I went to the Lyndon Reserve
at Rutland Water first this morning and as I was almost through the first part
of the path a Great Tit flew into a bush to the right of the path and I then
noticed a Lesser Whitethroat and Garden Warbler in the same bush. I continued walking down the track seeing a
Kestrel over the first meadow and when I reached the track to wader scrape hide
there was clearly a number of birds in the vegetation. I stopped to try and view what was there but
they were playing heard to get and hiding amongst the foliage. There were certainly a few Blue and
Long-tailed Tits and I eventually saw a female-type Blackcap. As I approached shallow water hide I saw another
Blackcap and a Lesser Whitethroat and a juvenile Whitethroat.
There were just two Ospreys
present but a third did return briefly during my visit, although when I finally
left the hide they had all disappeared.
There were two adult male Ruffs with two Black-tailed Godwits just to
the right of the hide and a Snipe was feeding amongst a party of resting
duck. Around the bay I also located a
Common Sandpiper, five Green Sandpipers and a Greenshank and two Buzzards also
flew over. There broods of six, three
and two Tufted Duck and eight Little Egrets scattered around the bay.
Male Ruff
Male Ruff
I called at Tufted Duck hide
on the way back to the centre where there were two Little Egrets and a Green
Sandpiper and I could see the Great White Egret in Heron Bay. I saw very little else walking back to the
centre and after a brief look at the feeding station made my way to the north
arm.
There were three Common
Sandpipers on the bund in the north arm but yet again there were fishermen on
the point and so I walked to the second point where there were seventeen Little
Ringed Plovers along with a Common Sandpiper and a Redshank and surprisingly
there were three Dunlin on the point the fishermen were on. There were three Curlew, along with another
Common Sandpiper and a second Redshank on the south shore. I found yet another Common Sandpiper on the
north shore and there was a single Oystercatcher also on the north shore. There was an adult Yellow-legged Gull on the
north shore and I counted twenty-seven Common Terns feeding over the
water. As I scanned Burley Wood a Raven
along with a Buzzard was observed.
Seven of the Little Ringed Plovers
At the Egleton Reserve the
Birdfair preparations are moving on and I found Tim and Joe helping with the
positioning of two portakabins at the entrance to the car park. I continued to the centre to get some bird
seed before returning to the car park for lunch, seeing an Osprey pass over the
car park as I turned in.
After lunch I went into the
centre to look at lagoon one but other than four broods of Tufted Duck just in
front of the centre and a good number of Little Grebe there was little
else. I headed off to the northern
lagoons seeing a Muntjac on the path close to the badger hide. As I continued along the summer trail I found
a small flock of birds feeding in the woodland and found Chiffchaff, Willow
Warbler and Treecreeper amongst the more numerous Blue and Long-tailed Tits.
There was a Snipe and a Green
Sandpiper on the area to the left of the hide and a Reed Warbler was observed
just in front but there were only ten Common Terns feeding over the water. A single Buzzard was also observed over the
woodland just beyond the reed bed. I
moved onto Dunlin hide on lagoon four where I found three Ringed Plovers and
four Dunlin on island one and a couple of Common Sandpipers on the western bund
and island eight. A single Shelduck was
observed and there were twenty Yellow-legged Gulls to the left of the hide
amongst the more numerous Black-headed and Great Black-backed Gulls and also a
few Lesser Black-backed Gulls and an odd Common Gull. As I left the hide a Green Woodpecker flew
off the ramp leading to the hide.
Yellow-legged Gull
I called at Eyebrook Reservoir
on route home and I stopped at the bridge where I saw two Green Sandpipers, a
Greenshank and a Kingfisher. From the
northern corral there were three Oystercatchers, a Little Ringed Plover, two
Ruff and a Curlew and I found a couple of Common Sandpiper at the island before
heading off home.
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