I left home just after dawn
and headed off to Eyebrook Reservoir to begin the New Year. There had been an overnight frost, which was
quite unusual this winter but it was overcast and felt cold in the light south
easterly breeze.
The year list was just ten,
but including Buzzard and Kestrel, when I arrived at the southern end of the
reservoir. I parked near the entrance to
the fishing lodge but it was very quiet and so I moved on to view the first
bay. The year list rose quite quickly at
this point and when I moved on to the bay north of the island the total was twenty-six. The best were a drake and three red-headed
Smew and a Little Egret. I stopped and had
a brief word with Malcolm who was in the island coral before continuing the northern
bay.
There had been a female
Red-breasted Merganser found in the bay yesterday afternoon, which was the only
record for the counties in 2015 and would have been a good addition to this year’s
list. There were plenty of birds in the
bay but unfortunately there was no sign of the merganser but I did add Gadwall,
Shoveler and Little Grebe and heard a Green Woodpecker and Wren. I stopped at the track leading to Holyoaks
Farm to look for Red-legged Partridge and found one a good way along the track.
There were also a few Chaffinches
dropping from the hedge into the field to feed and I also found three
Yellowhammers and a Brambling, which was a nice surprise.
I continued on to the old oak
but there was no sign of the Little Owls but I did see a couple of Red Kite
before I returned to the bridge over the stream. The recent rains had raised the reservoir
water level quite considerably and the stream was very muddy and wider than of
late and other than another Little Egret there was little else and I left
Eyebrook Reservoir with the year list standing at forty-two.
I had arranged to meet Erik
and Roger in the North Arm at Rutland Water and they were both scanning the
water as I walked down to the spit. They
had already found the two Black-necked Grebes, which I quickly got on to but
other than a Tawny Owl calling from the wood and a Buzzard on the north shore
there was little else of note. As we
walked back to the cars we found a pair of Goosander and a Pochard in the
fishponds and as we continued back to my car, which were going to use to make a
circuit of the reservoir, Erik heard a Treecreeper, which we then found and
shortly afterwards we heard and saw a Nuthatch.
As we left the road to the cottage the total stood at fifty-seven.
Our first stop was along the
unnamed road leading to Dickinson’s Bay where we hoped to locate the Red-necked
Grebe. We walked down to the end of the
road an began scanning the North Arm and it wasn’t too long before Roger found
the grebe on the far side of the arm but with little else we headed back to the
car seeing a Goldcrest as we did so.
Four Great Northern Divers had been reported in Whitwell Creek area early today and that was our next stop. One of the landing pontoons in the creek was being jet washed but we found three of the divers on the main water but added nothing else.
Steve had called earlier to
wish us a happy New Year and to see if I was on site, giving me a brief
overview of what he and Craig had seen so far.
They had seen a couple of Bewick’s Swans early this morning but they had
just flown through but they had also seen Mandarin, Kingfisher and Grey
Wagtail, which we still needed.
They had seen the Mandarin and
Grey Wagtail at Normanton, which was to be our next stop. It didn’t take us too long to find the female
Mandarin but there was no sign of the Grey Wagtail. We saw nothing new as we walked back to the car
and considered visiting the bay to east of the Sailing Club but before we set
off Erik received a text from Roger Brett asking what we knew about the
skua. We hadn’t heard anything but then
found out that an Arctic Skua had been reported from Goldeneye Hide and we
therefore set off to Teal Hide on the Lyndon Reserve as we hoped we could see
it from there. I called Steve who was
initially engaged but I eventually got through and found that he and Craig were
at the site of the Deep Water Hide but couldn’t see the skua and where coming
back to Teal Hide. A few minutes later
he called again to say that they had seen it but it looked large and he was hoping
it might be a Pomarine Skua as he needs it for his County List.
Erik was off like a shot to
the hide and as Roger and I approached the hide he called out that he had
it. We were all soon scoping the bird
and my first impression was that it looked too bulky for an Arctic and I did
wonder was it perhaps a Great Skua but these species are not easy when they are
just resting on the water at some distance.
Steve and Craig then arrived and shortly afterwards the bird raised its
wings, which were clearly quite broad and showed distinct wing patches,
confirming that it was a Great Skua. It
was a most unexpected addition to the list and only my forth counties record,
although three have now been in the last four years. Another good bird was a male Scaup, which
have been a little scarce this winter and Roger found a red-headed Smew in
South Arm Two.
Roger needed to get back to
his car for lunch and so we returned to the cottage road where we took a break
for lunch before going to the Egleton Reserve.
A Reed Bunting was observed whilst having lunch and call from Steve
indicating that the two Barnacle Geese were back in the North Arm enabled us to
get them on the list before heading off to Egleton.
The total was now at sixty-six
and we added Great White Egret, Pintail, Curlew and Shelduck from the centre
before heading off to Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three, adding Siskin and Great
Spotted Woodpecker as we did so. The
water had risen slightly on the lagoon but there were three Redshank and two
Snipe visible but we saw very little else and moved on towards Dunlin Hide on
Lagoon Four. As we walked along the path
from Shoveler hide there was some disturbance on lagoon four and there were
c.100 Golden Plover amongst the more numerous Lapwing.
As we approached Dunlin Hide a
Great Spotted Woodpecker flew along the hedge and two Green Woodpeckers got up
from the path to the road. From the hide
we added Peregrine, Lesser Black-backed Gull and Herring Gull to the list and
there was also four Shelduck.
News of the Red-breasted
Merganser still being present at Eyebrook Reservoir induced Roger and I to make
a decision to go and see if we could see it.
I approached the reservoir
from the northern end but the Little Owls were still not visible in the old
oak, although one had been seen earlier.
As I approached the island coral Roger emerged saying that the merganser
hadn’t been seen for two hours. I
continued along the road towards the fishing lodge gate and found David’s car
parked there and so I called him to see if he had seen the merganser. His reply was I am watching it now and
getting fantastic views but you will have to walk down to see it as it is very
close to the bank. I called Roger to
make him aware and set off down the track to join Dave. He wasn’t too far along but as I reached him,
he said you’ll have to be quick as it’s about to disappear. When I looked it already had and so we walked
further along the track to get a better view of the bank. I saw it a couple of times during dives
before it went even further and disappeared again just as Roger joined us. I suggested that we should go back along the
track where we should see it but there was no sign. Roger and Andy Brett had now also joined us
and we decided to walk down the bank where we would hopefully see it. When we got to the bottom there was still no
sign and so I walked along the bank a few yards and found it really close to
the bank and we were then all able to watch as it continued diving and moving
further away. It eventually reached a
point where it took to flight and flew back towards the fishing lodge before
dropping in again. As we walked back ten
Long-tailed Tits flew over, which were to be the last addition to the list,
which had now reached eighty.
David and I made a call at
Great Easton as Malcolm had seen both Barn and Tawny Owls there this morning
but we had no joy, probably due to the increasing wind and light rain, which
then became quite heavy as I drove home.
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