I left home in very heavy rain
and headed for the Lyndon Reserve at Rutland Water after collecting some books
from David for Erik. When I arrived at
the Lyndon car park the rain was still very heavy and I took shelter in the
side door of the centre and waited for the rain to ease. The centre was closed but I could see the
feeders through the windows where there was quite a bit of activity with Blue
and Great Tits, Greenfinch and Tree Sparrows making regular visits. There was also a flock of circa thirty Goldfinches
feeding on thistles closer to the water’s edge and I could see into the south
arm where there were plenty of Tufted Ducks.
What I didn’t know was that there was a Spoonbill near Goldeneye hide at
the base of Lax Hill, which I couldn't see without getting wet. As the rain eased I headed for shallow water
hide in Manton Bay but before doing so checked the shore in front of Goldeneye
but didn’t see the Spoonbill, which presumably had already departed. Part of the path on route to shallow water
hide was flooded, which I managed to navigate without getting my feet wet and
by the time I reached the turn to the hide I had seen three Chiffchaffs but
very little else. I bird flew from my
left and in to the bushes at the start of the path down to the hide and shortly
afterwards revealed itself for long enough for me to identify it as a juvenile
Whitethroat.
Fortunately all the flaps were
shut in the hide, which had kept the inside reasonably dry despite the heavy
rain and northerly wind. As I opened the
first flaps I could see that there were two Ospreys still present, which were
then joined by a third but I am sure that they want be remain too much
longer. I scanned around the shore and
found seven Ringed Plovers, a Dunlin, nine Ruff, three Common Sandpipers, two
Green Sandpipers, a Greenshank and two Wood Sandpipers but there was no sign of
a Spotted Redshank, which I had seen on Saturday, although it was seen
later. There were plenty of birds on the
water that included Mute Swan; Greylag Geese, Egyptian Geese, Wigeon; Gadwall,
Teal, Mallard, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Coot
and three Pintail and there were also three Little Egrets in the bay.
I eventually made my way back
towards the centre calling at Tufted Duck hide but unlike Saturday there were
no warblers present and so I continued to the centre. On reaching the centre I went to Teal hide
where I found another Common Sandpiper to the left of the hide and became aware
of the earlier Spoonbill when I called Steve.
He informed me that he and Terry had seen a second-year Little Gull near
Brown’s Island but despite spending some time scanning the water I was unable
to find it, although I did see the Great White Egret, and I eventually moved on
to the Dickinson’s Bay.
On reaching Dickinson’s Bay it
didn’t take too long to locate the moulting Black-necked Grebe but there was
little else in evidence and so I went to the Old Hall. I walked west from the Old Hall in search of
the Little Gull but again drew a blank but I did see two Common Sandpipers,
fifteen Common Terns, a Wheatear and a Yellow Wagtail.
After parking along the road
to the cottage I found another Common Sandpiper and a Green Sandpiper along the
shoreline in the fishponds but then continued through the gate to view the
north arm. Yesterday there had been an
unprecedented number of Ringed Plovers with c.180 on lagoon four and another
circa sixty in the north arm. Today I
couldn’t find a single one and the only waders I saw were a single Ruff and
three Curlews. It was also quiet over
Burley Wood with just a single Buzzard showing.
There was a very obliging Spotted Flycatcher feeding from a dead tree in
the hedge and I was able to get a few photo of it before I departed.
Spotted Flycatcher
Spotted Flycatcher
When I reached the Egleton car
park I had my lunch before entering the Bird Watching Centre to view lagoon
one. There were plenty of birds on the
water and I found three Red-crested Pochard amongst the more numerous Gadwall
and Coot and there were also good numbers of Mallard and Shoveler with smaller
numbers of Wigeon and Teal. Despite
scanning the lagoon on a number of occasions I was unable to locate any waders
other than a few Lapwings. I then toyed
with the idea of going to Snipe hide to look for two Whinchat reported earlier
but decided to go to Shoveler hide on lagoon three.
