There had been quite a bit of
rain yesterday and although the wind was from the south west I hopeful of a few
waders at least. I left home just after 07:00
and headed for the southern end of Eyebrook Reservoir, seeing a Kestrel on
route.
I dropped down the hill
towards the reservoir and stopped briefly at the gate to the fishing lodge but
other than eight Red-legged Partridges there was little else and I moved on to
the first bay. There was a Greenshank on
the shore towards the island but I could see little else and so I walked a
little further down the road to view the hedge that runs away from the
reservoir. There were fewer birds in the
hedge than during my last visit but there was still quite a few Linnets and I
did see three distant Red Kites and four Ravens. I walked further along the road to look along
the shoreline towards the fishing lodge, although the light was pretty
poor. I found three Ringed Plovers and a
Dunlin but another wader a little further away and facing me was not instantly
recognisable. I was struggling partially
because of the light and secondly the angle of the bird and I thought I might
see it better from the old hide. I went
back to the car as I left my camera on the front seat and after putting in the
boot headed back towards the hide. When
I reached my original position I could see that the bird had moved closer and
had been joined by a second and I could now see that they were two Wood
Sandpipers. I also found three Little
Ringed Plovers but I couldn’t see the Dunlin, although the original three
Ringed Plovers were still present.
I moved on to the railing at
the inlet but the light was so bad I continued on to the bridge. After parking I went to the bridge and viewed
the area up stream and there were a few birds feeding in the willows on the
edge of the stream. I could see three
Long-tailed Tits and a Chiffchaff but with patience I found five Chiffchaffs, a
Willow Warbler, a Garden Warbler and a Spotted Flycatcher. From the other side of the bridge looking
towards the reservoir there was a Little Egret and two more Greenshanks. I then continued around the reservoir to view
the inlet where there were another three Ringed Plovers, two Dunlin, a Curlew
and several juvenile Ruff. The Ruff were
well spread out and each time I counted them I seemed to find more and
eventually finished up counting thirty-one.
Feeling pretty pleased with
what I had seen I headed to Rutland Water and after filling up with petrol went
to the north arm. I had seen that a
Little Stint had been reported and presumed it would have been seen by Steve
and Terry. When I arrived I scanned the
fishponds first finding a single Green Sandpiper on the north shore before
moving through the gate to view the north arm.
I scanned the bund but couldn’t find either any Common Sandpipers or
Yellow Wagtails but there were plenty of Ruff on the north shore but no sign of
the Little Stint and so I walked in to the field to view the south shore. There was a party of Ringed Plovers and Dunlin
feeding quite close in the bay and I soon noticed the juvenile Little Stint
amongst them as well as two Common Sandpipers and I counted eleven Ringed
Plovers and seventeen Dunlin. I also
found a single Little Ringed Plover on the shore and a female-type Red-crested
Pochard to the east as well as counting fifteen Ruffs scattered around the
arm. I scanned Burley Wood and found a
couple of Red Kites and there were several Buzzards between the wood and the
fishponds.
Buzzard over the north arm
Ringed Plover in the north arm
Ringed Plover in the north arm
Juvenile Little Stint in the north arm
Juvenile Little Stint in the north arm
Juvenile Little Stint in the north arm
Juvenile Little Stint in the north arm
Moulting juvenile Dunlin in the north arm
From the north arm I went to
the Old Hall to view south arm three and found three more Ruff and thirty-two
Common Terns just after crossing the cattle grid. I walked west to view the area between the
Old Hall and Lapwing hide on the reserve and found six Common Sandpipers along
the shore line and another sixteen Common Terns towards Lax Hill as well as a
couple of Black Terns. I also counted
twenty-six Little Egrets scattered around the shoreline.
Common Sandpiper over south arm three
When I reached the Egleton car
park it was a little chaotic following the Birdfair as the car park was still
being used to short rubbish and to load vehicles. As it was about 11:45 I decided I would have
my lunch before going to the centre to view lagoon one.
Whilst I was viewing the
lagoon Erik arrived and was still enjoying telling everyone one about his
successful Scillies pelagic and particularly the incredible view he had of a
Fea’s Petrel, jammy beggar. He joined me
in the viewing gallery and between us we found two Garganey, three Red-crested
Pochard, an Osprey perched on a post and a Greenshank. I saw a juvenile Marsh Harrier but as I
called it, it dropped on to the ground and didn’t reappear and I also had brief
views of a Dunlin.
Steve, who was on his own,
called to see what we had seen and after a short discussion it was clear that
there were plenty of waders on site, his best being two Wood Sandpipers in
Manton Bay and he had also seen at least eleven Black Terns in south arm three.
Erik and I went to Shoveler
hide on lagoon three were the water had risen considerably following
yesterday’s rain and was perhaps now a little too deep for waders. However we did find a Common Sandpiper, a
Green Sandpiper and the Wood Sandpiper was still present but other than a
couple of Swifts amongst the numerous hirundines there was little else and so
we moved on to Lapwing hide. I
eventually managed to locate eleven distant Black Terns and three Greenshanks
and two Ruff flew across the arm and appeared to come down in front of
Fieldfare hide. There was also four
Goldeneye just in front of the hide and on lagoon two we found six Green
Sandpipers and a Greenshank, which was presumably the one we saw earlier on
lagoon one.
As it was now beginning to
rain we decided that lagoon four might be a good place to be and so we walked
back to sandpiper hide. We could see
that there several Ringed Plovers on the exposed area between islands six and
nine but felt we would see them better from Dunlin hide and headed in that
direction but not before seeing yet another Common Sandpiper. Our assumption was correct and we could see
the bird better and I counted twenty-one Ringed Plovers and three Dunlin and
there was an Osprey on the lagoon that flew off towards the north arm. Erik then found a couple of Little Stints in
the same area and I picked up a couple of Pintail and to the left of the hide
there was a Curlew and seven Yellow-legged Gulls but we couldn't find anything else
unusual amongst the flock of gulls.
I called Steve to find he had
just arrived in the north arm and that he felt there was perhaps more waders
than earlier. I informed him that we now
had two Little Stints on lagoon four and he said he hadn’t seen one in the
north arm and presumably it had joined the one he had seen earlier on lagoon
four. It was only a few minutes later
when he called back to say that there was a Knot now in the north arm and so
Erik and I walked back to the car perk and headed to the north arm.
Steve was just leaving as we
arrived and after a quick chat we joined Lloyd to view the waders on the north
shore. I soon located the Knot, which
was an immature and just afterwards both Erik and I found a Little Stint
amongst the other waders. I counted
twenty-four Ringed Plovers and twenty Dunlin and there was another four Ringed
Plovers on the southern spit making twenty-eight in total. Two Common Sandpipers flew in front of us and
there were three Yellow-legged Gulls on the north shore but with nothing else I
dropped Erik back at the centre and headed off for my second visit to Eyebrook
Reservoir.
As I arrived at Eyebrook
Reservoir it started to rain again and so I drove to the far end in the hope
that two Curlew Sandpipers reported earlier were still there. As it was till raining I went into the hide
and quickly found three juvenile Curlew Sandpipers along with three Common
Sandpipers and a Wood Sandpiper. There
was no sign of the second Wood Sandpiper seen earlier this morning or the
Little Ringed and Ringed Plovers present earlier and so I went back to the fencing but other than a
Yellow Wagtail I saw nothing new and after a coffee I headed off home. As I was leaving the reservoir I noticed a
small bird perched on a small mound, which turned out to be a rather wet
Wheatear.
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