I went straight to the Lyndon
Reserve at Rutland Water this morning seeing very little on route and arriving
in the car park around 07:45. The centre
was still closed and so I set off towards Shallow Water Hide after taking a
brief look at the feeders, where there were just a few Blue and Great Tits and
a single Goldfinch.
I set off down the track and
the brisk north-west wind was making it feel pretty chilly and there was little
bird activity. As I approached Deep
Water Hide and noticed some movement in a tree on the other side of the path
and eventually managed to see an adult and a juvenile Spotted Flycatcher. I continued along the path and found four
Red-legged Partridges just the other side of the line of trees but had seen
very little else until I had a brief view of a Chiffchaff near the turn to
Wader Scrape Hide. A little further
along the track I found a Willow Warbler and a Lesser Whitethroat and on
entering the hide four photographers were in position hoping to photo the
Ospreys.
Red-legged Partridge
Woodpigeon
The three juveniles were
present with two initially on the nest and the other perched on an horizontal
branch of a willow and one of the adults paid a brief visit during my stay. The water is beginning to drop but there
weren’t any waders present although an Oystercatcher flew in and appeared to be
landing near the hide but was dissuaded from doing so by a group of
Black-headed Gulls. As I scanned around
Manton Bay there were three Little Egrets and two broods of Tufted Duck, one of
five and another of three. There were
quite a few Gadwall and Mallard in the bay and I then noticed a couple of Teal
close to the hide when a third bird came close, which was a Garganey.
Garganey
Juvenile Osprey
Juvenile Osprey
As I started to make my way
back there was a Chiffchaff calling at the end of the path, which I was able to
locate and have brief views of and there were a couple of Treecreeper just
before I turned and headed for Wader Scrape Hide.
On entering the hide there
were a couple of other birders and the Osprey volunteer but they hadn’t seen
too much as they had been focussed on the Ospreys. One of them picked up a Buzzard on a post on
the far side and just after the two had departed I noticed a Whitethroat in the
bushes to the left of the hide. It was a
juvenile and I eventually saw two more and an adult still feeding them. I managed to get a photo of one of the
juveniles in the bush and then some nice shots of the adult as it perched on
the reeds.
Juvenile Whitethroat
Adult Whitethroat
Adult Whitethroat
I left the hide and continued
to make my way back to the centre calling at Tufted Duck Hide on route but
there was very little on view from here as reeds were covering over 50% of the
view.
As I approached Deep Water
Hide I flushed a couple of birds and one landed on the fencing alongside the
hide, which was an adult Spotted Flycatcher and presumably one of the birds I
had seen earlier.
Spotted Flycatcher
Spotted Flycatcher
Spotted Flycatcher
Spotted Flycatcher
I had both Lesser Whitethroat
and Whitethroat before reaching the centre and whilst viewing the feeders and
talking to Paul saw a single Tree Sparrow on the feeders.
I eventually departed Lyndon
and headed for the Bird Watching Centre at Egleton and popped in to view the
log book before I set off to Snipe Hide on the Wet Meadow. Whilst I was talking to Stephen, Ken called
to say he had just arrived and so I waited for him, seeing two Ospreys over the
centre before he arrived. We hadn’t seen
very much on route and on entering the hide found just a single Shoveler and a
couple of Moorhen on the flash, which was rather disappointing. As we scanned the area one of two egrets, on
Lagoon One, looked bigger than the other but they were both Little Egrets and
once in the scope were actually the same size.
I then noticed a third bird perched at the top of a bush in the far
corner of the lagoon, which turned out to be one of the Great White
Egrets. A Grey Heron then flushed it and
it flew towards Harrier Hide and dropped out of sight. Ken then picked up the female Marsh Harrier
that has been present for a while now and it provide some nice views as it
quartered the area between the hide and Lagoon One.
We moved onto Harrier Hide and
found nothing on the second scrape on the Wet Meadow but on opening the flaps
to view Lagoon One found two Great White Egrets. One, presumably the one flushed by the heron,
was feeding whilst the other was stood on one of the islands preening.
