Roger and I set off for
Eyebrook Reservoir this morning but saw very little on route and there was no
sign of the Little Owls, yet again, along the approach road. We stopped at the inlet bridge and whilst we
were there David called, who was only out for the morning, to inform us he had
only seen four Little Ringed Plovers and a Black-tailed Godwit at the inlet and
was now on his way to the north arm at Rutland Water. He also mentioned that there was a family
party of Lesser Whitethroats in a bush close to where we normally park.
I parked in the normal area
and soon found the Black-tailed Godwit but there were now two adult Dunlin
close to it. We found three Little
Ringed Plovers close to the family party of Shelduck, which are now quite well
grown and must be close to fledging. As
I continued to scan there was a single Common Tern amongst a party of
Black-headed Gulls on the mud and a Yellow-legged Gull close by and then I
found a third Dunlin, that was an immature and my first of the autumn. We also found the Lesser Whitethroats in the
bush close to where I had parked but there was very little else other than a
couple of Little Egrets and a few Swift.
Lesser Whitethroat
Lesser Whitethroat
Lesser Whitethroat
As we were driving to Rutland
Water David called again to say that yesterday’s Knot was still present in the
north arm and then indicated he had also found a Sanderling. After Roger and I had parked we went through
the gate to view the north arm hearing and then seeing a Green Sandpiper before
we found David who was viewing the south shore.
As we approached him he said he thought he found a Wood Sandpiper and he
got us viewing the right area. There
were a couple of Curlew and two Greenshanks and we then saw the bird in
question, which we saw in flight and agreed it was a Wood Sandpiper. Turning and viewing the spit all I could see
were two Dunlin but eventually there were four and also the Knot and the
Sanderling. Both the Knot and the
Sanderling were adults with both beginning to saw signs of moult but the Knot
still looked quite nice. There was also
an Oystercatcher, a couple of Little Ringed Plovers and a Common Sandpiper as
well as several Common Terns on the spit and a female Common Scoter just off
the point.
Knot
Female Common Scoter
Erik had now joined us but we
found very little on the north shore just the pair of Shelduck with their two
young and a couple of Little Egrets.
Erik and David then indicated that the Great White Egret was in the
fishponds but by the time Roger came over it had disappeared. We decided to walk around to the southern
shore to hopefully get better views of the Wood Sandpiper. As we approached the area the two Greenshanks
flew but only a short distance and we could also see the Curlew. David and Erik continued as they thought the
Wood Sandpiper was in the next bay but I thought it would be with the other
waders and stopped to scan the shore and soon had nice views of the adult Wood
Sandpiper. I got Roger on to it and then
phoned David to let him know we had found it.
They returned to gat views of the bird before it disappeared behind some
vegetation. As we stood we heard a Raven
call and then saw two as we walked back to the cottage road, which was my first
sighting here since May 12th.
Whilst we were in the north arm I was also able to get some nice shots
of the Common Terns and there were five Common Sandpipers on the bund.
Juvenile Common Tern
Juvenile Common Tern
Adult Common Tern
Adult Common Tern
Adult Common Tern
We all eventually moved off to
the Egleton Reserve and after David had checked the book we set off for
Shoveler hide. There was a
female/immature Kestrel over the last meadow, which went ahead of us as we
walked towards the hide but we saw virtually nothing else.
Female/immature Kestrel
Female/immature Kestrel
When we arrived in the hide
the water was still showing signs or rising but other than a couple of Curlew
resting on the mud there were no other waders.
We spent quite a while in the hide and eventually saw one of the two
juvenile Avocets when it appeared from behind the reeds and also had distant
views of a Red Kite and a Buzzard over Burley.
There was an adult and a juvenile Shelduck but despite scrutinising the
wildfowl, which were mainly Tufted Duck, we were unable to find anything of
note.
Before returning to the car
park for lunch we called at sandpiper hide on lagoon four where Erik found a
Little Ringed Plover with a chick towards the new Volunteer Centre, which was
one of the four moved from the yard at the centre. There was also three Ringed Plovers and three
Dunlin on island six and at least twenty Yellow-legged Gulls resting towards
the western edge of the lagoon.
After some lunch David
departed to carry out a butterfly count and Roger, Erik and I went to view
lagoon one form the centre. There were
plenty of bird, mainly Gadwall, Tufted Duck, and Coot but also eight Little
Grebes just in front of the centre. I
also saw a Shoveler escorting two well grown young and there was also a Gadwall
with five young and two broods of Tufted Duck of five and one. We had seen Tim as we walked to the centre
who had gone off to view the southern area and whilst we were discussing what
to do we had a text indicating that he had seen two Greenshank and six Green
Sandpiper and so we decided to visit the Lyndon Reserve.
When we arrived the car park
was almost full and it wasn’t therefore surprising when we reached shallow
water hide that it was also pretty full.
We did find a Little Ringed Plover, seven Black-tailed Godwits, three
Curlew, a Greenshank and two Green Sandpipers and there was at least eleven
Little Egrets in the bay. The two adult
Osprey and their three young were all present and two did fly around briefly
but we eventually headed back towards the centre.
Juvenile Osprey
Juvenile Osprey
Juvenile Osprey
Juvenile Osprey
Juvenile Osprey
Juvenile Osprey
House Martin from shallow water hide
House Martin from shallow water hide
Chiffchaff near shallow water hide
We called at Tufted Duck hide
on the way back but due to a large bed of emergent reeds we couldn’t see very
well, although we did see three more Little Egrets in Heron Bay and another
four along the southern shore of Lax Hill.
Two of the Osprey from Manton Bay also flew by towards heading east and
we assumed that they were probably the adults going fishing. We stopped before
reaching the centre to view the spit near Goldeneye hide on Lax Hill where we
found a Common Sandpiper and a Yellow-legged Gull. After dropping Erik back at Egleton, Roger
and I went home via Eyebrook Reservoir but again there was no sign of the
Little Owls.
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