This morning I headed for
Eyebrook Reservoir and approached the reservoir from the south. I parked near the entrance to the fishing
lodge where I found four Red-legged Partridges in the field and a Kestrel
perched on the hedge before moving on to the island coral. There was nothing of note from the coral and
I so I continued to the north side of the island to look for the Slavonian
Grebe, which didn’t take too long to find and a Little Egret also flew towards
the island. Satisfied with the views of
the Slavonian Grebe I went to check out the old oak for the Little Owl but
there was no sign this morning and so I went back to the bridge at the
inlet. Since arriving I had seen quite a
few Fieldfare and smaller numbers of Redwing and also five Bullfinches between
the island and the second coral.
As I parked at the bridge
there were six Little Egrets feeding on the stream but they all flew towards
the reservoir as I got out of the car. I
was surprised to find that the water had risen considerably since my last visit
but looking towards the reservoir I found three Shelduck, seventeen Dunlin
flying amongst a flock of Lapwing and a distant Red Kite. There had been a Common Redpoll seen yesterday
but all I saw today in over an hour were two Lesser Redpolls and a nice party
of circa thirty Siskin.
Further along the Rutland bank
I counted thirty-nine Golden Plover amongst the Lapwings and there were another
nine Red-legged Partridges in a field on the Leicestershire side.
With little else I moved to
the Lyndon Reserve at Rutland Water where there were more Fieldfare and Redwing
in the car park area. There was a
constant flow of Blue Tits at the feeding station along with small numbers of
Great Tits, a couple of Coal Tit and Chaffinches and single Greenfinch and
Goldfinch but there was no sign of any Willow or Marsh Tits. Ten Egyptian Geese flew over and from Teal
Hide four more Egyptian Geese, a pair of Goosander, seven Little Egrets on the
Manton Bay bund and a Curlew below Lax Hill were observed. As I walked back to the car I had another
look at the feeding station but there was nothing new and so I went to the
north arm.
After parking near the cottage
I walked down the gate and viewed the fishponds where there were another
thirteen Egyptian Geese and a nice red-headed Smew. I found Bob at the end of the spit and as I
joined him a Redshank called and I saw it flying towards the northern shore. The two Barnacle Geese were on the north
shore and there was a Little Egret on the bund.
Bob had seen what he assumed were the two Slavonian Grebes, which were
quite distance but when we found another Slavonian Grebe nearer the fisherman’s
car park we looked to see if the other two grebes were still present. They were and now being much closer and we
could see that they were two Black-necked Grebes. Bob then found a Pink-footed Goose amongst
the mass of Greylag and Canada Geese and we also saw a Red Kite and Buzzard
over Burley Wood.
We drove to the fisherman’s
car park on the Hambleton Peninsular to try and get a better view of the
Slavonian Grebe. However after spending
probably fifteen minutes viewing the area we couldn’t find it and so we decided
to go over the fence and view the arm from the shore. As I walked down towards the shore there were
a couple of Little Egrets and two Redshanks on the shore but they took to
flight with a party of Wigeon. I soon
found the Slavonian Grebe towards the fishponds but was surprised that it was
still quite distant but I then found a second bird that was much closer, along
with three Pintail. We continued to scan
the arm to the east where there were quite a number of Great Crested Grebe in
the hope of finding the Red-necked Grebe,
Our first few scans failed to produce anything other than Great Crested
but I then saw a bird dive that I thought might be the Red-necked. When it surfaced it looked very white on the
sides of the face and I was unsure as it dived again. I got Bob in the right area and we waited for
it to surface again but this time, although it still looked very white around
the face, I could see the yellow base to the bill, which confirmed that it was
the Red-necked.
I left Bob having is lunch on
the peninsular and I went to the Egleton car park to have mine before going
onto the reserve. Stephen who I hadn’t
seen for a few weeks joined me in the car park as he finished his volunteer
stint in the centre. We discussed what I
had seen today and our experiences during November and whilst doing so several
Redwings were observed in the bushes and I was able to photograph one of them.
Redwing
As I walked down to the centre
I heard a Grey Wagtail call and then saw it as it flew over heading towards the
lagoon. I viewed Lagoon One from the
centre but it was pretty quiet except for sixty-two Pintail and a single Little
Egret. Both Great White Egrets had flown
over earlier but there was no sign of either of them on the lagoon. David then called to say that he had seen
what might be a good contender for the Common Redpoll at Eyebrook Reservoir but
he and other observers weren’t certain on the views they had but suggested that
it might be worth me returning. Whilst
considering what to do I scanned Lagoon Two and saw a male Stonechat on top of
the reeds between the centre and the Lagoon.
As it was appearing to be fairly quiet on the reserve I eventually
decided that returning to Eyebrook Reservoir might be a good option and called
it a day at Rutland Water seeing a Buzzard as I headed off.
This time I approached the
reservoir from the northern end but there was still no Little Owl, although
David had seen it when he arrived. I
joined a small group of birders near the bridge spent almost two hours viewing
the trees to the north of the reservoir.
I did see a number of Siskin and at least four redpolls that were all
quite clearly lesser and other than another three Red Kites I saw very little
else.
I checked the oak again as I
was departing and third time lucky as the Little Owl was sitting in its normal
spot. I headed towards Blaston and on
reaching Stockerston Lane a Peregrine flew over the road and there was a
Kestrel on a wire as I left the village and finally there was a Buzzard
alighting in a tree as I approached Cranoe.
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