It was overcast when Roger and
I left this morning and a little warmer than the last few days. However as we moved east towards Eyebrook
Reservoir the cloud began to clear resulting in a sharp frost and despite the forecast
predicting heavy cloud all day it remained mainly bright and sunny.
On route we had a Kestrel and
a Buzzard between Tur Langton and Stonton Wyville and there was a Muntjac
feeding at the side of the road as we approached Slawston. There was another Kestrel and a party of
Fieldfare and Redwing as we approached Blaston and the Little Owl was in the
Old Oak from the approach to Eyebrook Reservoir.
It felt pretty cold at
Eyebrook Reservoir and we stopped briefly at the bridge seeing a Red Kite, a
Redwing and a couple of Tree Sparrows.
As we moved around to view the inlet there were more Fieldfare and
Redwing alongside the road. The area
around the inlet was actually frozen over but the stream and most of the
reservoir were ice free. It wasn’t easy
viewing due to bright sunlight
reflecting on the water and so we moved further
along the road to look back into the inlet.
We had seen a few Dunlin from our original position but we were now able
to see that there were thirty-four and we also found three Snipe and a
Redshank. There were plenty of wildfowl
on the water, which were mainly Wigeon, Teal and Mallard but there were also a
few Tufted Duck, four Shoveler and a couple of Goldeneye between the inlet and
Stoke Dry car park. There was a second
Red Kite over the Leicestershire fields and two Buzzards flew over the east road.
From Eyebrook Reservoir we
moved to Rutland Water via Lyddington, Wing and Lyndon seeing quite a few more
Fieldfare and Redwing as we did so.
There was also a Red Kite over Lyddington and a Buzzard at our regular
stop just south of Wing. As we
approached Lyndon we had a Treecreeper in a roadside tree and then a second at
the church in Lyndon along with a couple of Nuthatches.
When we reached Manton Road
near the entrance to the Lyndon Reserve we turned right and headed for the dam
hoping for a Great Northern Diver and seeing a Great Spotted Woodpecker as we
approached the dam. We stopped
overlooking the dam from the southern shore but initially there was no sign of
any divers and we considered going to Sykes Lane car park and walking along the
dam to get a better view of the water.
Before we set off I called David who was also out but only for the
morning to see how he was getting on. He
had seen the Red-necked Grebe in the South Arm and in the North Arm he had seen
a Long-tailed Duck, two Black-necked Grebes and a Great White Egret. After I finished talking to him Roger was
looking intently at something and when I asked if he had found anything he said
he might have a diver but wasn’t sure as it close to the north shore. He got me onto the bird and as the bird
turned side on it was clearly one of the Great Northern Divers. As we didn’t need to go to Sykes Lane now we
headed for the North Arm and parked along the unnamed road.
David was now heading for the
Egleton Reserve but indicated that he may have just found the Whimbrel but we
couldn’t see it from the end of the road.
After scanning the fishponds and finding thirteen Goosanders, a Little
Egret and a Snipe we walked out onto the spit to get a better view of the north
shore.
There were three Little Egrets
on the bund and a couple of drake Pintail near the north shore. Roger than found a bird, which was possibly
the bird David thought might be a Whimbrel, but it turned out to be a
Curlew. There were also thirty-four
Dunlin feeding on the north shore and Roger than picked up the two Black-necked
Grebes.
As we walked into the field
the light wasn’t very good looking up the North Arm and so we started walking
to the southern shore to improve the light.
We then saw Norman, who had walked further down the arm and we decided
to join him. When we reached him he
hadn’t seen the Long-tailed Duck but said he had seen a red-headed Smew but
some time ago. As Roger and I started to
scan the area I picked up the Smew, which was further up the arm. After getting Norman and Roger onto it I saw
a bird in the centre of the water and on getting the scope on it, it was a
female Long-tailed Duck. After viewing
the Long-tailed Duck for a few minutes and rescanning the north shore where we
saw a Shelduck we decided to walk back as it was quite cold where we were
standing.
