The weather over recent days
had been rather unsettled with some extremely heavy showers and the forecast
today was for more of the same. When I
left home it was overcast but dry as I headed to Eyebrook Reservoir.
There was no sign of any
Little Owls today and so I parked up near the bridge and viewed the reservoir
from the bridge. There were three
Oystercatchers flying around but with the water level being so high they were unable
to find a suitable area to land and appeared to move off. I heard Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Garden
Warbler singing and saw a male Blackcap before I moved and parked overlooking
the inlet. There was a Buzzard perched
in a tree to the east and I counted nine Common Terns over the reservoir but
other than a few Swift and a Sedge Warbler there was little else and so I moved
onto Rutland Water.
It was the monthly WeBS count
and so I headed to the Old Hall to count South Arm Three. When I arrived it was still overcast and dry
and with only a light wind the water was pretty flat, which made the count
easier. There was a large concentration
of geese and swans close to where the island appears when the water level drops,
which contained Mute Swans, Greylag Geese and Canada Geese. There were more Mute Swans near Brown’s
Island and also a few Mallard, Tufted Duck and Great Crested Grebes and
surprisingly there were just two Common Terns feeding over the water. I saw three House Martins and a single
Swallow and heard a Willow Warbler and Blackcap as I walked back to the car.
With the count completed in
the south arm I moved onto the Egleton reserve to complete my responsibilities
and count Lagoon One. When I went up to
the viewing area in the centre it was clear that it was pretty quiet, although
the Black-headed Gulls appear to be doing pretty well with numerous chicks now
visible. Count wise there was Mute Swan,
Greylag Goose, Shelduck; Gadwall, Mallard, Tufted Duck and a Great Crested
Grebe visible but in quite low numbers.
Again I was surprised to find just one Common Tern and was beginning to
wonder if the recent weather had effected them.
As I was counting I thought I heard a Little Grebe but these have been
pretty scarce recently and it had been over a month since I had last seen one
at the reservoir and I wasn’t certain if it was what I heard. However a few minutes later it called again
and after talking to Tim he said two had appeared just yesterday and were very
vocal and he was hoping that they might still breed.
With the count completed I
viewed the feeding area and had a brief view of a Great Spotted Woodpecker
before I moved onto Snipe Hide on the Wet Meadow. As I walked through the woodland area I saw a
Willow Warbler and a pair of Blackcaps but other than hearing Chiffchaff,
Blackcap and Sedge Warbler there was little else until I reached Snipe Hide.
There was a pair of Shelduck
with six young on the flash and the two adult Avocets were present. A young Avocet then appeared and Shorty
afterwards was joined by a second but these then moved rather rapidly whilst
feeding and disappeared close to the near shore. It was some time later when I saw them again
as they walked along the eastern shore before going out of sight again. A single bird then appeared heading in the
opposite direction and I did wonder if this might have been a third individual
as three were present last week. One of
the avocets was feeding quite close when it suddenly became quiet alert and
took to flight and appeared to chase something across the lagoon with a
Black-headed Gull. As I focused on the
Avocet it suddenly veered upwards and I then saw a Sparrowhawk, which is what
obviously had caused the commotion, which then sped off over Lagoon One and the
Avocet returned to feed.
I moved onto Harrier Hide but
other than another Shelduck I saw nothing else of note and I moved onto Tern
Hide on Lagoon Six. There were two
Oystercatchers on the lagoon but I couldn’t find any young, although I was
scanning I noticed a small Lapwing chick on the island directly in front of the
hide. The Lapwing that had been sitting
on the island was now keeping a watchful on at least three young, which were
all feeding quite actively. I then found
two more Lapwing chicks on another island but these were much larger and
probably close to being half-grown. A
quick visit into Pintail Hide produced nothing new and I set off to the 360
Hide.
Lapwing chick
Lapwing chick
There was nothing of note on
Lagoon Eight and from the 360 Hide I found two Shelduck, two Little Egrets, two
Oystercatchers and two Redshanks and on scanning further found two Little
Grebes and a female Mallard escorting six young.
Redshank
After having lunch back in the
car park I went to Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three and on lifting the flaps in
the hide it wasn’t a surprise to find that the water level had risen
considerably and the lagoon was now back on top water. There were still a few wildfowl resting on
the nearby pontoon and the shallow water just in front of it and included a
drake Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard and three drake Pochard and a few Tufted
Duck. Nineteen Common Terns were feeding
over the water and there were plenty of Black-headed Gulls on the pontoons but
there was very little else using the main body of water. I heard a distant Cetti’s Warbler on a couple
of occasions and two Reed Warblers provided some nice views to the left of the
hide. A Shelduck then flew in and began
feeding to the left of the hide and then I picked up a Green Sandpiper in
flight that was apparently having difficulty in finding a suitable feeding area
but did appear to drop behind the reeds to the left of the hide. A Hobby then appeared briefly to the right of
the hide but quickly moved off in the direction of the meadows.
From Shoveler I moved onto
Bittern Hide where there were a small number of Reed Warblers that were
particularly active and also a brood of seven Mallard and a second one of just
a single bird. Three juvenile
Bullfinches also moved across the front of the hide only to come back a few
minutes later and disappear into the scrub to the right. Whilst I was in hide there was a heavy
downpour, which seemed to create some movement of the wildfowl on the lagoon
and an Oystercatcher flew over.
As the rain eased I moved onto
Plover Hide on Lagoon Four where I found three Little Egrets on the lagoon, a
Little Ringed Plover on island two and then two Ringed Plovers on island
five. There was an Oystercatcher
escorting three well-grown young to the right of the hide and one of the Common
Terns that had been showing an interest in island three now appeared to be
sitting.
Little Egret
Little Egret
I eventually started to make
my way back with the intention of calling in Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four but
as I approached the path to Shoveler Hide it began raining again and so I
headed off in that direction. There were
another couple of birders in the hide and the rain became so heavy we had to
close all of the flaps and just sit and wait hoping it would at some stage
ease. The only addition to what I had
seen earlier were another couple of Pochard, one of which was a female.
The rain did eventually start
to ease and the other couple headed off back and I followed shortly afterwards
after making sure my camera wouldn’t get wet.
The path back to the centre was now covered in small and sometimes deep
puddles and a small stream had developed near the first gate as the water ran
of the fields into the ditch. When we
reached the centre the road and path near the centre were flooded and it looked
as though it would be difficult to get back to the car park. However by treading carefully along the edge
we did manage to get through.
It had been an eventful
afternoon and with rain still falling I called it a day and headed off home.
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