When I left home this morning
it was overcast but dry but there was some light drizzle as I approached
Eyebrook Reservoir, which became quite heavy for a short time. I saw very little on route and there was no
sign of the Little Owl as I approached the reservoir. There was a vehicle already parked at the
bridge and so I drove further around to view the inlet. I was surprised to find there was quite a
large area of exposed mud as the reservoir had been very full on Saturday and
clearly the water was being run out.
I sat in the car for a while
waiting for the rain to cease before scanning the inlet. There were quite a few Lapwings on the mud
and I found four Dunlin amongst them. As
I scanned the water I found two Shelduck and three Pintail amongst the more
numerous Wigeon and Teal and there were also a few Gadwall and Mallard. Moving further along the road I found eight
Goldeneye and a Little Egret flew towards the inlet. There were more Wigeon on the water with a
few Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebe and Coot scattered amongst them and there
was a good number of Common Gulls present.
I eventually moved off to the
Egleton Reserve at Rutland Water and was surprised to find that there had been
no recent rain and obviously, the drizzle at Eyebrook Reservoir was localised. After checking in at the Bird Watching Centre
I went to Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three, where I was hoping that I might see
one of the Bitterns. The weather was
brightening and it was now a rather spring like morning with little wind and
some bird song. A Green Woodpecker was
particularly vocal and after observing one of the trees on the far side of the
meadow without success it suddenly flew out of the tree and along the hedge
line before disappearing.
When I opened the flaps in the
hide there were plenty of birds on the lagoon and as I scanned the birds I
found two pairs of Red-crested Pochard and a single red-headed Smew and there
was also a Little Egret and fourteen Shelduck on the lagoon. I heard a Redshank call and a few seconds later
it flew in and landed towards the left of the hide before walking out of
sight. I heard it calling just before it
flew and came towards the hide landing quite close. It didn’t stay very long but I was able to
get a few shots of it before it did so.
Redshank
Redshank
Redshank
Redshank
I spent close on an hour in
the hide but there was no sign of any Bitterns and I finally headed off towards
Lapwing Hide.
Canada Geese on Lagoon Three
Drake Shelduck on Lagoon Three
I made brief visits to Buzzard,
Smew and Crake Hides as I made my way to Lapwing Hide but saw nothing of
note. There were two other birders in
the hide when I arrived and they had seen a pair of Smew and some Red-crested
Pochards but I had spoken to Steve earlier who had seen two pairs of Smew and
also the Great Northern Diver from the Old Hall. I saw a pair of Smew but couldn’t find the
second pair and there were five pairs of Red-crested Pochard amongst the Tufted
Duck and Coot. The other birders hadn’t
seen the Great Northern Diver but as I scanned I picked up further out but it
took some time getting the other two onto it as it kept diving and moved a
considerable distance between each dive, making it quite difficult to track.
Two drake & a red-headed Smew
As I walked back towards Shoveler
Hide I heard a Cetti’s Warbler and on reaching the hide I spent another
half-an-hour in it but there was still no sign of the Bittern. I did find the red-headed Smew again but with
little else I went to Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four.
When I went into the hide the
first thing I noticed was more Shelduck and I counted thirteen, which provided
they hadn’t come from Lagoon Three, took the daily total ono twenty-seven. Another birder pointed out that there was a
Peregrine on the Osprey perch and then located two red-headed Smew. There were four Ringed Plovers on one of the
islands and two Oystercatcher were feeding along the western bund. Whilst in the hide I also saw a couple of Red
Kites and four Buzzards between Burley and Oakham and just before I left the
hide I found that there were five Ringed Plovers on the island.
On reaching the centre I went
in to observe Lagoon One where I found a Little Egret and a Pintail and I could
see Great White Egret on the Wet Meadow.
After a bite to eat and went
to the North Arm and after seeing a Great Spotted Woodpecker on the feeders and
parking I walked down to the gate, when Craig arrived and we viewed the
fishponds. There were eleven Goosander
in the fishponds and I could see a small party of Dunlin, along with a
Redshank, feeding amongst the Lapwing on the northern spit. They weren’t easy to count as they fed between
the Lapwings and also flew on a few occasions but there were at least eighteen.
We walked through the gate to
view the North Arm, where Steve and Terry had seen the two Slavonian Grebes and
four Black-necked Grebes earlier today.
Craig found the two Slavonian Grebes, which were some distance away, but
we couldn’t find any of the Black-necked Grebes. Craig then left to go back to work and I
continued scanning finding the two Barnacle Geese, three Shelduck, four
Oystercatchers and a Curlew on the north shore.
I was about to give up on the Black-necked Grebes, when I found one but
I was unable to locate the other three and returned to the Egleton Reserve.
Steve was in the car park when
I got back and after a brief chat we went to the visitor’s centre. I saw the Great White Egret again and there
were now nine Shelduck and seven Goosander on the lagoon and Steve found a pair
of Stonechat on Lagoon Two.
I walked to Snipe Hide on the
Wet Meadow with Gerry and found another four Shelduck, two on each flash. I picked up a Curlew in flight that came down
close to Brown’s Island, which Gerry then scoped and found a second bird.
I continued onto Harrier Hide
and found a pair of Pintail on the Wet Meadow flash and seven Curlew roosting
on the edge of the lagoon but there was no sign of the wintering Whimbrel.
I then visited Tern, Pintail,
Shelduck and the 360 Hides on the new lagoons, finding two Shelduck on lagoon
six, three Pintail on both Lagoons Five and Six and six Oystercatchers.
As I walked back to the centre
I had a brief chat with Joe, who was checking the water levels on the lagoons,
when three more Shelduck flew over. As I
continued walking back to the centre I called Steve to update him on the number
of Shelduck as we were trying to get a definitive count when he informed me
that he had a Raven flying towards Lax Hill.
I found a position along the path where I thought I might see the bird
and picked it up as it flew over Lagoon Six and continued heading south.
As I got back to the centre I
bumped into Erik and after seeing a Great Spotted Woodpecker fly into the trees
I walked with him to Lapwing Hide. We
met Steve as we reached the path to Lapwing Hide, he informed us that there was
a nice drake Scaup from Lapwing Hide and that he had also seen two pairs of
Smew and the Great Northern Diver.
When we arrived in the hide
Erik started looking for the Great Northern Diver but when I found two of the
male and a red-headed Smew he changed his focus and I then found two more
Red-headed Smew and he found the drake Scaup.
We then continued to look for the diver, which I found but it dived
before Erik got on it and it must have been a good ten minutes before Erik found
it again and some distance from where I had seen it.
As Erik and I approached
Shoveler Hide a Sparrowhawk flew off the fence and Erik then went to join Steve
in Plover Hide on Lagoon Four, whilst I called it a day and headed off back to
the car park.
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