David and I headed for
Eyebrook Reservoir on a rather dreary day with an overcast sky and fresh and
cold northerly wind.
We saw Buzzards near Great
Glen, Slawston and along Stockerston Lane and a Red Kite near Blaston on route
as we headed to the southern approach road.
The water level at the
reservoir is still very high and the number of wildfowl is now at its summer
time low. There were four Common Terns
over the water and hundreds of hirundines, which were mainly House Martins with
just a few Swallows, along with about thirty Swifts. Not surprisingly there was no sign of any
Little Owls along the northern approach road but a brief stop at the bridge
produced a couple of Tree Sparrows and we also heard Blackcap, Garden Warbler
and Whitethroat. A Muntjac was also
observed. As we moved around the Rutland
side of the reservoir and I picked up a single Yellow Wagtail in flight but
there was very little else and we left for Rutland Water.
At Rutland Water we parked in
the Egleton car park and walked the short distance to the Bird Watching Centre
to view Lagoon One. It was pretty quiet with just a couple of Shelduck on the
lagoon, six Common Terns feeding over the lagoon and a Sedge Warbler singing,
which we observed on one occasion.
With the Avocets now hatched
we decided to go to the southern lagoons.
We made a brief visit to Mallard Hide but found nothing new and
continued onto Snipe Hide on the Wet Meadow.
It wasn’t easy finding birds in the wooded area as there now more
foliage on the trees and also the wind was making it even more difficult and
although we had heard Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap and Garden Warbler
before reaching the hide we hadn’t managed seen any of them.
There were two Shelduck on
both of the flashes on the Wet Meadow but otherwise it was pretty quiet. An Avocet then called and then flew over to
the far side on the flash in front of the hide.
Its behaviour suggested that there may well be young present as it
repeatedly chased off any threats. David
then found a young bird feeding along the edge of the far side and shortly
afterwards there was a second on the opposite shore. Four young had been reported a few days ago
and as there was no sign of the second adult we assumed that perhaps the other
two young were with the other adult somewhere.
As the Avocets had nested on
Lagoon Six we continued to Tern Hide hoping that we might find the other adult
and young but there was no sign on arrival.
There were three Shelduck on the lagoon and a drake Pochard made a brief
visit. There were two Oystercatcher with
a single chick just to the left of the hide and a third bird on the island in
front and David then found a couple of Lapwing chicks on another island. We moved onto Pintail Hide that provides a
different view of the lagoon but there was still no sign of the other
Avocets. I had heard Redshank on a couple
of occasions when two birds then flew from one side of an island to the other when
their behaviour suggested they might have young. A carful scan along the edge of the
vegetation eventually revealed two tiny chicks.
Oystercatcher
Oystercatcher & chick
Oystercatcher chick
Oystercatcher feeding chick
Lapwing
From Pintail Hide we continued
along the path towards Heron Hide seeing one of the adult Ospreys in Manton Bay
before we went back to the 360° Hide on Lagoon
Five. We also saw a Shelduck and another
two Oystercatchers on Lagoon Eight before we reached the hide.
The water level had dropped a
little on the lagoon and we could see a couple of Oystercatcher roosting on one
of the islands and there were four Redshank with two behaving as if they had
young as both appeared to be defending an area but we couldn’t locate any on
this occasions. One of the two birds
repeatedly went into the same area of vegetation but it was too dense to see
any young with the adult occasionally disappearing.
Redshank
Redshank
We heard very little as we
walked to the northern lagoons and went to Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three first
as there had been some Arctic Terns yesterday and two had been reported again
today. There were four Shelduck visible
from the hide and two Oystercatchers flew in just after we arrived. There were a number of terns feeding over the
water and we eventually managed to find at least five Arctic amongst the more
numerous Common Terns. A Hobby had also
been seen over the reedbed but it wasn’t showing during our stay but four
Redshanks flew over before we moved onto Lapwing Hide to view South Arm Three.
Oystercatcher alighting on Lagoon Three
There were more terns over the
water from Lapwing Hide and we managed to find another Arctic amongst the
Common Terns but there was little else and we made our way back to Shoveler
Hide.
Great Crested Grebe from Lapwing Hide
Cormorant from Lapwing Hide
Swift
Despite another twenty minutes
in the hide there was still no sign of the Hobby and we moved on to Plover Hide
to view Lagoon Four. As we were approach
the hide a Red Kite circled overhead but the scrub to the right was
silent. We found three Ringed Plovers, a
Dunlin, a Curlew and six Redshanks, which presumably included the four that had
flown over Lagoon Three, on Lagoon Four.
We called at Sandpiper Hide,
which we had avoided so far as it faces north and it was pretty cold looking
out onto the lagoon. However we found
two separate Oystercatchers each tending a young bird, with one being quite
well grown. Two Ospreys flew over and we
eventually found a Little Ringed Plover, which made the effort worthwhile.
A final visit back in the
centre didn’t produce anything else, although there were now nineteen Common
Terns over the lagoon.
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