David and I headed for
Eyebrook Reservoir this morning seeing very little on route. We stopped at the inlet bridge but it was
very quiet with three Little Grebes on the stream being the best. At the inlet there was more wildfowl,
including a few Wigeon but wader wise we could only find a Ruff and a Snipe and
there was a single Common Tern over the water.
David then found a Whinchat, which was then joined by a second as we
scoped the first. A brief view over the
fields to the east produced a couple of Whitethroats as well as Linnet,
Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting.
We left Eyebrook Reservoir and
headed for the Lyndon Reserve at Rutland Water seeing a Red Kite just after
passing through Lyddington and when we stopped briefly at Lyndon church yard a
Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over and a Green Woodpecker was heard.
After parking we went into the
centre and had a couple of Tree Sparrows on the feeders and we saw two
Chiffchaff, a Willow Warbler and two Whitethroats in the hedge on the
left. We went started to walk down to
Shallow Water Hide and on reaching the main path found a Spotted Flycatcher
perched on an overhead cable. It was
very quiet as we walked towards the hide and we saw very little until we were
near the hide when there was a male Blackcap and another Spotted Flycatcher in
the bush just to the left of the hide.
On entering the hide we found
Steve who had only seen a Ruff, two Green Sandpipers and a Greenshank of
note. As we scanned the Manton Bay we
found the Greenshank along with a Redshank and the Green Sandpiper was also
observed close by. The Ruff then
appeared right in front of the hide and I found a Ringed Plover just to the
left. The young Ospreys have already
departed but surprisingly the two adults were still present and were both
sitting on the nest. They both flew off
with one returning with a fish, whilst the other came back shortly afterwards
but without a catch. Whilst we were in
the hide there was a short burst of rain that produced several Swallows, a
couple of Sand Martins and a House Martin.
Female Teal
Juvenile Ruff
Juvenile Ruff
Adult winter Black-headed Gull
Juvenile Common Tern
As we walked back I saw a
Green Woodpecker and a Goldcrest near Deep Water Hide and found Steve in the
hide but he hadn’t seen much and left shortly afterwards. It wasn’t long afterwards when David and I
also made our way back but went into Teal Hide to see if the Long-tailed Duck
was showing. It was on the bank just to
the left of the hide and never really moved during our stay.
Common Tern
Common Tern
Female Tufted Duck
We moved onto the North Arm
and after a brief chat with Tim near the cottage we continued down the road and
after going through the gate entered the field to the south to get a better
view of the arm. I suddenly realised
that I had left the bins in the car and went back for them and on joining David
found I had missed a juvenile Peregrine, which had been flying around but had
now disappeared. As I scanned the bay to
the south there four Ruff, two Green Sandpipers and two Greenshanks but there
was no sign of any Red-crested Pochard or Pintail that Roger had seen
earlier. The waders and ducks suddenly
became very anxious with the waders taking to flight and I suspected that the
Peregrine might be around again. A quick
scan and I soon found it flying fairly low over the water and it was a large
juvenile female, which was then harassed by several Black-headed Gulls and
eventually it flew off to the north and disappeared. On scanning the north shore there were two
more Ruff and six Curlews but there was still no sign of the Pintail or
Red-crested Pochard.
It was now lunch time and so
we went to Egleton and found Ken and Roger in the car park and after lunch we
all went to the centre to view Lagoon One.
There were three Great White Egrets at the back of the lagoon along with
six Little Egrets but there wasn’t a great deal else. David then heard a Greenshank on a couple of
occasions and eventually picked one up in flight, which I got onto as he flew
off over Lagoon Two, David however was watching a second bird that dropped out
of sight on the lagoon. He then found a
Green Sandpiper on the long island and shortly afterwards we picked up a Hobby
that was hunting between the centre and Mallard Hide. As we watched the Hobby one of the Great
White Egrets came closer but shortly afterwards it started to rain and was
quite heavy for a while. As the rain
eased we decided to go to Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three.
First-summer Hobby
Great White Egret
There was some more light rain
as we walked to the hide and on entering the hide we found nine Ruff, a Snipe
and six Green Sandpipers and then David found two male and a female Red-crested
Pochard. The rain then started again,
becoming very heavy and all of the birds stopped feeding and just stood
motionless, including eleven Little Egrets.
There were several clasp of thunder and one was so close all the birds
flew, including the Little Egrets, which we didn’t see again and four
Black-tailed Godwits appeared and a Curlew flew off.
The rain became so heavy we
had to close all the flaps in the hide and we were stuck in there for over an
hour. As the rain appeared to be easing
David made a dash to Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four. Tim then called to see if we were still on
site, saying he was in the centre where there had been some flooding. He offered to come and collect us but needed
to stay in the centre for a while clearing up.
Ken and I then made a dash to join David in Sandpiper and if we could
have got hold of him on the phone we might well have made a dash back to the
centre. Thankfully we didn’t as it was beginning
to rain heavy again as we entered the hide.
There were two Greenshanks
just in front of the hide and four Ringed Plovers also dropped in but again we
had to close the flaps as it was impossible to bird. Tim then called to say that he had picked up
Steve from Fieldfare Hide and was on his way back to the car park and would
then come and collect us. However as
there were three of us it would be a tight squeeze in the Land Rover but as the
rain was beginning to ease David decided to walk and arrived at almost the same
time as we got back with Tim.
I still got pretty wet just
getting back into the car and after a quick coffee we set off for home. The rain began to ease as we moved west and
the rain had stopped some time before we got back to David’s.
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