I was out early today seeing
three Red Kites and a Buzzard on route to Eyebrook Reservoir. I approached the reservoir from the southern end
and saw four Tree Sparrows near the gate to the fishing lodge and a Lesser
Whitethroat near the island coral. There
was a Little Egret on the island along with a Yellow-legged Gull and five
Common Terns but there was no sign of any waders. I made my way down the northern end and
viewed the inlet from the fence where there were a couple of Dunlin amongst the
Lapwings and a Curlew flew in and landed on the drier mud. I checked the old oak unsuccessfully for a
Little Owl but found the Kingfisher on the same perch as on Thursday and an
Osprey flew over but there was little else, except for a Chiffchaff that I
heard calling. From the Rutland bank one
of the first birds I saw was a Black-tailed Godwit that was amongst the Lapwing
but there was nothing else of note on what looks like really good wader
habitat. There were four Lesser
Whitethroats in the blackthorn on the opposite side of the parking area and
were presumably the same birds I have seen on the last two visits.
After leaving Eyebrook
Reservoir I went to the Lyndon Reserve at Rutland Water and walked to shallow
water hide overlooking Manton Bay. It
was fairly quiet on the walk to the hide but I did see a couple of Green
Woodpeckers and there were a few Chiffchaff calling. From the hide I found a couple of Common
Sandpipers, six Green Sandpipers and a Greenshank on the far shore and there
was three Ospreys present, the two adults and a juvenile. Further scanning produced a juvenile Ruff to
the right of the hide, which was my first juvenile of the autumn and there was
also a Snipe feeding just in front of the hide.
As I continued scanning a drake eclipse Red-crested Pochard appeared and
remained just right of the hide for a while.
A third Green Woodpecker flew across the bay, an Oystercatcher flew over
from the east and there were two Buzzards perched on a power pole on the far
side. A Kingfisher was seen briefly as
it flew low across the inlet to the bay before disappearing. Other than six Little Egrets scattered around
the bay there was nothing else of note and I made my way back to the centre
seeing a Sparrowhawk carrying food from Tufted Duck hide.
Male Osprey with fish alighting on perch
Drake Red-crested Pochard in eclipse plumage
Drake Red-crested Pochard in eclipse plumage
Female Osprey over Manton Bay
Female Osprey over Manton Bay
Female Osprey over Manton Bay
Female Osprey over Manton Bay
I moved on to the north arm
and after parking walked down towards the point and after scanning the bund and
the north shore and locating four Little Ringed Plovers and a Common Sandpiper
I moved into the field to the right of the point. It was disappointing to find a couple of
fishermen on the point and consequently no birds but I did find another three
Common Sandpipers and a single Curlew on the southern shore. There were two Shelduck, an adult off the
south shore and a juvenile off the north shore and ten Common Terns feeding
over the water. As I walked back to the
car I found three Yellow Wagtails amongst the numerous Pied Wagtails feeding
near the bund.
Male Yellow Wagtail
Male and juvenile Yellow Wagtail
Juvenile Yellow Wagtail
Juvenile Pied Wagtail
On reaching the Egleton
Reserve I set off towards Snipe hide on the Wet Meadow and found Rick in the
hide when I arrived but there was very little on the flash and after observing
a Buzzard over Brown’s Island we moved on to Fieldfare hide, seeing a Sedge
Warbler on route. There were no waders from
Fieldfare and the only bird of note was a Little Egret. As we scanned the water Rick picked up a
Hobby and we observed it for a few minutes hawking over Brown’s Island and
lagoon one and there was a brood of seven and another of five Tufted Ducks on
the water. We called at harrier on our
way back to the centre but again there was nothing of note and we made our way
back to the car park.
Brimstone
Ken had arrived when we got
back for lunch and shortly afterwards Brian, Rosie and Roger Brett
arrived. When we had finished our lunch
Ken, Rick and I set off for Shoveler hide on lagoon three. We called at grebe hide on lagoon two as a
Curlew had been reported but there was no sign but there were a couple of
broods of Tufted Duck, one of six and another of just one.
It was pretty quiet from
Shoveler but there were a couple of juvenile Shelduck and at least sixteen
Common Terns that included a number of immature birds and I did find a
female-type Goldeneye amongst the numerous Tufted Ducks. I picked up a Sparrowhawk over the wood on
the edge of the lagoon and shortly afterwards we saw a couple of Ospreys, with
one flying across the lagoon. We
eventually left to view lagoon four, leaving Brian, Rosie and Roger in the
hide.
Rick decided to go into
sandpiper hide whilst Ken and I continued on to Dunlin hide to hopefully get a
better view of the gulls. There were two
Oystercatchers on island eight and four Dunlin and two Ringed Plovers just to
the right of the hide and we found three Common Sandpipers scattered around the
lagoon. Brian, Rosie and Roger then
joined us and Roger located a forth Common Sandpiper and when he looked for the
Dunlin and Ringed Plover they had flown but he soon found them again on another
spit. The number of Ringed Plovers had
increased to four and they were then joined by two more. There were twenty-one Yellow-legged Gulls
resting and bathing to the left of the hide and I then picked up the
third-calendar year Caspian Gull bathing.
We also saw a Red Kite and Sparrowhawk over Burley. Ken then decided he was going back to the
centre, whilst I went back towards Shoveler hide but continued on to crake hide
where I had two Reed Warblers. The reeds
have encroached significantly in front of the hide and I suspect that if they
were where they were three years ago there would be some exposed mud for
waders. This hide in the past could be
quite good during August and September for waders but unless the advancement of
the reeds is dealt with I suspect that it will soon be impossible to see
anything from the hide. I returned to
Shoveler hide to look for a Redshank I had heard earlier but there was no sign
and so I went back to the centre.
When I got back Erik had
arrived and was talking to Brian and co and we were the joined by Chris and
Colin. Erik and Brian and co decided to
go to the north arm and just as I was about to leave Erik called to say that
there were twenty plus Little Ringed Plovers in the north arm and so I went to
take a look. There were five on the main
spit, seven on the smaller spit and nine on the north shore and three Curlews
also flew over and there was an Osprey towards the fishponds.
I eventually called it a day
and headed off home after recording eighty-seven species during the day.
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