
Thrushes in evidence. As I was getting
back towards the car a Red Kite flew over and as I fired off a few shots off I
heard a Cuckoo call but I couldn’t see it.
It continued to call as I went along the track and then suddenly took to
flight and flew away and into a tree in a field hedgerow. I scanned the tree but still couldn’t see it
but it suddenly came out of the tree and flew back over the railway and
disappeared into the distant plantation but I could still hear it calling. Surprising a few minutes later a second bird
flew along the same flight path but didn’t call and was possibly a female. I was joined by a dog walker who asked if I
had seen the Barn Owl, which of cause I hadn’t.
They advised me that it wasn’t using the barn at present but she had
been seeing it regularly up to about two weeks ago. Just after she had left I picked up a Barn
Owl hunting over one of the adjacent fields and it flew around for about
fifteen minutes occasionally perching in the tress before flying off to the
east. Having seen both Cuckoo and Barn Owl and a good selection of commoner
birds I was quite pleased with the start to the day and headed off to Eyebrook
Reservoir.
Red Kite
Barn Owl
When I arrived at the southern
end of the reservoir there was no sign of the usual Tree Sparrows but I did see
a distant Red Kite. I stopped at the
island coral but there was no sign of any Little Ringed Plovers on the island
and I continued on down the Leicestershire side of the reservoir. I continued on to few the old oak but the
Little Owl wasn’t showing and so I went back to the reservoir seeing a Blackcap
from the bridge before continuing to overlook the inlet area. As I began scanning I saw a Little Ringed
Plover in flight and I counted fifteen Ringed Plovers on the Leicestershire
bank and there was also a couple of Dunlin and a single Black-tailed
Godwit. With little else being seen I
drove towards the Stoke Dry car park and found the two suspect Pink-footed
Geese amongst a few Greylags.
On reaching the car park I
decided I would go for a walk in the plantation, which is something I haven’t
done for a while. There were a few
singing Chiffchaffs, a couple of Willow Warblers and I heard five Blackcaps and
saw a female. I also saw a Whitethroat in
an area that had been cleared and a Lesser Whitethroat was heard but not
seen. There were quite a few Goldcrest
and I saw a Coal Tit and heard a second and also had brief views of a
Treecreeper. A Little Egret flew by
heading towards the dam and an Osprey was observed towards the inlet before I
started to walk back. On the way back, I
was mainly seeing or hearing pretty much of I had done when I walked out,
however as I approached the entrance gate I heard what I thought was a Spotted
Flycatcher and found it perched on the bare branch of an old conifer. This was quite a find as it has been over
twenty years since I last saw one at this site and as I pulled away on route to
Rutland Water I was again pretty pleased with the selection of birds I had
seen.
At Rutland Water I initially
called at the Lyndon Reserve where I had six Tree Sparrows on the feeders along
with a nice Yellowhammer. Surprisingly
all of the Tree Sparrows were juveniles and presumably the adults were now on a
second brood. Having spent some time
talking to Paul in the centre I set off to Wader Scrape Hide hearing a few
Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps on route and seeing a single Whitethroat. When I reached the hide both Ospreys were on
the nest, although the three young are not yet visible. I observed three Sedge Warblers from the hide
and there was a Reed Warbler singing but wasn’t seen and I heard a Cuckoo
calling from the far side on several occasions but like the Reed Warbler it remained
elusive. There were thirty-four Common
Terns feeding mainly over Manton Bay but also over the south arm and a Little
Egret was observed in flight over the bay.
I found a distant Red Kite and Kestrel and two Buzzards were observed
much closer. I called at Tufted Duck
hide on my way back to the centre where I found a female Gadwall with a brood
of six ducklings, which I considered to be a little early. Another nice surprise was a female Grey
Wagtail as they are not particularly common here at this time of the year. On reaching the centre I had some nice views
of a male Broad-bodied Chaser and a couple of Large Red Damselflies.
I finally headed for the north
arm where I had some lunch, having brief views of an Osprey low over the north
shore whilst doing so. When I had finished
my lunch I scanned the fishponds and located a single drake Goldeneye but other
than a pair of Shelduck and a Little Egret on the north shore and several
Common Terns over the north arms it was pretty quiet.
On reaching the centre at
Egleton I headed off to Snipe hide on the Wet Meadow where the Avocets were
still present, with one of the birds sitting and there was also a couple of
Shelduck, a Little Egret and a Redshank.
Six Oystercatchers flew over and a Hobby was observed hawking between
lagoon two and south arm three. As I
walked back to the centre I saw both Blackcap and Garden Warbler.
Rook in the Wet Meradow
Broad-bodied Chaser from Snipe hide
On reaching the centre I
continued on towards the northern lagoons seeing a couple of Great Spotted
Woodpeckers, a Jay and another Blackcap.
I called at sandpiper hide on lagoon four first where I found two
Oystercatchers, a Little Ringed Plover and three Ringed Plovers and the six
Oystercatchers, probably those seen early dropped in. On hearing a Redshank call I looked towards
island seven and I could see a wader at the water’s edge and presumed it to be
the Redshank. However when I got the
scope on it I could see that it was a Greenshank, which was a pretty unusual
record with most spring birds passing through during April to mid-May. I also found the Redshank quite close to the
Greenshank, which then flew to island eight.
The Greenshank then also flew to island eight before calling and flying
off over lagoon three, where it appeared to land.
I moved to Shoveler hide on
lagoon three but there was no sign of the Greenshank but I did locate a single
Teal and a couple of Pochard.
It had been a pretty good day
and I had recorded ninety-four species, which is good for June.
No comments:
Post a Comment