David, Roger and I set off for
the Lyndon Reserve at Rutland Water seeing very little on route. After parking we set off towards shallow
water hide but after just passing through the entrance gate we viewed the
feeders where there were eleven Tree Sparrows which were the first I had seen
here for some time. Most of the Tree
Sparrows flew into the hedge to the left of the centre and whilst watching
these Roger found a pair of Blackcap. We
could see that there were plenty of birds near Goldeneye hide and decided to go
into deep water hide to view the shore below Lax Hill. As we approached the hide I picked up two
Lesser Whitethroats that were feeding at of a rather tall hawthorn bush. From the hide we found nothing of real interest
but I was certain that there were at least two Black Terns in south arm three
but David and Roger couldn’t find them and so we moved on, agreeing to have
another look on the way back. We saw a
couple of Chiffchaffs and heard several more as we continued along the track
and found another Blackcap as we approached shallow water hide.
From the hide there were two
Ospreys present, the female and an immature, and a third bird, another immature
came in. The two immature birds were
then observed flying around the far side of the bay and often dropping in to
the water in a half hearted attempt at fishing.
There were twelve Ruff, two Common Sandpipers, two Green Sandpipers, two
Greenshanks and two Wood Sandpipers in the bay and a juvenile Spotted Redshank
dropped in just as we were thinking of making our way back. Seven Pintail were also worthy of note and
other wildfowl included Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Egyptian Goose,
Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard, Shoveler and Pochard as well as three Little
Grebes.
Greenshank in Manton Bay
Ruff in Manton Bay
Ruff in Manton Bay
Woodpigeon in Manton Bay
We called in Tufted Duck hide
on the way back to the centre and found at least five Chiffchaffs in a bush to
the left of the hide and single Sedge and Reed Warblers in the small patch of
reeds and there were also six Little Egrets.
Chiffchaff from Tufted Duck hide
Chiffchaff from Tufted Duck hide
Sedge Warbler from Tufted Duck hide
Reed Warbler from Tufted Duck hide
Wren from Tufted Duck hide
We continued making our way
back to the centre and then went on to Teal hide to view south arm three and
hopefully pick up the Black Terns. It
didn’t take too long to find a couple and we eventually agreed that there were
at least six feeding over the water with at least a dozen Common Terns. As I was counting the Little Egrets, of which
there were seven I found the Great White Egret feeding just of Brown’s Island.
Steve had found a Black-necked
Grebe in Dickinson’s Bay yesterday and we therefore went around to Barnsdale
and walked through the gate to view the bay.
David picked up the bird almost immediately and we could see it was a
rather scruffy summer adult.
David had discussed taking
Erik to see the first-summer Red-footed Falcon at
Willow Tree Fen and so before
leaving Dickinson’s Bay I tried calling Erik but there was no answer and so we
went to view the north arm. After
parking we found three Common Sandpipers and another Wood Sandpiper in the
fishponds, along with a single Yellow Wagtail.
After passing through the gate to view the north arm I counted eight
Ruff and Roger found some Ringed Plovers on the north shore. We eventually found six Ringed Plovers and
four Dunlin and David picked up a Sparrowhawk over Burley Wood. We walked further and went into the field to
view the spit and the southern shore but could only find a single Little Ringed
Plover and three Common Terns. Further
scanning of Burley Wood produced two Red Kites but nothing else, although
another Sparrowhawk flew over the north arm and headed off to the wood.
I had tried to contact Erik on
another couple of occasions without any joy and so we went to the Egleton car
park for lunch. Whilst having lunch I
found an obliging Garden Warbler that was sitting out in the open enjoying the
warm sunshine. As we were deciding what
to do Erik called and was with us within fifteen minutes being pretty keen to
go and see the falcon.
Forty minutes later we pulled
in to the rather small car park at Willow Tree Fen and set off down the long
track to reach the hides and the area the falcon was being seen. There were at least thirteen Yellow Wagtails
amongst some grazing cattle in a field adjacent to the path but we saw very
little else before reaching the hide.
Some other birders were coming out of the hide saying that the falcon
was visible but was perched towards the next hide. We soon found the bird and had reasonable
cope views of what was probably the same bird we had seen in Staffordshire in
late July. I decided I would go further
along the track to see if it was visible and was soon followed by the others
and we were able to get closer, although it flew off just as we approached but
soon returned to what appeared to be its favourite tree.
Forty minutes later we pulled
in to the rather small car park at Willow Tree Fen and set off down the long
track to reach the hides and the area the falcon was being seen. There were at least thirteen Yellow Wagtails
amongst some grazing cattle in a field adjacent to the path but we saw very
little else before reaching the hide.
Some other birders were coming out of the hide saying that the falcon
was visible but was perched towards the next hide. We soon found the bird and had reasonable scope
views of what was probably the same bird we had seen in Staffordshire in late
July. I decided I would go further along
the track to see if it was visible and was soon followed by the others and we
were able to get closer, although it flew off just as we approached but soon
returned to what appeared to be its favourite tree.
Red-footed Falcon
Whilst we were on site there
was also a Marsh Harrier briefly but we saw very little else.
After dropping Erik off at
Egleton we called at Eyebrook Reservoir briefly on route home. We stopped by the fencing to view the inlet
where there was a group of birders scanning the area. There were quite a few waders present and we
saw seven Ringed Plovers, two juvenile Curlew Sandpipers, seven Dunlin, two
Black-tailed Godwits and a Greenshank and there was also several Ruff with more
on the edges leading away from the inlet and I counted eighteen but on the
water the only thing of note was a juvenile Shelduck. We stopped briefly at the bay just to the
west of the hide where there was a single Wood Sandpiper.
During our travels we had
three Red Kites along Stockerston Lane just after leaving Eyebrook Reservoir
and a Marsh Harrier as we approached Baston Fen on route to Willow Tree
Fen. It had been another good day’s
birding helping Erik get yet another lifer with the Red-footed Falcon and I had
recorded eighty-five species.
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