There was a fresh southerly
breeze and it was overcast when I left home but the forecast was suggesting it
would remain mainly dry with the possibility of showers later in the day. I hadn’t got out on Tuesday with heavy rain
for most of the day and was glad at least to be out. I headed for Eyebrook Reservoir seeing a
Buzzard near Newton Harcourt and a Red Kite just after passing through Kibworth
and there was another Red Kite as I approached Cranoe and a Buzzard just after
passing through the village.
As I approached Eyebrook
Reservoir there was no sign of the Little Owls but there was another Red Kite
soaring over the trees on the left.
After parking near the inlet bridge there were a couple of Tree Sparrows
but a singing Garden Warbler remained out of sight. There were seventy plus Swift wheeling around
at least thirteen Common Terns feeding over the water and a Kestrel was
observed over the road as I drove towards Stoke Dry.
A male Red-necked Phalarope
had been reported yesterday at Frampton Marsh and was still there this morning
and I considered going. I called Ken to
see if was interested and we agreed to meet in the Egleton car park at 10:00
and then off to Frampton.
With time to kill I went to
the Lyndon Reserve hoping that yesterday’s Common Scoter would still be present
and saw another Kestrel as I approached the turning to the reserve. I went to Teal Hide to look for the scoter
but there was no sign but both Ospreys were present in Manton Bay and I also
counted twenty-two Common Terns in the bay.
Other than good numbers of Sand Martins and a few Swifts there was
little else and I returned to the centre, where there was at least seven Tree
Sparrows at the feeding station.
Tree Sparrow
With the time approaching
10:00 I drove to the Egleton car park seeing Red Kites over Manton and Manton
Bridge. Ken was waiting in the car park
and after transferring his gear into my car we headed for Frampton. There were two Buzzards just north of the road
as we reached the summit of Barnsdale but with the exception of another Red
Kite approaching Stamford we hadn’t seen a great deal when we reached Frampton.
A brief stop at the farm yard
failed to produce a Turtle Dove and after parking in the main car park we found
out that the phalarope was near the sea wall car park and so we drove there,
rather than walk. When we got out of the
car we were surprised by the strength of the wind but it wasn’t long before we
were watching a rather smart male Red-necked Phalarope. It wasn’t easy getting good views due the
wind and it was a little too distant to photograph. We did however spend quite some time observing
the bird as it fed on the far side of the near water and saw it in flight on
one occasion. It also disappeared at one
point for a good twenty minutes before appearing in the area we had first seen
it. Whilst watching the phalarope I also
noticed a pair of Little Ringed Plovers and there was a rather spectacular male
Ruff that flew off towards the sea wall.
I decided I would go a look for the Ruff, hoping I might a few shots of
it. As I approached the sea wall I found
a Ruff feeding on the far side of the water and as I fired off a few shots it
appeared lame and its right leg damaged.
It then flew back in the direction we had first seen it and I returned
after a phone call from Ken saying the phalarope was closer. However, when I got back it had moved towards
the back of the pool again and was too distant to photograph.
Male Ruff
Male Ruff
I went back to the car for
some lunch and whilst doing so another birder pointed out a Whooper Swan and I
found a single Brent Goose and a couple of Little Egrets. After lunch, we started to look for the
phalarope again and found it back where we had first seen it. We were about to go and have another look for
Turtle Dove when the Ruff appeared quite close and so I went to take some more
photos. This time the bird didn’t appear
lame and was feeding and walking quite normally and I wondered if I had
mistaken earlier in thinking a leg had been damaged. However, whilst processing the photos it
became apparent that they were different birds but we didn’t see the lame bird
again.
Second male Ruff
Second male Ruff
Second male Ruff
Second male Ruff
Second male Ruff
Female Kestrel
Swift
We checked the farm yard again
as we were leaving and found a Turtle Dove feeding behind a pile of gravel,
which it disappeared behind, before flying off.
On our back, we saw a Red Kite
and four Kestrels before reaching Stamford and on reaching Rutland Water we
returned to the Egleton car park. After
a coffee, we walked to the centre seeing one of the Spotted Flycatchers as we
did so but with little in the book we set off to the northern lagoons.
We heard several Chiffchaffs,
two Willow Warblers and several Blackcaps as we walked towards the lagoons and
we went into Sandpiper Hide to view Lagoon Four first. As I started to scan the lagoon I found a
Redshank and a couple of Ringed Plovers on the far end of island seven and then
more Ringed Plover and Dunlin on the near end.
We eventually had fourteen Ringed Plovers and nine Dunlin but the Ringed
Plover were scattered around the lagoon.
There were three Yellow-legged Gulls amongst the more numerous Great
Black-backed Gulls roosting on the exposed rocky area towards the back of the
lagoon. I could hear Oystercatcher
calling quite frequently but only ever find two on the lagoon and a single
Little Egret was also present. Despite
frequently scanning Burley Wood I found just one Buzzard but Ken had a Hobby
after moving to Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three.
I eventually went to Lapwing
Hide hoping to find the Common Scoter I had looked for this morning but had no
better luck and saw very little, although I did see a Small China-mark as I
walked out to the hide.
Small China-mark
There were signs that the
water level was beginning to drop, although it is still very high on Lagoon
Three and consequently there isn’t a great variety of birds, although I did
find a couple of drake Pochard.
Great Crested Grebe carrying chick
Great Crested Grebe carrying chick
I started making my way back
towards the car park hearing a Cetti’s Warbler and a Garden Warbler on route
but visit into Redshank Hide failed to produce anything of note on Lagoon Two.
After a coffee in the car park
I set off for home and ran into very heavy shower and had slow down to under
thirty miles per hour in Skeffington but I did have a final Kestrel of the day
as I approached home.
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