David and I set off for
Eyebrook Reservoir this morning but saw very little on route, a single
Red-legged Partridge near Horninghold was the best.
There was very little from the
bridge at Eyebrook Reservoir and so we moved around to view the small area of
mud at the inlet but all we found were three Little Egrets and a Snipe and
sixteen Common Terns were scattered around the reservoir.
Malcolm had arrived at
Eyebrook Reservoir and after discussing his recent excursions we all went to
the North Arm at Rutland Water. There
were three Dunlin on the spit on the northern shore but they were quite elusive
and I only managed to see only one at any one time. Malcolm found a Common Sandpiper on the
northern side of the bund and there were a couple of Little Egrets. A pair of Egyptian Geese was escorting a
brood of seven and there four juvenile Shelduck observed on the far side and
six Common Terns were also observed.
Feeling that there wasn’t too
much else in the arm we drove to the Egleton car park and set off for Snipe
Hide on the Wet Meadow. When we arrived
we found a single Dunlin and a couple of Green Sandpipers, which was a little
disappointing as there had been a couple of Garganey yesterday. There was a Reed Warbler singing just in
front of the hide and David picked up a Sedge Warbler that perched briefly in a
bush. Whilst in the hide we also saw two
Red Kites and three Ospreys but they were quite distant.
We moved onto Harrier Hide and
after a made a quick scan onto Lagoon One I moved to take a look at the other
flash on the Wet Meadow. There were two
Green Sandpipers on the flash and Malcolm then found the Great White Egret on
one of the islands on Lagoon One. It was
pretty obvious and either my quick scan was too quick or it a walked from
behind the island. I picked up a few
birds flying into the vegetation just in front of the hide and managed to see
that at least one was a Whitethroat. Malcolm
picked up a rather distant Hobby and a Buzzard was observed over Brown’s Island
with a second perched on the old Kestrel nest box.
A visit to Pintail Hide on
Lagoon Six produced nothing and we saw nothing of interest on Lagoon eight as
we walked towards the 360 Hide on Lagoon Five.
There were two Dunlin and a single Black-tailed Godwit roosting on an
area of exposed mud on the lagoon and we also found another Little Egret and a
Little Grebe.
A quick visit into Mallard
Hide on Lagoon One produced a Yellow-legged Gull and a Hobby provided some nice
views but with little else we continued on to the centre as it was threatening
to rain. We managed to reach the centre just
before the rain became quite heavy but all we found whilst waiting for the rain
to ease was another Green Sandpiper.
After some lunch we set off
for the northern lagoons and initially headed for Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three
where we found that the water level was dropping but as yet hadn’t attracted
too much. There were two adult and four
juvenile Shelducks on the lagoon and the female Gadwall was still escorting six
growing young. There were also two
Little Grebes towards Bittern Hide and another Sedge Warbler showed
briefly. On the main area of water we
found a single Pochard and there was a female Tufted Duck escorting a brood of
five.
It had been raining pretty
hard again whist we were in the hide but as it eased we made a dash to Plover
Hide on Lagoon Four but all we managed to see were a dozen Yellow-legged Gulls
resting on the rocky area and so we moved to Sandpiper Hide to get a different
view. There were six Little Ringed
Plovers, two Ringed Plovers and a Common Sandpiper not too far from the hide
but when the next downpour arrived they flew off after which we couldn’t locate
them all, although some at least were still present. Whilst we were searching for the plovers we
did find at least seven Dunlin, a Black-tailed Godwit, a Green Sandpiper and
three Redshank. We had heard the
Redshanks from Plover Hide but hadn’t found them and presumably they and the
Dunlin had arrived during one of the showers.
There was another female Tufted Duck escorting a brood of five and at
least thirty-three Common Terns on the lagoon.
With a break in the showers we
made our way back to the car park and called again at Eyebrook Reservoir on the
way home. There were now two
Black-tailed Godwits at the inlet but I couldn’t find the reported Common and
Green Sandpipers and so we called it a day.
No comments:
Post a Comment