As Roger and I left my estate
we had a Sparrowhawk fly over but we didn’t see anything else of note until we
had two Red Kites over Stockerston Lane near Eyebrook Reservoir.
We approached Eyebrook
Reservoir from the southern end and stopped to view the fields to the north
were there were another four Red Kites and circa twenty-five Tree Sparrows. Roger saw a Lesser Whitethroat briefly, which
failed to reappear, in the hedgerow but whilst looking for the Lesser
Whitethroat we found a couple of Whitethroats.
There were six Ruffs in the corner on the first bend but they flew off
towards the island. There were three
Chiffchaff in the hedge that runs away to the north west and circa eighty
Linnet were also using the hedge but were very flighty. A Hobby flew across the field and over the
hedge whilst being pursued by a Carrion Crow.
We moved to the island coral but there was very little and no sign of
the Ruff seen earlier. When we stopped
at the fence there was a mass of gulls at the inlet and they were constantly
coming and going to a field that was being ploughed. Most were Black-headed Gulls but I also found
a Common Gull and a couple of first-winter Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Roger then found a Sanderling feeding in a
mixed flock of Ringed Plover and Dunlin, which contained thirteen Ringed
Plovers and ten Dunlin. There were nine
Ruff, which we assumed included the six seen earlier and a Common Sandpiper was
feeding on the Leicestershire shore.
Most of the wildfowl were Mallard but there were also Wigeon, Gadwall,
Teal and Shoveler as well as three Little Grebes. Brian and Roger arrived whilst we were
viewing the area and Roger mentioned that there were two Wheatears and four
Whinchats at Luffenham Airfield yesterday but that all Ospreys had now departed
from Rutland Water. We decided to go and
have a look for the Whinchat and left Eyebrook Reservoir by the northern
entrance road but there was no sign of the Little Owls.
We parked overlooking the
practice green at Luffenham and initially couldn’t find anything but then Roger
noticed a bird perched some distance away.
I got the bird in the scope and confirmed that it was a Whinchat and
then found the other three but there was no sign of any Wheatears. As we were leaving we noticed several
passerines on a playing field and stopped to take a look, hoping that perhaps
we would find the Wheatears. I counted
fifty-two Pied Wagtails feeding on the area but the only other birds we could
find were two Goldfinches.
From Luffenham we went to
Dickinson’s Bay and hopefully see the two Black-necked Grebes present the last
two days. As we parked we noticed three
Yachts coming out of the bay and suspected that they had probably flushed any
birds in the bay. There was a Chiffchaff
giving nice views as we walked down to the bay and we could hear a second
calling. Thankfully there were still
plenty of birds in the bay and we soon found one of the Black-necked Grebes but
try as we might we couldn’t locate the second.
There was a Barnacle Goose on the far shore and our second Sparrowhawk
of the day flew over the north arm and there was a Buzzard over the bay. There were numerous hirundines flying high
over the water and woodland and all three species were well represented but
despite repeatedly scanning we were unable to locate a late Swift.
We moved on to view the north
arm from the end of the cottage road and it was immediately obvious that the
water had risen considerably and clearly water was being pumped into the
reservoir, which is unusual at this time of the year. As we scanned the area we found three Pintail
on the water and three Little Egret and a Yellow-legged Gull on the north
shore. We walked into the field to view
the spit where there were nine Ringed Plovers and thirteen Dunlin but there was
little else and so we went to view South Arm Three.
When we reached the Old Hall I
was surprised that there were no Common Tern and like the north arm it was
pretty quiet although we did find a couple of Yellow Wagtails. There were noticeably fewer Little Egrets
around the edges, which was presumably due to the rise in water levels affecting
their feeding areas.
We had lunch in the Egleton
car park and I went into the overflow car park to view the hedge at the far
end. I had a Chiffchaff and a male and
female Blackcap before Roger joined me and then he found a nice Garden Warbler
but we eventually moved to the Bird Watching Centre to view lagoon one.
There were plenty of birds on
the water and amongst the more common species we found two Pintail and three
Red-crested Pochard. At the back of the
lagoon there were four Black-tailed Godwits feeding and I picked up a
Greenshank as it flew in and landed towards close to the godwits. One of the Great White Egret was on the
lagoon and Roger picked up a Green Sandpiper as it dropped out of sight behind
some reeds. Roger then noticed a Hobby
that was perched in a bush on the bund and it provided some nice scope
views. It clearly had red-trousers but
some of the wing-coverts were brownish perhaps indicating a female.
Although the news from the
northern lagoons was suggesting it was pretty quiet we still felt it was our
best options and set off, with Erik, towards Shoveler hide on lagoon
three. We met Rick and Graham on route
who confirmed that it was quiet but they had seen Holly Blue, which is I
species I have still not seen this year, on the lagoon four embankment. We saw a couple of Chiffchaff and a Goldcrest
but very little else before we reached the lagoon four embankment but the sun
had gone in and it appeared very quiet and so we continued on to Shoveler
hide. There were several Green
Sandpipers on the area to the left of the hide and we eventually found
seven. There were several large rafts of
Tufted Ducks but all we could find amongst them were a few Pochard. Two Hobbies were then observed distantly
towards the north arm.
We went back to view the
lagoon four embankment and found a Small Copper, three Small Tortoiseshell, a
Large White and a Common Blue but no Holly Blue.
We eventually continued on to
crake hide where there was a Kingfisher sitting on the edge of the sluice gate
and Erik noted four Goldeneye further into the south arm. We continued onto Lapwing hide where we found
five Goldeneye in the south arm and there were two Ruffs visible on lagoon two.
We had found a Red Underwing
as we walked out to Lapwing hide and found two more as we returned.
Red Underwing
Roger and I made a brief visit
to sandpiper hide on lagoon four after another unsuccessful attempt for the
Holly Blue, where we found two Pintail and a single Curlew.
We saw very little else as we made
our way back to the car park and decided to set off home and call at Newton
Harcourt on route.
After parking at the church at
Newton Harcourt we had a Coal Tit and Nuthatch on the feeder near the gate and
a Treecreeper further down the road. Our
main target here was Spotted Flycatcher but if they were still present they
were playing heard to get. As I scanned
the woodland from the road I thought on a number of occasions that several
birds I had glimpsed were probably what we were looking for but was unable to
confirm any. One eventually gave good, but
brief, views and it was nice to confirm that they were still here.
Yet another good day’s birding
with eighty-six species recorded, that included a reasonable selection of
summer visitors and migrants.
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