David and I had decided to go
to Four Mile Bar in Lincolnshire where there had been a Great Grey Shrike for a
few days.
When I picked David up it was
quite misty as it was as we headed towards Eyebrook Reservoir, seeing a Buzzard
perched in a roadside tree. As we
approached Eyebrook Reservoir it wasn’t a surprise to find there was no sign of
a Little Owl in the old oak. We made a
couple of brief stops along the Rutland side of the reservoir but didn’t see a
great deal bird wise with several Goldeneye and a Little Egret being the
best. The highlight of the final stop
was a brief view of an Otter from the Stoke Dry parking area. This was my first sighting at the reservoir,
although they have been reported for quite some time.
From Eyebrook Reservoir we
he As we
approached Hop Pole it started raining and was still doing so when we arrived
at Four Mile Bar. The rain didn’t last
long and we were soon able to cross the bridge to view the area the shrike had
been seen in. As I walked across the
bridge a Short-eared Owl flew over the river and there was a second on the far
side and we eventually saw at least three.
We observed the field from the top a sluice, which gave us a good view of
the area, where at least one owl could be seen for most of our stay but there
was no sign of the Great Grey Shrike during our two and half hour visit. There were a couple of Kestrels also using
the area and we had a couple of more distant Buzzards. Two Kingfisher flew right by us and then up river
and there were a pair of Goosander with quite a few Tufted Ducks on the
river. With still no sign of the Great
Grey Shrike by 12:15 we headed off towards Deeping Lakes.
We had seen some swans in a
field as we drove to Four Mile Bar, which we assumed would be Mute Swans but a
close look on the way back revealed that two were Whooper Swans. The only other bird of note we saw before
reaching the Crownland turn was a Little Egret.
As we continued we saw a second Little Egret and on stopping to confirm
that a second egret was a Great White Egret we found a female Long-tailed Duck
and a couple of first-winter Scaup amongst a party of Tufted Duck. After stopping and taking some shots of the
birds we moved on a little to get a better view of the Great White Egret. Whilst driving alongside the river we also
had a forth Short-eared Owl, a couple of Buzzard and several Kestrel before reaching
Deeping Lakes.
Female Long-tailed Duck
First-winter Scaup
First-winter Scaup
We decided to stop and have
lunch in the car park at Deeping lakes as we could observe one of the lakes
whilst doing so. There were plenty of
birds on the lake the best being a drake Pintail and thirty-five Shoveler and a
Buzzard, a Kestrel and a Stonechat were also observed.
When we had finished our lunch,
we headed for Rutland Water seeing two Red Kites, a Buzzard and two Kestrel on
route. We went straight to the Egleton
Reserve and the Bird Watching Centre to view Lagoon One. There were just six Pintail on the lagoon
today, which was a dramatic drop from my previous visit. There were also nine Goosander and a couple
of Shelduck on the lagoon and two Snipe were found towards Mallard Hide. As I looked at the Snipe a male Stonechat
appeared and as David tried to locate it a female appeared and he then found
another pair just in front of the centre.
I then noticed another Shelduck on the Wet Meadow and then found the
first of six Curlew that were also on the Wet Meadow.
We moved onto Sandpiper Hide
on Lagoon Four as an Oystercatcher had been reported, which was a County
year-tick for us. When we entered the hide,
there was a male Peregrine on the Osprey perch and we soon found the
Oystercatcher at the end of one of the islands.
Terry then called to see if we were on site as he had just found what he
thought was a Glaucous Gull. As he was
taking to me David said I’ve got it and there was a first-winter Glaucous Gull
was amongst the small number of gulls assembled at the back of the lagoon. We managed to get another couple of birders
onto the bird and Terry joined us shortly afterwards but we found nothing else
of note and moved onto Lapwing Hide to view South Arm Three.
As we were walking down the
path towards the hide Erik came up behind us but soon retraced his steps when
we informed him about the Glaucous Gull.
There were plenty of birds in front of the hide but we couldn’t locate
anything of note, despite there being reports of several Scaup and two male
Smew. There was also very little on
Lagoon Two but on a final check looking into the sun in South Arm Three, I
found three drakes and three female Scaup.
As we made our way back
towards Shoveler Hide, Erik re-joined us having seen the Glaucous Gull and
rather than go to Lapwing Hide came with into Shoveler Hide. David found two red-headed Smew against the
distant reedbed and there were also six Pintail and fourteen Red-crested
Pochard. David then announced there was
a Bittern flying, which Erik and I failed to see and then he said one was
showing on the edge of the reeds. He
gave directions but both Erik and I looked in the wrong area and failed to see
it before it disappeared into the reeds, which was disappointing. Erik then found a Cetti’s Warbler as he was
looking through the seventeen Snipe on the edge of the reeds, which we all
managed to see.
David and I headed back
towards the centre hearing a Marsh Tit near Grebe Hide and finding twelve
Golden Plover on Lagoon One before we set off for home.
It had been a good day’s
birding, despite dipping on the Great Grey Shrike, in some rather Spring like
conditions during the afternoon.
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