I was a little late getting
started today as I wasn’t feeling 100% but wilted as it was a beautiful bright
morning. When I left home the sun was
shining brightly and the wind was a fairly light south-westerly. I headed for Eyebrook Reservoir and saw a Red
Kite just beyond Cranoe and on approaching the reservoir found a second perched
in a tree and I wasn’t surprised to find the Little Owl in the old oak. The wind had freshened a little but it was
still a cracking in morning. I stopped
at the gate to overlook the fields on the Rutland side of the reservoir and
found three Skylarks, which were my first in the counties this year. At the inlet there were c.100 Golden Plover
and at least thirty-four Dunlin amongst the more numerous Lapwings and a single
Little Egret was on the stream and there were a couple of Buzzards to the east
of the reservoir. It was difficult
viewing the wildfowl to the south of Stoke Dry car park due to the bright
sunshine and the only birds of note were three Shelduck.
I went straight to the
fisherman’s car park on the Hambleton Peninsula at Rutland Water in the hope of
finding the Red-necked Grebe. I soon
located the Slavonian Grebe and four Black-necked Grebes but couldn’t find the
Red-necked Grebe although a Raven was observed towards Hambleton. I moved back to view the arm from then end of
the unnamed road and I saw Tim as I arrived who informed me that the Red-necked
Grebe was showing quite well along with the adult Great Northern Diver from the
end of the spit. When I got to the end
there were quite a few birders including Mike Chester and Gerry Griffiths. They had both seen the Great Northern Diver
and Red-necked Grebe and after finding the Slavonian Grebe for Mike I soon found
the Great Northern Diver but the Red-necked Grebe had clearly moved. Gerry then found it towards Dickinson’s Bay
but it dived and it was a few minutes later before I actually found it as it
had moved further away from the shore and was heading towards the centre of the
reservoir. When another birder arrived
at little late we were unable to locate again despite spending quite some time
looking for it.
I eventually gave up and went
to the Egleton car park where I had lunch before heading off to the northern
lagoons. When I arrived at Shoveler hide
on Lagoon Three Gerry was in the hide but had seen very little, although a
Bittern had been reported around mid-day.
There were three Shelduck and a couple of Egyptian Geese on the lagoon
but very little else, although I did pick up a Buzzard over the reedbed
woodland and a second off towards Hambleton.
Shelduck on Lagoon Three
I moved on to Plover Hide to
view Lagoon Four and found another Shelduck and a red-headed Smew. There was a small concentration of gulls,
mainly Common and Herring but there were also a few Black-headed and Great
Black-backed and a single Lesser Black-backed.
When Gerry joined me he found a second red-headed Smew but with little
else we called at Bittern Hide where we found a Little Egret and a Cormorant.
Cormorant from Bittern Hide
Cormorant from Bittern Hide
Little Egret from Bittern Hide
Gerry left with intention of
heading towards the southern lagoons but we both finished up viewing Lagoon One
from the centre before he continued to the southern lagoons and I called it a
day. There was a juvenile female
Peregrine resting on the long island, which was presumably the bird that I have
observed a few times on Lagoon Four.
There were six Shelduck feeding on the lagoon but there were only
eighteen Pintail today. I found a
Buzzard sitting in the poplars on Brown’s Island and there was a female
Goosander on one of the small island and a second flew over but other than four
Pochard there was little else.
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