I set off for Eyebrook
Reservoir this morning in rather calm but cold conditions after an early
morning frost seeing Buzzards near Newton Harcourt and another Buzzard and a Sparrowhawk
near Blaston.
I approached Eyebrook
Reservoir from the north and found one of the Little Owls sitting in the old
oak, which was my first sighting since January 7th. After viewing the Little Owl, I stopped at
the inlet bridge and found a couple of Tree Sparrows and a selection of more
common passerines.
I continued around to view the
inlet and found Mike parked in the gateway and so I parked on the verge to view
the inlet. The water level had risen
again and there was now just a small area of mud where I found a Dunlin and six
Snipe but other than a Little Egret I found little else and moved onto the
Egleton Reserve at Rutland Water.
Mike and I checked out the
meadow adjacent to the car park before heading for the centre and found several
Redwings and a Mistle Thrush. After
checking the record book, we headed for Snipe Hide on the Wet Meadow but hadn’t
seen a great deal until we were approaching the hide, when a Green Woodpecker
flew over and we found a male and three female Bullfinches feeding in a bush
near the hide.
Mistle Thrush
Bullfinch
On entering the hide there
wasn’t many birds on the flash but there was a nice variety, with two Shelduck,
two drake Pintail and several Gadwall and Shoveler. We could also see eighteen Goosander on
Lagoon One and a female Kestrel sat on a post.
There were several Curlew visible at the eastern edge of Lagoon One but
as they would be viewed better from Harrier Hide, we moved on.
Greylag Goose over the Wet Meadow
We didn’t see much between the
hides and on entering the hide I checked out the second flash on the Wet
Meadow, where there were two more Shelduck and three Pintail.
Satisfied there was nothing
else of note on the Wet Meadow I turned my attention onto the Curlews and found
that there were eight of them feeding and roosting in the grasses at the edge
of the lagoon. I was hoping that we
might find the wintering Whimbrel but there was no sign but I did find another
male Pintail and there were a couple of Oystercatcher on one of the
islands. Steve then called to say that
Terry had found a Sand Martin feeding near Goldeneye Hide at the base of Lax
Hill and so Mike and I sat off, in what would be about a ten-minute walk.
When we entered the hide, the
light to the right wasn’t brilliant as the sun was reflecting rather fiercely
on the water. We had a quick scan but
couldn't find the Sand Martin and so I gave Steve a call. He and Terry were still in Teal Hide on the
Lyndon Reserve and informed me that the martin had drifted off west and they
had last seen it near Heron Bay. With
just a pair of Oystercatcher of note from the hide we walked to the top of Lax
Hill to view the area around Heron and Manton Bays. When we reached the gate near the top we had
quite a good view of the area, although finding a Sand Martin wouldn't be easy
at the range and not surprisingly we couldn’t find it. We continued around the Lax Hill and entered
the field above Lagoon Eight where we spent some time scanning the area but
without success and we eventually gave up.
We did see a Red Kite and a couple of Buzzards whilst scanning and there
was a single Egyptian Goose and two Oystercatcher on Lagoon Eight.
We dropped down the hill
towards Lagoon Eight but as work was going on in terms of reconstructing both
Heron and Wigeon Hides we started to walk back to the centre, finding another
pair of Oystercatcher on the meadow surrounding the lagoon. We could see that work was also being carried
out on the 360 Hide and we found later that one of the panels had been blown
off during last week’s weather bomb.
As we turned along the path
leading away from the 360 Hide there was a female Kestrel hunting over Lagoon
Six bund and we were able to get a few shots before it moved further away.
Female Kestrel
Female Kestrel
Female Kestrel
Female Kestrel
Female Kestrel
When we got back to the car
park we hadn’t seen a great deal else and after some lunch we walked back to
the centre. Our intention was to go up
to the viewing gallery to view Lagoon One but just as we arrived a party of
school children were making their way up the stairs and we suspected we would
have difficulty getting a seat and moved on to the northern lagoons.
As we approached the northern
lagoons we decided to head for Lapwing Hide first with the hope of finding the
Great Northern Diver. It didn’t take too
long to find the diver and I then found a female Scaup amongst a party of
Tufted Duck. Mike eventually got onto
the Scaup and whilst observing it he found a Barn Owl hunting to the left of
Gadwall Hide but it disappeared before I got on it. As I scanned the area I found it perched in a
tree to the right of the hide. I informed Steve of the find but it flew to
another tree briefly before continuing hunting and disappearing.
Steve and Terry then arrived
but it didn’t show again but Terry immediately found a pair of Red-crested
Pochard and on closer inspection there were four pairs. I don’t know how Mike and I hadn’t seen them
earlier but just as we were about to leave Steve found a drake Scaup in the
same area.
Summer adult Great Crested Grebe from Lapwing Hide
Mike and I then went to
Shoveler Hide to view Lagoon Three and found that the water level was
considerably higher with most suitable wader habitat now gone. There were a couple of Oystercatchers on the
island to the left of the hide and a Redshank was still managing to feed close
to a now submerged island. There were
also seven Curlew on the lagoon and we assumed that they would be seven of the
eight we had seen earlier on Lagoon One.
There were still quite a few ducks on the water but there was nothing of
note and after a while we headed off to Plover Hide on Lagoon Four.
Drake Shelduck on Lagoon Three
Drake Shoveler on Lagoon Three
Female Shoveler on Lagoon Three
Oystercatcher on Lagoon Three
Curlew on Lagoon Three
Curlew on Lagoon Three
When we arrived in Plover Hide
there were three birders looking out of the end flap at a male and four
red-headed Smew. I found it quite difficult
to see the birds as they were almost in the corner of the lagoon and right up
against the reeds but we did eventually have reasonable views. We also found a
Peregrine and three Ringed Plovers on an island and four Oystercatchers and two
Curlew feeding along the western shore.
Drake Pochard on Lagoon Four
Mike and I called in a Bittern
Hide briefly where we found four Snipe but nothing else and made our way back
to the car park, seeing a Great Spotted Woodpecker and circa fifty Redwing on
route.
Our last port of call was to
be the North Arm and after parking and scanning the fishponds, seeing just a
female Goosander I walked out to the spit leaving Mike looking for a Lesser
Black-backed and Herring Gulls I had just seen on the northern spit.
The weather was now beginning
to take a turn for the worse with some occasional light rain and the light being
poor. When Mike joined, me I had already
seen both of the Slavonian Grebes but hadn’t located the Black-necked
Grebes. It then started to rain a little
harder and so we retreated to the hide but returned to the spit once the rain
ceased. Mike then found two of the
Black-necked Grebes just off Dickinson’s Bay but with the weather showing signs
of getting worse I called it a day and Mike also returned before I had set off
home.
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