A day in Leicestershire & Rutland - October 1, 2015

David, Roger and I were out locally today and arrived at Eyebrook Reservoir from the southern end and stopped by the gate near the fishing lodge entrance.  We had seen a Red Kite and a Kestrel as we drove along the Stockerston Lane towards the southern turn for Eyebrook Reservoir but saw very little from the stop at the gate.  We then drove a little further and found two Little Egrets in the southern bay and there was a Chiffchaff in the hedge running northwest from the reservoir.  We checked the old oak but found there was no sign of the Little Owls and returned to the reservoir and parked near the bridge.  As we got out of the car we saw a couple of thrushes headed off to the north that we suspect might have been Redwing and a Siskin was also heard.  We then heard a Redwing call and saw to more thrushes heading north and then the Siskin called again and this time flew over our heads and headed off to the north.  In one of the bushes close to the bridge we found male and female-type Blackcaps and there was a Little Egret in the stream.  We drove further along the Rutland bank and parked in a gateway that overlooks a narrow strip of set-aside but unlike our previous visit it appeared bird-less, other than three Swallows flying over.  Moving a little further along the road to view the inlet we found just a single Ruff amongst the more numerous Lapwings.  There was also a single juvenile Shelduck, five Pintail and three Goldeneye on the reservoir.  David then said rather casually I have a good county year-tick before clarifying he had found a Spoonbill.  It was feeding in the stream but then disappeared as there was a bush that was obstructing our view.  Before we considered moving our position it flew out of the stream and came down amongst the gulls resting at the inlet and we were able to see that it was a juvenile bird.  It was only my second record for Eyebrook Reservoir, the first being on July 12^th, 1982, which was my first county record.

Juvenile Spoonbill alighting amongst the Black-headed Gulls

Juvenile Spponbill

A Red Kite flew over the field behind us and headed over the reservoir to the Leicestershire side where it joined two other Red Kites and two Buzzards that were soaring over a distant hill top.

We left Eyebrook Reservoir and headed for the fisherman’s car park on the Hambleton Road to see if we could find either the Red-necked or Black-necked Grebes.  On arrival there was a Buzzard over the car park and after walking back to the road we scanned the north arm and found the two Black-necked Grebes in Dickinson’s Bay but we were unable to find the Red-necked Grebe.  We then drove along the road by the cottage and after parking we scanned the fishponds and found a couple of male Scaup and a Yellow-legged Gull flew over.  Walking through the gate to view the north arm the seventeen Barnacle Geese and a Curlew were on the north shore and there were five Pintail in the bay to the south of the spit, with at least fourteen Little Egrets scattered around.

As I had seen a Rock Pipit at the dam on Tuesday, David was keen to go and have a look.  We parked near the style west of the dam and then walked the short distance to the pumping station to view the dam.  There were clearly fewer birds on the dam today but David did get on a Grey Wagtail just before it flew off and disappeared.  We continued scanning and then I heard a Grey Wagtail calling and it flew just below us before turning and flying back towards the rocks and disappeared.  Roger hadn't seen it and so we hung about a bit longer when I thought I could hear on again when Roger actually picked it up just before it appeared to land amongst the rocks.  I had also picked up a bird but it flew off high to the east before turning and disappearing and despite trying find the bird that had apparently landed on the dam it wasn’t seen again.  We eventually left the dam and heard for the Lyndon Centre where we thought we would have our lunch overlooking the feeders.

There were plenty of Blue and Great Tits visiting the feeders and eventually at least six Tree Sparrows were present.  David heard a Willow Tit call on a couple of occasions but it didn’t come in but just afterwards a Marsh Tit called, which did pay a brief visit as did a Coal Tit.  I then noticed a Buzzard soaring towards Manton Bay and David picked up a second bird, which turned out to be a juvenile Marsh Harrier.  There was also some disturbance with most of the Lapwings on the bunds near Manton Bay getting up and David found what he thought was a Peregrine flying below the flock.  He managed to get it in his scope, whilst Roger and I followed it with our bins, but he felt that the facial pattern was not sufficiently bold and that it also looked long-tailed.  Just after this it disappeared and we were unsure of its identity and wonder if it could have been a falcon Steve had seen recently, which was either a Saker or hybrid.

We finally decided it was time to get to the Egleton Reserve and after parking made our way to the Bird Watching Centre to view Lagoon One.  There were plenty of birds on the lagoon and we almost immediately noticed that both of the Great White Egrets were present at the back.  By far the majority of the duck were Wigeon but there were also smaller numbers of Gadwall, Teal, Mallard, Shoveler, Pochard and Tufted Duck and also a single Pintail.  There were seven Curlew on the long island and a Greenshank and Redshank towards the back of the lagoon.  David also managed to locate one of the Stonechats at the back of the lagoon and a Buzzard was observed on Brown’s Island.

We eventually moved off to the northern lagoons and initially went into Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four but with most of gulls out of sight and no sign of any waders we moved onto Dunlin Hide to get a different view.  We hadn’t been in the hide too long when David said that the Peregrine was present and it was actually on the exposed area leading away from island seven, which was not its normal position.  When I viewed it through the scope it was clearly and adult, although there was some brown feathering on the upperparts perhaps suggesting it was a second year bird.  It was still a large bird and probably a female but clearly different from the juvenile I have been seeing recently.  On scanning the gulls they were mostly Black-headed but there was also good numbers of Common and Great Black-backed with smaller numbers of Lesser Black-backed and three Yellow-legged.  I then found a single Dunlin between islands six and nine and David picked four Ringed Plovers and then Roger found two more Ringed Plovers and two Dunlin.

We were hoping that the Bittern would put in appearance on Lagoon Three but we found it was extremely quiet from Shoveler Hide with not even a Green Sandpiper, which have normally been guaranteed.  It was still a little early and so we move onto Lapwing hide but saw nothing of note on either Lagoon Two or South Arm Three.  As we started walking back David heard a Cetti’s Warbler but not surprisingly Roger and I didn’t.  I stopped by the gap in the fence and it called again and this time I did hear but Roger still couldn’t despite it calling several more times.  A quick look from Crake Hide produced a Kingfisher sitting near the outflow from Lagoon Three.

We went back into Shoveler hide and settled down hoping for the Bittern but it failed to appear but we did find three juvenile Shelduck, four Goldeneye, a Snipe and a Reed Warbler.

We saw very little walking back to the car park but it had been a good day’s birding that had started well at Eyebrook Reservoir, particularly with finding the Spoonbill and we had seen a good range of species at Rutland Water, with perhaps the highlight being the Marsh Harrier.

Female Teal from Shoveler Hide