Roger and I had a later start
this morning as yesterday’s forecast was predicting rain or even snow but the
morning forecast was less severe and although it was cold the day wasn’t
looking too bad.
We headed for Eyebrook
Reservoir first seeing a Red Kite near the Horninghold crossroads and the
Little Owl as we approached the reservoir.
The water is still very high with little habitat for waders and other
than a couple of Yellow Wagtails, which Roger missed we had seen very little as
we stopped near the Stoke Dry car park.
When we scanned the water towards the dam there was still nothing of
note until I picked up four terns that were quartering the water between us and
the dam. As we watcher them we thought
that they were probably Arctic Terns but it was some time later that we were
actually confident that it was what they were.
From Eyebrook Reservoir we
went straight to the Egleton Reserve at Rutland Water and seeing that the five
Whimbrel present last night were still there earlier today we headed straight
off towards Lagoon Four. As we
approached the lagoon a party of volunteers were replacing the fencing posts
along the path to Sandpiper Hide and so we continued on to Dunlin Hide.
When we entered the hide we
found it full and the news wasn’t good as those in the hide hadn’t seen the
Whimbrel. We couldn’t get a seat and it
was difficult viewing from the back of the hide but then one of the group
indicated that he had probably got the Whimbrel. He gave guidance as to where they were and
after repositioning my position I got reasonable views of the five birds
feeding on the western bank of the lagoon.
Another group member then called a Wheatear, which was a female on one
of the islands. The male Osprey was
sitting on the perch and there were six Oystercatchers, six Ringed Plovers and
five Dunlin on the lagoon. The group of
birders eventually left the hide and Roger and I were then able to get better
views of the Whimbrel.
We moved onto Shoveler Hide on
Lagoon Three but other than four Shelduck and four Goldeneye we saw little else
and headed back to the car for lunch. On
the way back we saw a Green Woodpecker, a Chiffchaff and a Willow Warbler and
heard several more Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers and also Blackcaps. Whilst we were having lunch a Red Kite flew
over the car park and two more Chiffchaff were observed.
Our plan after lunch was to
visit the southern lagoons but another birder told us that there were a number
of terns off Lapwing Hide and felt that they were probably Arctic. When we checked the book in the centre there
was an entry of nine Arctic Terns and a Reed Warbler singing along the path to
the hide and so we set off for Lapwing Hide after checking out Lagoon One,
where we found a single Redshank.
I had a brief view of a Great
Spotted Woodpecker near Badger Hide and a Jay provided some excellent views as
we were approaching Osprey Hide. As we
started to walk down the path to Lapwing Hide we found Briand, Roger and Rosie
looking for the Reed Warbler. We could
hear it singing but it was fairly deep in the reeds and so we all continued
onto Lapwing Hide.
We soon found several terns
which were clearly Arctic but we could only find seven but they did provide
some nice views in reasonable light. Roger
then found a pair of Scaup out in South Arm Three but we couldn’t locate the
reported Great Northern Diver and so Roger and I moved off to look for a Common
Sandpiper on Lagoon Four.
The Reed Warbler appeared to
be a little closer when we returned but we still couldn’t see it and I heard a
Sedge Warbler singing briefly.
When we got back to Dunlin
Hide on Lagoon Four the Whimbrel were still present and whilst scanning for the
sandpiper we had a Little Ringed Plover, an additional Dunlin and two Yellow
Wagtails and we also found the Wheatear again but there was no sign of the
Osprey or Common Sandpiper. During our
time in the hides this afternoon we had seen a Red Kite and four Buzzards over
Burley Wood and I had seen two more Buzzards towards Hambleton.
When we returned to the
viewing gallery in the centre we found a second Redshank and two Oystercatchers
were now on the long island and I found a single Curlew on the meadow.
With little else Roger and I
decided to go back to Eyebrook Reservoir as a Lesser Whitethroat had been
performing well earlier. When we pulled
up at the railings on the Leicestershire bank we could see four terns over the
water and initially assumed that they were the Arctic Terns. As I watched them from the car I was pretty
certain
that one, at least, was a
Common Tern. I got out of the car to get
a better look and sure enough one was clearly a Common Tern but there were now
five terns and the others were Arctic.
We then heard a Lesser Whitethroat and walked down the road to try and
locate it but it stopped singing and we couldn’t find it. When we got back to the car there was no sign
of any of the terns and we assumed they had departed.
We drove further along the
reservoir to the fencing near the island where the Lesser Whitethroat had been
this morning but there was no sign this afternoon, although we did see a couple
of Chiffchaffs and a Osprey.
As we left Eyebrook Reservoir
for home a Red Kite was observed as we turned onto Stockerston Lane and we saw
a Buzzard just after leaving Tur Langton.
I had added three year-ticks
today, Arctic Tern, Whimbrel and Reed Warbler and also added them to my patch
list which now stands at 129 with a point’s score of 155.
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