This was my first day out
after returning from a two-week holiday with the family in Orlando, Florida,
USA. It was a bit of sock having been
walking around in shorts and t-shirts for the last two weeks and having to
wrap-up with several layers to keep out the cold. It was bright and sunny when I left home but
feeling cold after an overnight frost but I was fairly optimistic in catching
up with a few migrants that had arrived during my holiday.
As I approached Slawston I had
a Whitethroat, which was my first year-tick but I had seen little else by the
time I reached the turning at the southern end to Eyebrook Reservoir.
There were three Little Egrets
feeding in the southwest corner of the reservoir and I then had a party of
House Martins feeding over the road as I moved around the reservoir, which was
the second year-tick. I stopped briefly
at one of the tracks running away to the west and had another Whitethroat and
from the road bridge there was another Little Egret and I heard Willow Warbler,
Blackcap and Tree Sparrow.
I moved onto view the inlet
where there is now a small area of mud and found a couple of Little Ringed
Plovers and there were several Common Terns between the inlet and the tern
rafts, which was another year-tick.
Several other terns could be seen much further down the reservoir and so
I moved to the Stoke Dry car park to get a better view but I could only find
more Common Terns and not the hoped for Arctic Terns.
Steve had called to say that
there was a Nightingale singing near Bittern Hide at Rutland Water and so I
left Eyebrook Reservoir and headed for the Egleton car park at Rutland
Water. As I pulled up Steve called again
to say that there was a male Redstart singing near the Volunteer Centre and so
I went around to try and locate it.
After parking in the centre car park, I spent forty minutes searching
for the Redstart without any luck but I did see a female Stonechat, which is a
good bird during April.
Having had no luck with the
Redstart I went back to the Egleton car park seeing a Chiffchaff and a Great
Spotted Woodpecker before checking in at the visitor’s centre and setting off
for Bittern Hide. There was a Willow
Warbler near the badger hide and I was surprised, considering the chilly wind,
to find a freshly emerged Speckled Wood along the Summer Trail. However, as I continued along the trail I
found another Speckled Wood, two Orange Tip and a Green-veined White.
Speckled Wood
Orange Tip
Orange Tip
As I approached Bittern Hide
the Nightingale was quiet and so I went into Plover Hide to view Lagoon
Four. There appeared to be very little
on the lagoon but I did find a pair of Pintail, two Oystercatchers, a Little
Ringed Plover and a Redshank.
I went into Bittern Hide for a
while but the Nightingale remained quiet and I moved onto Shoveler Hide on
Lagoon Three. The water level on Lagoon
Three is very high and it wasn’t surprising to find far fewer birds in evidence
than of late. There were two
Oystercatchers to the left of the hide and a couple of Pochard on the water. Steve then sent a text saying there was a
Black Tern amongst a party of Common Terns near Goldeneye Hide and so I made my
way to Lapwing Wide to view the south arm.
Once in Lapwing Hide I soon
found the terns feeding off Goldeneye Hide and eventually found the Black tern
amongst them, although they were all very distant. As I was watching them they gradually came a
little closer to give better views but remained quite distant.
I called at Sandpiper Hide on
Lagoon Four but other than finding another pair of Oystercatchers and a Red
Kite I saw nothing else of note and returned to the car park for lunch.
After lunch, I went to the
centre viewing area to view Lagoon One where I saw one of my only two Little
Egrets and another pair of Oystercatchers before heading off towards the
southern lagoons.
The weather was beginning to
take a turn for the worse with several showers visible, particularly to the
north. A Sparrowhawk flew over and
headed off over Lagoon Five as I made my way to Snipe Hide. When I reached the hide on the Wet Meadow I
found the water level had risen on the flash and there were just a few birds,
the best being a single Shelduck and a single Oystercatcher was feeding to the
left of the flash.
Pheasant on the Wet Meadow
As I approached the turn to
Harrier Hide I saw a couple of Sedge Warblers but other than another two
Shelduck and an Oystercatcher on the Wet Meadow saw nothing of note from the
hide. I had heard several Garden
Warblers but had been unable to see any of them but a patient wait at the end
of the path from Harrier Hide produced brief views and I also saw a Willow
Warbler.
A walk to Fieldfare Hide
produced nothing but whilst in the hide the wind increased significantly and
there was rather a volatile shower, which even disturbed several Greylag
Geese. When the storm cleared, I headed
back to Tern Hide on Lagoon Six but again found very little with the highlight
being my only Wigeon of the day. I then
went to Heron Hide to view the Manton Bay Ospreys and both birds were present
and there was a single Redshank on Lagoon Eight. There were more terns over South Arm Two but
again they were all Common Terns and a flock of hirundines contained Sand Martins,
Swallows and House Martins.
As I made my way back towards
the 360 Hide another storm was approaching but thankfully I made it to the hide
before it started raining again. There were
another two Oystercatchers and at least five Redshanks on the lagoon but again
it was generally quiet.
Redshank on Lagoon Five
With the storm passing I made
my way back to the centre seeing another Sedge Warbler and a Kestrel as I did
so. I called Steve whilst having a
coffee but with things remaining very quiet I called it a day and headed off
home. As I approached Tugby on the A47
there had clearly been another heavy shower and the temperature warning came on
in the vehicle, with the temperature dropping to two degrees.
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