I went straight to the Lyndon
Reserve at Rutland Water today and on arrival walked to shallow water hide
overlooking Manton Bay. I heard a Little
Owl call several times as I was getting kitted out and observed a couple of
Whitethroat just before entering the hide.
There were still six Green Sandpipers and a Greenshank in the bay but I
could only find a single Common Sandpiper but the Ruff was still just to the right
of the hide along with a Black-tailed Godwit.
During my time in the hide there was quite a bit of Osprey activity and
at one point there were two birds carrying fish, which suggested that one might
be an intruder. Three birds departed
towards Lax Hill where one of the fish carriers was seen circling over the wood
along with a second bird. During this
time there were two juvenile Ospreys still in the bay but one of these departed
and the other flew and landed in the dead tree close to wader scrape hide. There were also more wildfowl in the bay most
of which were Gadwall, Mallard and Tufted Duck but there were also seven
Shoveler and a good number of Coots.
Grey Heron over Manton Bay
Grey Heron over Manton Bay
Linnet from shallow water hide
I left the hide and walked the
short distance to wader scrape hide where I found the Osprey still in the tree
and was able to get a few photos of this young male.
Juvenile Osprey
Juvenile Osprey
Juvenile Osprey
I made my way back to the
centre seeing very little on route, although there were a few insects about
despite the weather and I got a nice shot of a male Ruddy Darter.
Ruddy Darter
Erik ad called me indicating
he wanted some help identifying a moth he had in his trap last night and so I
agreed to meet him the Egleton car park.
He brought the moth along and I was able to identify as a Latticed
Heath, which is not a moth I would have expected as it is a day flying moth,
although apparently they do come to light and sometimes in larger numbers.
Having identified his moth we
went to the centre to view lagoon one before lunch. The Great White Egret was observed behind the
long island and an Osprey that was fishing over the lagoon suddenly dropped and
landed on one of the fence posts towards harrier hide. With little else except for a Little Egret
and a Buzzard I went back to the car for lunch.
Whilst we were having lunch Tim came over and asked Erik and I if we
would like to go with him to open the sluice on lagoon one. This would give us the chance to see the
reserve from a different perspective and so we both said yes. We went down the service road and then on to
Lapwing hide and from there we drove along lagoon two bund before going a short
distance along lagoon one bund. We had
further views of the Great White Egret that was now on lagoon two but in an
area not visible from the normal access areas and it was interesting looking
across lagoon one and back to the centre.
Erik had got himself totally disorientated as he thought the water was
going out of lagoon one into lagoon three where as it was flowing into south
arm three. When we returned to the car
park we finished our lunch before heading off to the sandpiper hide on lagoon
four.
We had a party of Long-tailed
Tits just beyond the Badger hide and also found a Chiffchaff in the same
area. When we reached the hide we found
six Ringed Plovers, seven Dunlin, three Common Sandpipers and a Greenshank. The number of Yellow-legged Gulls present was
fewer than of late, with just eleven being present and there was an Osprey on
one of the ‘T’ perches. We had been
joined by Brian, Rosie, Steve and Terry and it wasn’t too long before Steve
found a juvenile Wheatear on island five but it managed to get almost to island
seven before I got on it. It then showed
well on a number of occasions coming out of the vegetation on several
occasions. When several more people
arrived in the hide Erik and I decided to move onto Shoveler hide on lagoon
three.
Adult Yellow-legged Gull over lagoon four
Adult Yellow-legged Gull over lagoon four
When we arrived in the hide
there was a Redshank quite close but it didn’t stay long and flew off towards
lagoon four. We were soon joined by
Steve and Terry and Brian and Rosie soon followed. Terry picked up a Buzzard at the fare end of
the lagoon and Steve spotted a Reed Warbler just below the hide. Terry then departed and Erik also called it a
day shortly afterwards. It wasn’t too
long after they departed that the familiar call of a Kingfisher was heard and
it then flashed in front of the hide only to return and disappearing behind the
reeds heading towards Buzzard hide. I
then picked up a Hobby over the wood along the northern shore of the Lagoon and
it was then present for several minutes.
Gerry then came into the hide and informed us he had seen two Black Terns
distantly from Lapwing hide, which prompted an immediate evacuation of the
hide, leaving Gerry to enjoy lagoon three on his own.
Steve soon picked up one of
the two Black Terns and we were then all able to find both amongst a number of
Common Terns but they were very distant and the views were rather poor. There was a raft of Tufted Duck not too far
away and I thought I might have a juvenile Scaup at one point but it turned out
just to be a just a juvenile Tufted.
I walked back with Brian,
Rosie and Pete Jessop who had been with us since we were together in sandpiper
and we met Gerry near Shoveler hide who thought he might have had the Caspian
Gull on lagoon four but was by no means certain. It was a year tick for Pete and so I went
with him and Gerry to Dunlin hide on lagoon four to get a better view. Just after coming out of the path to Shoveler
hide we found a rather nice Painted Lady, which we were able to photograph.
Painted Lady
Painted Lady
Painted Lady
When we arrived in the hide
there was still only eleven Yellow-legged Gull present and Gerry pointed out
the possible Caspian but unfortunately it was just a Yellow-legged Gull.
I had intended go to the north
arm but with time pressing I decided to just call at Eyebrook Reservoir on
route home, where I was rewarded with three Oystercatcher, two Avocets and an
Osprey.
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