As we walked back in the sun
it felt quite a bit warmer and we stopped to view the northern shore
again. There was a large party of
Greylag Geese feeding in the grass beyond the edge of the waterline and some had
started walking towards the water and began bathing when they reached it. As I went through them I found the
Pink-footed Goose as it also walked down to the shoreline, where it became more
difficult as it mixed with the Greylags.
Roger found it quite quickly but it took a little longer to get Norman
onto it but he eventually saw it. We
also found another Curlew and just after I found the Pink-footed Goose, Roger
located the two Barnacle Geese were playing hide and seek near Dickinson’s Bay.
We had also seen one of the
Great White Egrets in the North Arm and as we walked back I picked one up on
the fishponds bund and Roger said is that another flying in. It was and as it joined the first Roger again
said is that a third coming in as it disappeared behind a tree but soon
reappeared to confirm his identification.
When we got back to the cars
Norman said he was going to take his lunch, whilst Roger and I decided to go
and look for the Red-necked Grebe in the South Arm. We walked beyond the Old Hall and then walked
into the field to improve the light and started scanning a party of birds on
the water. There were plenty of Wigeon,
Tufted Duck and Coot and a few Gadwall, Mallard, Goldeneye and Great Crested
Grebes but despite scanning them quite a few times we were unable to find the
Red-necked Grebe. Roger did find a drake
Scaup amongst the Tufted Ducks but a yacht then came closer and many of the
birds flew off with the Coot tending to swim out of the bay. This would have been a good time to find the
Red-necked Grebe as it would most likely be on the surface but we had no joy
and walked back to the south of the Old Hall in the hope it might have just
gone to the other side. There were an
awful lot of birds in South Arm Three but most were quite distant, with either
being near Lapwing Hide or along the southern shore and there was no sign of
the grebe. There were three Dunlin and a
Redshank in the first bay but other than a few Goldeneye we found nothing else
of note.
Pair of Egyptian Geese near the Old Hall
When we reached the Egleton
car park I called Norman to let him know that we had been unable to find the
Red-necked Grebe and agreed to call us if he had any better luck. After some lunch, when we saw circa thirty
Golden Plover over Lagoon One, we went to the visitor's centre and viewed
Lagoon One form the viewing area. There
was a Great White Egret at the back of the Lagoon, which was possibly a forth
bird and I counted 141 Pintail, which were the most numerous duck on the lagoon. There was a pair of Stonechat feeding just in
front of the centre but with little else we made our way to the northern
lagoons.
When we arrived at Shoveler
Hide, after seeing our second Great Spotted Woodpecker of the day, we decided
to go onto Lapwing Hide to see if we could locate the Red-necked Grebe. We stopped briefly in Crake Hide where there
was a Little Egret and three Little Grebes but as we could see more wildfowl
would be visible from Lapwing Hide we soon moved on.
On reaching Lapwing Hide I
opened a flap and a Kingfisher flashed in front and disappeared round towards
Crake Hide and unfortunately Roger didn’t see it. There were still masses on birds in South Arm
Three and we could see a number of them reasonably well from Lapwing Hide,
although large numbers were still too distant to be sure of identification. As we scanned through the near flocks I found
a couple of female-type Scaup, one of which was clearly an immature, but there
was no sign of the Red-necked Grebe and we made our way back to Shoveler Hide
on Lagoon Three.
A terrific amount of work has
been done on Lagoon Three in terms of clearing some of the reeds and the area
now looks superb but just a single Redshank and a few Teal were taking
advantage of it today but it should produce good results in the future. There were four Little Egrets in an area
cleared on the edge of the man reedbed, a Great White Egret was also observed
in flight and there was a single Pintail on the lagoon.
With the light starting to go,
we headed back to the centre to view Lagoon One hoping that a Barn Owl seen on
several occasions recently would appear.
However despite us being granted extra time in the viewing area after
closer we didn’t have any luck but seven Curlews did fly in and presumably two
of them were the two we had seen earlier in the North Arm.
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