We moved on to Tern Hide on
Lagoon Six and opening the hide flaps the first bird I noticed was yet another
Great White Egret actively feeding on the lagoon. Ken then went back to Harrier Hide to make
sure it was a third bird during which time I found a Green Sandpiper. He came back saying that only the resting
bird was still visible but I was still happy that there were three as the
feeding bird on Lagoon One had a bicoloured bill, whilst the resting bird’s
bill was predominately yellow as was the bird on this lagoon. Just before we departed Ken found a Red Kite
quartering the fields to the southwest.
We continued round to the 360
Hide where we met Steve, Terry and Mike and after a brief discussion, when
Steve confirmed that there were three Great White Egrets, Ken and I went into
the hide. Other than a couple of Little
Egrets and three Little Grebes there was very little on Lagoon Five and so we
left the hide and found Mike returning from Pintail Hide after seeing the Great
White Egret and three Green Sandpipers and we then walked back together to the
car park.
After some lunch Ken and I
joined Steve in the centre where there was a single Black-tailed Godwit. I then noticed what I thought was a Curlew on
an exposed island on mud but when I got the scope on it, it was showing a
distinct crown stripe. I informed Steve
and Ken that I might have a Whimbrel but Steve soon dismissed it saying it was
definitely a Curlew and of course he was right.
We then heard a Kingfisher calling, which Steve saw briefly before it
obligingly perched on a post at the end of the old road. Ken then picked up the Marsh Harrier again
just as we had the first of several afternoon showers.
When the rain stopped we
headed off to Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four and arrived just before the next
shower. There were six Ringed Plovers
and five Dunlin on the spit in front of the hide and I eventually found a
Little Ringed Plover on a more distant island.
I then noticed a wader feeding on the west bank of the lagoon, which I
initially thought might be a godwit but as it turned it had a curved bill and I
got Steve and Ken on to it as a Curlew.
It appeared smaller than the bird we had seen in the centre and I joked
saying it will probably turn out to be a Whimbrel. It the turned to reveal a central crown
stripe and Steve and I suspected that it was a Whimbrel. However it then flew to one of the islands
and in flight looked like a Curlew. When
it landed it was a little closer and we eventually agreed that it was just
another Curlew before it disappeared around the back of the island. I can’t recall seeing Curlews with crown
stripes before and so it was obviously a good learning point in that single
birds with crown stripes need to be viewed with caution.
Ken and I moved on to Shoveler
Hide on Lagoon Three where we found a Greenshank and twelve Green
Sandpipers. There was also a single
immature Shelduck and the female Gadwall was still escorting six, now almost
half-grown, young. There was also twenty-nine
Egyptian Geese on the lagoon, which was not really a welcome sight.
We moved onto Bittern Hide
where it was pretty quiet but I did find a juvenile Water Rail standing on the
edge of the reeds alongside the channel before it was flushed by a Moorhen.
A visit to Plover Hide
produced another three Ringed Plovers and ten Yellow-legged Gulls on the rocky
area. Surprisingly I had seen only eight
Common Terns today but perhaps they were feeding in areas I hadn’t visited,
although recently there had always been good numbers on Lagoon Four and perhaps
most have left early.
Another brief visit to
Sandpiper Hide produced nothing new and I set off back to the car park and
decided to call at Eyebrook Reservoir on route home.
When I arrived Andy and Graham
informed me that there we six Black-tailed Godwits and a Dunlin but the number
of geese made it difficult to locate the Dunlin and the Black-tailed Godwits
had probably moved around the end of the juncas. Graham then picked up an Osprey further down
the reservoir just before he and Andy departed.
I walked back along the road to view the bay behind the juncas but there
was no sign of the godwits and presumably they had gone. There were three Little Egrets and eleven
Common Terns and I did manage to see the lone Dunlin but after a coffee I set
off home.
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