Roger and I were out locally
today and when we left home it was overcast with a light southerly breeze. We headed for Eyebrook Reservoir seeing a Red
Kite over Blaston but there was no sign of the Little Owls as we approached the
reservoir.
We stopped at the bridge and
heard a Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Garden Warbler and saw a Whitethroat and there
was a Red Kite over the fields to the east.
We moved around to view the inlet but other than a few Common Tern and
Swift over the water and a single singing Sedge Warbler we saw very little else
and moved further along the road and parked in one of the laybys. From the layby were found a couple of Little
Egrets, two more Red Kites and at least twenty Common Tern.
With little else we moved onto
the North Arm at Rutland Water where there had been a first-summer Arctic Tern
yesterday.
After parking at the end of
the unnamed road, we walked out to the spit, seeing a single Oystercatcher as
we did so. When we reached the spit, we
spent a good forty-five minutes looking for the Arctic Tern but only found
seven adult Common Terns, with no sign of any immature birds. Whilst on the spit we found a couple of Little
Egrets and a third-year Yellow-legged Gull was seen in the fishponds.
With still no sign of the
first-summer Arctic Tern, although it was seen later in the day, we went to the
Egleton Reserve. We checked out the
Spotted Flycatchers and saw both birds off the nest but one of the birds
returned to the nest and continued incubating again.
Spotted Flycatcher
Spotted Flycatcher
After checking the sightings
book and seeing there appeared to be very little about we decided to go to the
southern lagoons before we had lunch.
Ricky walked part of the way with us but all we saw was a single
Chiffchaff and heard another as well as Blackcap and Garden Warbler. Ricky went onto the 360 Hide, whilst Roger
and I went to Snipe Hide to view the Wet Meadow. The water level on the flash was still very
high and there was very little on it with just a pair of Shelduck of interest
and a Little Egret flew over. Ricky then
joined us after seeing very little from the 360 Hide and he picked up a Sedge
Warbler that was seen several times on the edge of the vegetation in the ditch
and a Reed Warbler flew out of the same area.
Sedge Warbler
Roger and I left Ricky in the
hide and went to Tern Hide on Lagoon Six where we were hoping to find a pair of
Avocets that were attempting to breed. Sadly,
there was no sign of the Avocets and all we had were a pair of Mute Swans with
four young and a single Oystercatcher.
We made our way back to the car park for lunch seeing a Buzzard in the
hedge to the west of the cycle track.
Brian and Rosie were in the
car park having lunch and whilst we were chatting I picked up a Hobby over the
woodland to the right of the centre.
After lunch, we saw the Spotted Flycatchers again and also a Chiffchaff
before reaching the centre. Roger and
Rosie then popped into the centre to check the sightings book before we set off
for the northern lagoons.
We heard Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler,
Blackcap and Garden Warbler and saw a single Blackcap before we reached the end
of the Summer Trail and then we went into Sandpiper Hide to view Lagoon Four.
The sightings book had
suggested that there nothing of note on the lagoon and initially that appeared
to be the case but we did find nine Ringed Plovers and a Redshank, along with a
couple of Oystercatchers and Brian then found a drake Garganey asleep on the
island in front of the Volunteer’s Centre.
Roger then said does anyone want a Little Tern as he had found one
resting on the exposed mud to the left of the hide. We had all scanned this area on quite a few
occasions and presumably the bird had just dropped onto the lagoon. It was then present for the remainder of the
time we were in the hide, either feeding or resting on the spit with Common
Terns. Whilst feeding it tended to be
towards Island Seven most of the time and too distant to photograph and when it
was closer it was difficult to photograph due to the speed moved around at when
the camera would tend to focus on the back ground.
Little Tern
Little Tern
Having spent quite some time
in Sandpiper Hide we moved onto Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three, where it was quiet. There were few birds on the lagoon but I did
see a drake Pochard briefly and there was a Little Grebe just in front of the
hide. Scanning the top of the trees
behind the reedbed I had a brief view of a Hobby but other than a few Swifts
there was little else.
Walking back to the centre
produced nothing of note and all we saw from the centre was a Kestrel.
Blue-tailed Damselfly along the Summer Trail
Pied Wagtail in the Egleton car park
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