Roger and I were out locally
today and headed for Eyebrook Reservoir seeing just a Kestrel of interest on
route.
As we approached the reservoir
we saw a Red Kite quartering the fields on the Rutland side but a stop at the
bridge was unproductive and we moved around to view the inlet. We found three Snipe and there was also a Black-tailed
Godwit present and a single Little Egret on the stream. There was a second Red Kite quartering the
fields on the Leicestershire side of the reservoir and at least twelve Common
Terns over the water and four more Little Egrets south of the inlet.
We moved on heading for
Luffenham Airfield where we were hoping to find a Wheatear. We drove around the area and down one of the
old runways to look down another runway.
There were circa thirty Swallow over the area and a few Linnet and I saw
a bird run quickly over the bare tarmac to disappear into some vegetation,
which I thought was a Skylark. As we
continued to scan the area I picked up a Wheatear but it disappeared, like the
possible Skylark into some vegetation. I
got Roger into the right area but it didn’t show again and so we moved our
positions where we confirmed the Skylark sighting and then Roger found the
Wheatear again on the edge of the tarmac.
With the target achieved we
moved on to the Lyndon Reserve at Rutland Water, seeing a single Swift, just
after parking and then went into the centre to view the feeders. There was a
Magpie actually on one of the feeders and a constant stream of Blue and Great
Tits were visiting the other one. The
Magpie eventually departed and almost immediately a party of birds left the
bushes to the left and flew straight into the small bush next to the
feeders. They were Tree Sparrows, six in
total and they soon appeared on the feeders, obviously feeling safe now the
magpie had gone. A Marsh Tit also made a
brief visit just before a male Sparrowhawk zoomed in scattering the feeding
birds, with most flying into the small bush.
The Sparrowhawk also disappeared into the bush but when it flew out
again a few seconds later it looked as the attack had been unsuccessful.
With the feeders now quiet we
headed off for Shallow Water Hide and heard Long-tailed Tits calling from the
trees alongside the first part of the path.
When we came out into the open the tits flew across the path and into
the bushes and hedgerow alongside the path.
As they flew over the path to a more dense area of cover we fund a
couple of Chiffchaffs and a Lesser Whitethroat.
We continued along the path and just after passing Deep Water Hide I saw
two more Lesser Whitethroats but they failed to oblige for Roger.
We eventually reached Shallow
Water Hide where we found a single photographer who was keen to inform us that
the Ospreys were quite active and that he had seen the three juvenile birds and
the female. We did see the three
juveniles but they were pretty inactive the whole time we were in the hide,
with just a couple of short sorties. A
Black-tailed Godwit flew in front of the hide as we opened the flaps and there
were a couple of Little Grebes in front of the hide, one still in full summer
plumage whilst the other was in winter plumage.
Little Grebe
Little Grebe
A Buzzard then passed over the
hide and caused some disturbance in the bay before it moved off to the
west. Shortly afterwards Roger located a
Greenshank, which was doing its best to hide amongst the vegetation. As I moved my scope away from the Greenshank
I noticed what I thought might be the Garganey I had seen on Tuesday but the
facial pattern wasn’t visible. I
continued to watch the bird and it wasn’t too long before it turned and I could
inform Roger that there was a Garganey.
Buzzard
Buzzard
Buzzard
Buzzard
Lapwing
Just after leaving the hide I
heard a Goldcrest and whilst we were looking for it we saw several more
Long-tailed Tits but we couldn’t locate the Goldcrest and had seen little else
before reaching the centre.
From Lyndon we drove around to
the Egleton car park where we had lunch before going into the Bird Watching
Centre to view Lagoon One. One of the
Great White Egrets was feeding to the right of the hide and Roger picked up the
female Marsh Harrier, which then quartered the area for a while. Ten Curlews flew over and appeared to drop
onto the Wet Meadow and so we decided to go and take a look from Snipe Hide.
Marsh Harrier
When we arrived at Snipe Hide
the area was devoid of birds and we didn’t pick out anything new on lagoon one
and therefore headed back and onwards to the northern lagoons.
As we reached the gate at the
end of the Summer Trail we continued on and went into Shoveler Hide on Lagoon
Three. There were quite a few waders
scattered around and we found three Snipe, two Black-tailed Godwits, a Curlew, a
Common Sandpiper, eleven Green Sandpipers and a Greenshank. There was another Great White Egret feeding
in the left had bay and a Little Egret just in front of the hide. There were good numbers of wildfowl on the
lagoon, mainly Gadwall, with good numbers of Mallard and a few Teal and Pochard
and we also located a Wigeon and a couple of Shoveler. A Red Kite was observed over the trees on the
edge of the reedbed but other than seeing a single Reed Warbler and hearing a
Water Rail there wasn’t anything else.
Painted Lady
Four of the six Gadwall ducklings
Great White Egret
Great White Egret
Great White Egret
Little Egret
We made a trip to Bittern Hide
hoping we might see a Water Rail but there was nothing and so we returned to
Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four. There
were eight Ringed Plovers and three Dunlin on the spits near the hide and two,
possibly three, Common Sandpipers on the lagoon. There were quite a few gulls with
Black-headed, Common, Lesser Black-backed, Yellow-legged and Great Black-backed
Gull all being represented and eighteen Common Terns were observed in flight
and there were also five Shelduck.
We called in Osprey Hide to
see if there was a third Great White Egret on Lagoon Two and found a Little
Egret but no Great White. As we were
looking for the egret a Hobby flew over on a couple of occasions before it
disappeared over the trees.
A final check from the centre
produced another Black-tailed Godwit and we had a brief view of a Great White
Egret on Lagoon Two but it disappeared and we couldn’t confirm if it was a
different bird to either of those observed.
We also saw two Marsh Harriers, the female-type and a juvenile, over
Lagoon Two.
We finally called it a day
after recording eight-seven species during the day, which is not a bad total
for Leicestershire & Rutland.
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