When I left home this morning
it was bright and sunny with a light westerly wind but it felt rather
cold. I headed for Eyebrook Reservoir
but had seen very little by the time I turned onto the northern approach road,
where I found both Little Owls in the old oak.
I parked at the inlet but the
water was still very high and consequently there was no muddy feeding areas
around the edges. Whilst I was on the
bridge Malcolm arrived and we spent a good twenty minutes on the bridge where birds
visiting the feeders, including a male Great Spotted Woodpecker and a couple of
Tree Sparrows. We eventually moved
around the road towards Stoke Dry but other than a Great White Egret in the
inlet we saw very little and left for Rutland Water.
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Tree Sparrow
We headed for the Lyndon
Reserve at Rutland Water as the centre is now open and we would be able to get
an update on how many Ospreys had returned.
When we arrived, the centre was still closed and so we walked down to
Teal Hide to view the South Arm. We could
see that there were still no Ospreys around the Manton Bay nest but there was a
Little Egret and there was another Little Egret on Lax Hill. As I scanned Lax Hill I found a single Curlew
and then surprisingly three Muntjac just to the left of Gadwall Hide. With little else we went into the centre and
established that there were two Ospreys back but neither of the Manton Bay
birds. Malcolm decided that he would
visit the airfield, whilst I stayed a little longer viewing the feeding
station, where three Tree Sparrows were the best. A pair of Red-legged Partridge also walked
across the meadow, which is a rather unusual sight.
From Lyndon, I drove the short
distance to Egleton Reserve and after a chat with Stephen in the centre headed
for Snipe Hide on the Wet Meadow. I
heard several and saw a single Chiffchaff before I arrived at the hide and
found four Shelduck and a Pintail on the flash.
As I continued to scan the area I found a single female Goosander
resting on the long island on Lagoon One and a female Kestrel provided some
nice photo opportunities.
Greylag Goose
Egyptian Goose
Female Kestrel
Female Kestrel
Female Kestrel
Pheasant
From Snipe Hide I continued
along the footpath to Harrier Hide and found another pair of Shelduck and another
Pintail on the Wet Meadow flash. There
were four Curlew feeding amongst the vegetation and Brown’s Island and whilst
observing these the wintering Whimbrel emerged from the vegetation. Malcolm then joined me but other than an
Oystercatcher and a single Sand Martin we saw little else and I moved on to
Fieldfare Hide, whilst he went back and headed for the northern lagoons.
The wind had now increased
considerably and there were circa twenty Sand Martin feeding over the water
getting some shelter from Brown’s Island but the hoped-for Blackcap reported
yesterday wasn’t seen or heard.
I retraced my steps back
towards Harrier Hide but did a circuit of the new lagoons, which weren’t very
productive with the highlights being a single Shelduck on Lagoon Eight and a
Little Egret, two Oystercatcher and three Redshank on Lagoon Six and five
Oystercatchers in flight over Lax Hill.
It was around lunchtime when I
got back to the centre and so I went back to the car for a bite to eat before
setting off to the northern lagoons. Ken
Chamberlain was returning from the northern lagoons and whilst I was chatting
to him Mike Chester was also returning.
Mike hadn’t seen too much but Ken had seen a Little Ringed Plover and a
Wheatear on Lagoon Four. I called
Malcolm who had been on four but hadn’t seen anything and I agreed to meet him
in Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four. I
called at Grebe Hide on the way where there was a winter plumaged Black-tailed
Godwit close to the hide.
Black-tailed Godwit
As I approached the gate
leading to the northern lagoons I called Malcolm again and suggested we went to
Dunlin Hide. I met him at the bottom of
the ramp to Sandpiper Hide and walked the short distance to Dunlin Hide. We spent quite some time in the hide and found
five Oystercatcher, four Ringed Plover, ten Dunlin and three Redshank but there
was no sign of the Little Ringed Plover or Wheatear.
Malcolm headed off to Eyebrook
Reservoir whilst I headed to Lapwing Hide, calling in Crake Hide on route where
there were a pair of Red-crested Pochard.
I had just started to view South Arm Three from Lapwing Hide when Gerry,
Steve and Terry arrived and I informed them of the Red-crested Pochard from
Crake Hide. They could see them from the
end of Lapwing Hide and Gerry then found two more males and a female towards
Brown’s Island and whilst Terry was looking for these he found a pair of
Smew. I was about to leave when Steve
found a male and female Scaup and we then found a second female.
Wigeon from Lapwing Hide
Red-crested Pochard from Crake Hide
Male Red-crested Pochard from Lawping Hide
I left the them still looking
and went back along the path to Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three and Gerry joined
me shortly afterwards.
There was a Little Egret and
three Snipe in the area that had been recently cleared and a couple of
Oystercatchers and a Little Grebe to the left of the hide. I then picked up my first Osprey of the year
over the North Arm but Gerry and I struggled to get to ladies onto it. Steve then joined us but with nothing else of
note he said he was off to Dunlin Hide to view the gull roost. Gerry and I left the hide just behind Steve
and we had a Peregrine fly over as we reached the gate to the main track.
Gerry called it a day but I
followed Steve into Dunlin Hide and found lots of gulls quite close to the
hide. We didn’t find anything amongst
the gulls but Steve found the Wheatear on the western bank, which promptly
disappeared but I did eventually see it.
Steve then found a plover he thought was the Little Ringed Plover but it
was almost hidden behind the stones on Island Six but we did eventually see
sufficient to confirm his suspicions and I left shortly afterwards.
Great Crested Grebe displaying on Lagoon Four
Common Gull over the Wet Meadow
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