The weather forecast for the
day was promising with plenty of sunshine, although it was a little overcast
when I left home but wasn’t long before the sun broke through. A Buzzard over Newton Lane just after leaving
was the only thing of note before I reached the turning to Eyebrook Reservoir.
One of the Little Owls was
perched in the old oak as I approached the reservoir and after parking at the
inlet bridge I was hoping that the Bittern might have reappeared. There was another birder on the bridge who
hadn’t seen it and so I walked alongside the woodland looking for it, without
any success, although it was seen later both from the road and the inlet
coral. The feeders were also empty but
there was a single Tree Sparrow in the bottom of one of the feeders, obviously
extracting the final bits of food.
I drove around to the Rutland
side and parked in the gateway to view the inlet but with the water still very
high there wasn’t a great deal of interest.
A stop a little further along did produce a Shelduck, a Pochard, two
Goldeneye and a Little Egret.
I eventually called it a day
and continued onto the Egleton Reserve at Rutland Water. I went to the centre and after a brief chat
with Stephen went to Snipe Hide on the Wet Meadow hoping to find the Whimbrel,
which David had seen yesterday.
As I approached the hide two
Shelduck flew over and there were another two on the flash in front of the
hide. There was also a single Pochard,
along with several Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal and Shoveler on the flash and a pair
of Pintail dropped in briefly. I found a
couple of female Goosander on the long island on Lagoon One and there were two
Buzzards soaring over the Lagoon Three area.
As there was no sign of the Whimbrel or any Curlew I moved onto Harrier
Hide.
As I entered Harrier Hide, another
birder informed me that he had just seen the Whimbrel amongst several Curlew
and pointed out the area the birds were feeding in. He left me searching for the Whimbrel and I
soon found several Curlew but the Whimbrel being smaller was more elusive. It did eventually wander out into a more open
area and provided some reasonable views before disappearing again. Another two birders then arrived and I relocated
the Whimbrel and eventually had seven Curlew, although they were seldom visible
at the same time. Other than seven
Shelduck and two Oystercatcher there wasn’t a great deal else and I moved on.
Coot from Harrier Hide
Oystercatcher from Harrier Hide
From Tern Hide on Lagoon Six
there were a pair of Shelduck and two more Oystercatchers and whilst in Pintail
Hide on the same Lagoon, two more Oystercatcher flew in.
Drake Wigeon over Lagoon Six
Party of Wigeon over Lagoon Six
Party of Wigeon over Lagoon Six
Party of Wigeon over Lagoon Six
I viewed Lagoon Eight on my
way to Shelduck Hide on Lagoon Five and found pairs of Shelduck and
Oystercatcher. I went to Shelduck Hide
as 360 Hide is still having work completed from the weather bomb, almost two
weeks ago. A Buzzard on the Lagoon Seven
bund was possibly one I had seen in flight as I walked down to the hide and
there were another two Oystercatchers along with a couple of Redshank on the
near island and three pairs of Red-crested Pochard just beyond the first two
islands on Lagoon Five.
With little else I made my way
back to the centre and viewed Lagoon One, where I had a female Stonechat just
in front of the centre but nothing else of note.
Song Thrush along path back to centre
Female Stonechat from the centre
Female Stonechat from the centre
After some lunch, I made my
way to the northern lagoons and headed for Plover Hide on Lagoon Four. I called at Redshank Hide on Lagoon Two
following a report of two Dunlin but I couldn’t see them and when the Lapwings
flushed there was still no sign and I moved on towards Plover Hide.
As I reached the path to
Shoveler Hide a Sand Martin flew over heading north, which was a year-tick and
a lucky sighting as I didn’t see it again.
From Plover Hide there were two red-headed Smew in the north-east corner
and a male and three red-headed Smew were just to the south of the hide. There were also twelve Shelducks, eight
Pintail, five Oystercatchers and four Curlew scattered around the lagoon.
Red-headed Smew on Island Three on Lagoon Four
I called at Bittern Hide where
I heard a Cetti’s Warbler but the hoped-for Snipe weren’t there. I then continued onto Lapwing Hide where I
was hoping I might find the Red-necked Grebe as Steve and Terry had seen it
earlier close to Brown’s Island from Teal Hide on the Lyndon Reserve. There was no sign of the Red-necked Grebe but
I did locate another two pairs of Red-crested Pochard but the light was poor
and it was difficult identifying birds at long range.
I moved back and went into
Shoveler Hide and found the water very high on Lagoon Three and consequently
there were far fewer birds. There was
yet another pair of Oystercatcher and a second pair flew over but other than a
few Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard, Shoveler, Pochard, Tufted Duck and a couple
of Goldeneye there was little else.
Drake Shoveler on Lagoon Three
I called at Sandpiper Hide on
Lagoon Four and found Erik, who had seen a Ringed Plover and a couple of
Dunlin, which were presumably those that had been present on Lagoon Two. There were all on Island Seven and we
eventually found a second Ringed Plover.
Whilst in the hide with Erik we had several Red Kite and Buzzard to the
north and there were two Little Egrets on the lagoon.
As we were leaving the hide
Steve called to see if I was in the North Arm, as he was trying to establish if
a pair of Smew he had seen earlier was in fact different to those on Lagoon
Four at present. I said I was on my way
there and would have a look in the fishponds when I got there.
As I pulled of the main road
to drop down towards the cottage the first birds I noticed was a male and a
red-headed Smew, which would therefore be different to those now on Lagoon
Four. I called Steve and gave him the
news and after parking went down to the point to view the North Arm. I soon located a Slavonian Grebe and then
found two Black-necked Grebes just off Dickinson’s Bay. As I continued scanning I found the second
Slavonian Grebe and an Oystercatcher and two Redshanks.
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