I was out with Roger today and
we headed off for Eyebrook Reservoir, which was to be our first port of call.
We had seen very little on
route and there was no sign of any Little Owls today but as we continued along
the road to the reservoir a male Stonechat flew onto the roadside fence. It was rather a smart individual as it was in
breeding plumage but unfortunately it dropped behind us and when we returned we
were unable to relocate it.
From the bridge at Eyebrook
Reservoir we found a single Shelduck, twenty-five Golden Plovers and eight
Dunlin towards the inlet. There was also
a Great Spotted Woodpecker on the other side of the bridge but with little else
we continued around towards Stoke Dry.
There was a Muntjac near the barn to the east of the reservoir, which
would appear to be my first at this sight.
As we approached the plantation there was a Red Kite circling above it
before it moved off over the reservoir.
The next port of call was to
be the Lyndon Reserve at Rutland Water and I decided to go across country
rather than via Uppingham. We had brief
views of a Stoat as we were approaching Wing and the two Red Kites, one before
the village of Lyndon and another just before reaching Rutland Water.
We checked out the feeders at
Lyndon where we saw Blue, Great and Coal Tits, Dunnock, five Tree Sparrows and
a Chaffinch. There was an Egyptian Goose
presumably sitting on eggs in the Kestrel nest box and two Oystercatchers were
observed in flight.
I suggested that we should
perhaps visit Great Casterton to see if we could locate a Corn Bunting but we
called at Normanton first where we located a female Mandarin. A Green Woodpecker flew across the road as we
approached the dam and there were two Buzzards soaring above the Stamford Road
and a Red Kite was observed as we approached Great Casterton.
We checked out the area where
recent sightings of Corn Buntings had been reported without any joy and so we
moved nearer to the farm. As we pulled up
a bird flew across the road and landed in small tree and to our surprise it was
a Corn Bunting. It then just seemed to
drop into the field but despite an extensive search we were unable to relocate
it. There were plenty of Yellowhammers
and at least four Linnets in the area of the farm and another Red Kite few over
and we had distant views of two Buzzards.
We eventually headed back to
Rutland Water and visited the fisherman’s car park on the Hambleton Peninsular
where we found the two Barnacle Geese and the Red-necked Grebe. A visit to the end of the unnamed road
leading to the spit in the north arm produced the Slavonian Grebe and the three
Black-necked Grebes but with little else of note we went to the Egleton car
park.
After some lunch we headed for
the Bird Watching Centre to view Lagoon One.
Initially when I looked out of the viewing area there were a lot of
birds in flight over the lagoon, mainly Lapwing but also a small party of
Golden Plover. As they settled again I
counted thirty-nine Golden Plover and also found ten Curlew. There were two Shelduck on the lagoon and I
could see another two on the Wet Meadow.
We headed off towards the
northern lagoons with the intention of getting further views of the Long-billed
Dowitcher, which was still present, but news of a Great Northern Diver from
Lapwing Hide sent us in that direction.
There was no sign of the diver but I did find an immature male and a
female Scaup on Lagoon Two.
When we went into Shoveler
Hide the dowitcher hadn’t been seen for almost thirty minutes but probably
within less than a minute it was back in view.
It was feeding along the front edge of the
more distant island but was giving good views initially before it started to
feed in taller vegetation. It continued
to move along the edge of the island before disappearing behind a damaged duck
box. We hadn’t seen again when there was
a mass panic and all the Lapwing burst into flight. Initially we thought the dowitcher wasn’t
with them but then I picked it up as it flew around with the Lapwing before
breaking away and joining up with a Snipe.
They both continued to fly around for a little longer before alighting
on the front edge of the near island and providing excellent views before it
eventually walked around the back of the island. There were two Shelduck, four Pintail, two
Dunlin, at least five Snipe and a Curlew also on the lagoon.
We headed for Plover Hide on
Lagoon Four next where we found a male and four red-headed Smew along with
Redshank and our only Little Egret of the day.
A visit to Bittern Hide produced just three Teal and a Moorhen and form
Sandpiper Hide there were four Shelduck, four Pintail a drake Goosander and two
Ringed Plovers.
After what had been a good
day’s birding we headed back to the car park and set off for home, seeing yet
another Red Kite over Tugby.
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