There was clearly some
passerine activity in one of the meadow hedgerows and I stopped for a while seeing
several Blue Tits, three Chiffchaffs, a Willow Warbler, two Greenfinch and
several Bullfinches. As I was
approaching the turning to Shoveler hide I met Bob and as we stood and talked I
caught sight of a Clouded Yellow butterfly, which was my first of the
year. I walked back to sandpiper hide on
lagoon four with Bob and after seeing a Common Sandpiper on the nearest spit
Bob found a group of Ringed Plovers.
There were on island one and were not easy to see but there were at
least five and also had a brief view of a Dunlin but just afterwards they took
to flight and there were circa fifteen birds.
They gained height and flew north before appearing to come down in the
north arm and it wasn’t long afterwards that I picked up another party of circa
fifteen birds that did exactly the same.
It was possible that the first flock had doubled back but as Tim had
reported over twenty Ringed Plovers and fourteen Dunlin earlier it was perhaps
more likely there were two flocks. There
was an Osprey on the ‘T’ perch on the lagoon and I picked up a Hobby as it flew
quite close to the hide before flying off to the south and disappearing from
view. Bob then found another falcon some
distance off, that he though could be a second Hobby, but it suddenly stopped
heading west and started hovering, confirming that it was in fact a Kestrel. As we scanned Burley Wood we located two Red
Kites and six Buzzards but I eventually left Bob and moved on to Shoveler hide
on lagoon three.
There was a Redshank directly
in front of the hide and five Green Sandpipers were also visible. Two Ospreys then flew over and I assumed that
one would have been the bird that was on the ‘T’ perch on lagoon four and there
were masses of Tufted Ducks on the lagoon and a careful scan revealed several
Pochard but nothing else and I moved on to crake hide.
As I had seen a couple of Reed
Warblers from the hide on Saturday I was hoping for a repeat performance but
there was no sign but I did have two very nice juvenile Sedge Warblers. I continued on to Lapwing hide and found a single
Goldeneye amongst a raft of Tufted Ducks but there was still no sign of the
Little Gull. I looked on to lagoon two
from the hide and found a couple of Green Sandpipers and saw a Greenshank from
Smew hide as I walked back.
As I approached the path to
Buzzard hide there was quite a bit of activity and I had two Chiffchaffs,
another juvenile Sedge Warbler and a Reed Warbler. I went back into Shoveler hide and found that
the five Green Sandpipers and Redshank had been joined by a Greenshank that I
assumed was the bird of lagoon two.
As I started to head back to
the centre David appeared and I went back into Sandpiper hide with him but
other then four Pintail, four Ruff and a Curlew there was little else and I
went back to Mallard hide to try and see the Whinchats near Snipe hide and
three Black-tailed Godwits David had seen on lagoon one.
I soon found the three
Black-tailed Godwits, which had been joined by two Greenshanks, but I couldn’t
see the Whinchats. I called Steve to see
if he and Terry had seen anything else and they had seen the Whinchats from
both Snipe hide and the centre and indicated that they were in fact on the long
island. They had also seen a Garganey to
the right of the centre and also the Little Gull on two more occasions near
Goldeneye hide. I hadn’t got time to
give the Little Gull another go and there was no sign of the Whinchats on the
long island but I did find the Garganey in the water behind the long island.
I had arranged to meet Erik in
the car park with his books and after a short chat set off for Eyebrook
Reservoir where David had seen a single Curlew Sandpiper. David then called to say that he and Terry
had seen a Marsh Harrier drop on to lagoon one but I decided to carry on to
Eyebrook Reservoir, which was the right decisions as they didn’t see it again.
When I reached Eyebrook
Reservoir I drove around to the fence and on scanning the area I found eighteen
Ringed Plovers, seven Dunlin and sixteen Ruff but there was no sign of the
Curlew Sandpiper. I checked with another
birder to see if they had seen the sandpiper who informed me that about ninety
minutes ago it was flushed by a Peregrine and hadn’t returned.
I had been a funny day as I
had managed to miss Spoonbill, Marsh Harrier, Curlew Sandpiper, Spotted
Redshank, Little Gull and Whinchat but despite these disappointments I had
still recorded eight-seven species, which is an excellent for a day’s birding
locally.
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