With such a good night for
moths I didn’t leave for Eyebrook Reservoir until 08:10 and didn’t see anything
of note on route. The Little Owl wasn’t
showing this morning and the only birds of note I saw from the bridge was a
Kestrel and a Treecreeper, although a Chiffchaff and Blackcap were singing
intermittently. I parked up so that I
could observe the small area of mud, which had increased in size due to the
recent good weather. There were quite a
few Lapwings and Black-headed Gulls either on the mud or in the shallow water
next to it and there were a couple of Dunlin in the shallow water and an adult
and a juvenile Common Tern resting on the mud.
There was a rather splendid looking adult Yellow-legged Gull perched on
some dead wood nearby and there were two Little Egrets a little further into
the stream. The only other birds of note
were six Common Terns and a Red Kite over the Leicestershire fields.
I made my way to the Egleton
Reserve at Rutland Water I saw an Osprey near Manton Bridge and as I arrived I
saw Tim who said that Steve and Terry had seen a Whimbrel and a Greenshank on
Lagoon Four but that the Whimbrel had flown off. Steve and Terry then returned to the car park
just as I was setting off with the intention of going to Snipe Hide on the Wet
Meadow. As they came towards me I could
hear a Greenshank calling, which was clearly in flight but we couldn’t locate
it and after a brief chat and moving my car I set off for Snipe Hide.
A bird flew up off the ground
as I reached the road down to the centre and perched on the edge of one of the
trees and I was surprised to see that it was a Spotted Flycatcher as it is not
a bird I see on the Egleton Reserve with any regularity. I called Tim who thought that it was probably
the first record this year but unfortunately it soon disappeared and couldn’t
be relocated later.
I saw nothing of note as I
made way to Snipe Hide and on reaching it found a Black-tailed Godwit on the
flash and a Green Sandpiper working its way around the northern edge. A Little Egret and three Oystercatchers flew
over and there was a Red Kite quartering the fields to the west.
I continued on to Harrier Hide
and found three more Green Sandpipers on the Wet Meadow flash but other than a
few Common Terns there was little else and I continued on to Heron Hide, where
I was hoping to find a Great White Egret that has been present for a few days.
When I arrived in the hide
there were a few Little Egrets scattered around the bay but there was no sign
of the Great White Egret but I could see an adult and a juvenile Osprey at the
nest site in Manton Bay.
With little else I moved onto
Kingfisher Hide on Lagoon Eight and found two Oystercatchers and two female
Tufted Ducks with young. One was
escorting three half-grown young whilst the other just had one very small
duckling. Tim had said that a female
Tufted Duck had been seen yesterday with a brood of fourteen but there was no
sign today and hopefully the single young isn’t all that remains of the brood.
It was now pretty hot as I
made my way back towards the centre and I was glad to get out of the sun for a
while in the 360 Hide. There was a
single Oystercatcher and two more Black-tailed Godwits on the lagoon and a
Sedge Warbler was observed close to the hide.
As I approached the centre I
saw Terry go in and I followed him hoping that he and Steve might have seen the
Great White Egret from Manton Bay but they hadn’t and so I left them searching
through the Tufted Duck flock for a Scaup.
After some lunch I made my way
towards the northern lagoons seeing very little in the now blistering heat and
initially called at Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three. There were two adult Shelduck escorting a
party of four well grown young and a Little Egret but very little else. The water level does appear to falling slowly
and hopefully we might have some exposed mud in the next couple of weeks.
Juvenile Shelduck
Whilst in the hide there was
some disturbance on Lagoon Four and at least thirty Common Terns flew off the
lagoon and passed over Lagoon Three and shortly afterwards all of the duck
close to the hide appeared to panic and fly out onto the centre of the
lagoon. Suspecting that there was
perhaps a bird of prey around I scanned the sky but didn’t find anything that
might have caused the disturbance.
Steve had called to say he was
calling it a day as it was too hot for him and I must admit I was of the same
opinion but I decided to go to Sandpiper Hide before going back to the centre.
There was another adult
Shelduck on the lagoon along with four Oystercatchers, two Little Ringed
Plovers, three Ringed Plover, six Curlews and three Redshanks. There were eight Yellow-legged Gulls amongst
the more numerous Great Black-backed Gulls resting on the exposed rocky
area. Erik then entered the hide and
almost immediately found two male Ruff that were feeding on island two just
left of the Volunteer Training Centre and I then noticed an Osprey on the nest.
With little else we went back
to the centre as a Marsh Harrier had been reported earlier but there was no
sign, although he did find a male Scaup after I had departed.
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