The weather forecast for
yesterday being pretty awful, David, Roger and I decided to delay our normal
year start until today, although I did record nine species from home yesterday.
We set off just after 07:00
and headed for Eyebrook Reservoir and my year-list had risen to just fifteen as
we approached the reservoir with highlights being Buzzard and Kestrel.
The Little Owl was sitting in
the old oak as we approached the reservoir and a stop at the inlet road bridge produced
Tree Sparrow, Golden Plover, Siskin and Red Kite and I was on thirty-two when
we moved further along the Rutland side of the reservoir. I had missed a Yellowhammer when we stopped
at the bridge and so I walked along the road hoping to find one but had just
added Fieldfare when I reached David and Roger who were scanning the inlet.
There were forty-three Dunlin
and two Redshank amongst the Lapwings and at least twenty Pintail on the water,
along with Wigeon and Shoveler. I also
found a Yellowhammer in the hedgerow behind us and there were three Meadow
Pipits in the field. A stop further
along the road produced a Shelduck, a red-headed Smew and several Goldeneye and
the list had risen to forty-nine when we left the reservoir.
We added Collared Dove, Great
Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Nuthatch and Jay on route to the Lyndon
Reserve at Rutland Water. A scan of the
feeders at the centre produced a Marsh Tit and from Teal Hide we added Red-crested
Pochard, Black-tailed Godwit and Egyptian Goose.
Our next target was the Surf
Scoter at the dam, which duly obliged and took the total onto sixty.
First-winter Surf Scoter
First-winter Surf Scoter
After getting back to the car
park at Sykes Lane we headed for the North Arm and were surprised when we
arrived at the unnamed road to find so many cars parked at or near the
turning. We drove down and parked close
to Tim’s cottage, where Roger and I added Coal Tit before waking further along
to view the fishponds. There was a
couple of Goosander in the fishponds and from the end of the spit we soon added
Black-necked and Slavonian Grebes. The
two Barnacle Geese were on the north shore and there were a couple of Little
Grebes near the bund but the number of wildfowl in the arm was less than
recently and there was no sign of the Green-winged Teal. A further stop to view the fishponds produced
a Little Egret and two Great White Egrets and there was a Peregrine perched on
top of one of the trees on the far side and we heard a Grey Wagtail, which
moved the total onto seventy-two.
We had lunch on reaching the
Egleton car park where we added Redwing and a Chiffchaff near the toilet block
was a nice surprise. A brief stop in the
centre produced a male Stonechat towards Mallard Hide but with little else we
headed for Lapwing Hide to view South Arm Three adding just Long-tailed Tit
before reaching the hide.
Chiffchaff
We were rather fortunate as we
entered the hide as Andy Mackay had just located the Red-necked Grebe, which
was amongst a raft of bird alongside the Green Bank. There were plenty of birds to sort through
that included several Red-crested Pochards and two drake and two red-headed
Smew. I then found a female Scaup and shortly
afterwards re-found the Red-necked Grebe, which was now in the middle of the
arm and some 500 meters away from where I had seen it just a few minutes before.
Three drake Red-crested Pochards
A brief stop at Crake Hide
produced nothing of note and from Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three we just added
Snipe and Herring Gull.
A return visit to the centre
produced further and better views of the male Stonechat and four Stock Dove and
then a couple of Barn Owls, which moved the total onto eighty-three.
Male Stonechat
Male Stonechat
We called at Eyebrook
Reservoir again on route home hoping that the Glaucous Gull would come into the
roost but unfortunately it didn’t but we did have a couple of Yellow-legged
Gulls and three Red-legged Partridge to move my final total onto eighty-five,
which was a pretty good start to the year.
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