I had a meeting scheduled
today with Tim and Sarah regarding requirements for the lecture theatres at
Birdfair but left sufficiently early to call at Eyebrook Reservoir on route. Malcolm had called to say that one of the
Little Owls was showing and that there was a Spotted Flycatcher from the
bridge.
I saw a couple of Red Kites
before reaching the reservoir one at Blaston and the other along the Uppingham
Road. As I approached the reservoir I
found the Little Owl in the tree but there was no sign of the Spotted
Flycatcher, although a Treecreeper was a nice bonus. David had seen me pull up at the bridge and
all he had seen was a single Dunlin and so he came back to look for the Little
Owl.
I was soon on my way for my
meeting with Tim and Sarah seeing another Red Kite over Stoke Dry. The Birdfair office is at the old jail at
Ashwell, which had been converted into a rather nice industrial estate. The meeting didn’t last too long and I was
heading for Rutland Water just after 10:00.
I called Malcolm to see if he
had seen anything to find he was on the reserve and hadn’t seen too much but he
did mention that David had just seen a Whimbrel and Curlew in the North
Arm. I thought David might still be
along the unnamed road but he wasn’t and after parking I walked out onto the
spit to look for the Whimbrel and Curlew.
There had just been a heavy shower and there was no sign of either the
Whimbrel or Curlew but there were three Oystercatchers on the south shore. As I continued scanning the north shore I
found a Shelduck and then picked up a wader as it raised its wings revealing a
whitish rump and I suspected that it might be a Wood Sandpiper. It was some distance off and the light wasn’t
brilliant and so I had to be certain it wasn’t a Green Sandpiper but after
watching it a few minutes I was happy it was indeed a Wood Sandpiper and had
possibly just arrived during the heavy shower as both David and Malcolm hadn’t
seen it earlier. I called David and
Malcolm to make them aware and then found a Ringed Plover on the end of the
spit and a Yellow-legged Gull on a post whilst I was awaiting their arrival.
The bird was still there when
they eventually arrived but even with three of us looking we couldn’t locate
the Whimbrel or Curlew and presumably they had moved. An Osprey was seen between the reservoir and
Burley Wood and we eventually had three over the wood together.
Pleased with the Wood
Sandpiper we went to the Egleton Reserve where we had and early lunch. Ken was intending to join us and I called him
to find he was on his way and David decided to wait for him as Ken had left his
coat in David’s car when we were last out together.
Malcolm and I went into the
centre and up to the viewing area to view Lagoon One. We hadn’t been in there too long when I
picked up a Hobby flying low over the water, which then continued towards the
360 Hide and was lost from view. David
and Ken then joined us and we then had a rather purple patch. David picked up a Great White Egret at the
back of the long island and I then picked up a second in flight heading towards
Lagoon Two and then both birds flew around and dropped quite close to the
centre. A Marsh Harrier then appeared at
the back of the lagoon before coming closer and spending quite some time
quartering over the water trying to catch a young Tufted Duck but appeared to
be unsuccessful and I had another Hobby.
There were two Dunlin on the long island and we then heard a wader
calling, which we realised was a Greenshank.
It continued to call and we eventually picked up flying over the lagoon
before it dropped just in front of the long island.
I suggested that we should go
to Snipe Hide to see if there were any Green Sandpipers on the Wet Meadow. The water on the flash is now quite low and
looks ideal for waders but there was nothing and we suspected that the Marsh
Harrier, which we had last seen near the Wet Meadow, had probably flushed
everything. An Osprey flew over Lagoon
One and perched briefly before flying off over South Arm Three and I had
several sightings of Hobby, which David continued to miss. Two Green Sandpipers then flew onto the flash
and just afterwards David eventually found a Hobby.
As we walked back to the
centre it became quite warm and we spent some time observing the area near the
dipping pond, where we had a Chiffchaff and a female Blackcap, along with a
selection of more common passerines.
We continued onto Sandpiper
Hide on Lagoon Four and as we approached the gate at the far end of the Summer
Trail, David and I had a Hobby fly over.
From the hide we had five Ringed Plovers, eighteen Dunlin, two Common Sandpipers,
and forty-seven Common Terns.
A visit to Shoveler Hide on
Lagoon Three wasn’t particularly productive with just two female Tufted Ducks
escorting broods of six and two and a couple of Little Egrets.
Our plan was to finish in
Dunlin Hide on Lagoon Four where we hoping to get a better view of the gulls,
however they were still partially hidden by the vegetation on one of the
islands. We did see a couple of
Yellow-legged Gulls and three immature Shelduck but with not too much else Ken
and Malcolm departed. Just after they
left the hide a Curlew flew in and then David found an adult Mediterranean Gull
and so we called Ken to make them aware.
They both came back but after another brief stay they moved off again,
leaving just David and I in the hide.
Tim then joined us but all we added were a couple of Little Ringed
Plovers and I also saw a probably hybrid duck that I had seen earlier in the
year, which shows some resemblance to a Canvasback.
David and I walked back to the
car park and after a coffee I headed off home after a pretty good day’s
birding.
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