I was out with David and Roger
today and having chosen not to go for the Hoopoe in Loughborough we headed for
Eyebrook Reservoir. We saw a Red Kite as
we approached Cranoe and Buzzard just before reaching Slawston.
We turned right along
Stockerston Road and then left and approached the reservoir for the southern
end parking near the entrance to the fishing lodge. There was a Red Kite to the north and another
over the road towards Stockerston Lane.
We saw a couple of Chaffinch and a Yellowhammer but there was no sign of
any Tree Sparrows and so we moved along the road seeing just another Red Kite
over the reservoir by the time we reached the turning to the bridge. We continued along the road to check the old
oak for the Little Owl but there was no sign and so we returned and parked at
the bridge. An Osprey flew over the road
towards the reservoir but other than a single Mistle Thrush we saw little else
and moved further around the road to view the inlet, seeing a Buzzard as we did
so.
Terry Mitcham, Mike Snow and
another birder had already seen most of what was there and after a brief
discussion we set about finding whet they had seen. There was a Little Egret in the tree near the
bridge and a Ruff in the stream. We
heard and Greenshank calling and then saw it flying up the stream. On the Leicestershire bank, there were two
Black-tailed Godwits and four Green Sandpipers and David found a Snipe on the
bank of the stream. We eventually found
two Whinchats on the Leicestershire side, although they were rather distant but
I did pick them up on the edge of the stream a little later. The Greenshank reappeared and Terry then
picked up a Swift and I eventually saw at least two and he then found a
Garganey out of the water at the edge of the stream. A Kestrel was observed flying along the
Leicestershire side but we eventually called it a day and headed of across
country to the Lyndon Reserve at Rutland Water.
There was a Kestrel perched on
wires over the road just after passing through Stoke Dry and a brief stop at
Lyndon church produced a Nuthatch, which we only heard.
After parking in the car park
at Lyndon we went into the centre where I had a chat with Paul and then saw a
Tree Sparrow and several Goldfinch in the bushes on the left. There was a ringing party on site as we
walked down to Teal Hide and they were doing well with over 100 birds trapped.
We continued to the hide where
we saw a Little Egret, an Osprey and five Common Terns in Manton Bay and a second
Little Egret was visible in Heron Bay. A
second Osprey was then observed over Brown’s Island and a female-type Goldeneye
flew east past the hide, which was the first of the autumn. As we walked back to the centre the ringers
were processing a Chiffchaff and a Whitethroat and the next bird out of a bag
was a juvenile Blackcap.
From the centre, we drove to
the unnamed road in the North Arm and walked out to the spit seeing two Ruff in
flight before joining Mike Snow, who had been there a while. He had seen a few waders but hadn’t been able
to find the Wood Sandpiper, which David then found feeding quite close. As we scanned the north shore we found a
Whimbrel and a Curlew and there were four Ringed Plovers and seven Dunlin on
the far spit. There was a good number of
Pied Wagtails on the far shore and I picked out a single Yellow Wagtail. There was a single Yellow-legged Gull amongst
the gulls and a female Mandarin Duck was standing at the water’s edge. I then found a two more Ringed Plover and
five Dunlin feeding in the south bay.
Despite making regular scans of Burley Wood we only saw a single Buzzard
and we eventually moved to scan the fishponds.
There were plenty of birds
towards the far end of the ponds, mainly Tufted Duck and Great Crested Grebe
but there were four Little Egrets roosting in the trees and I counted sixteen
Little Grebes and saw several Shoveler.
From the fishponds, we went to
the Egleton car park where we joined Ricky for lunch before venturing onto the
reserve. We initially went to the
viewing area in the centre and where we had some nice views of two Hobbies
towards Harrier Hide and saw another Osprey, two Buzzards and a
Sparrowhawk. There were plenty of Cormorants
roosting on the islands and there was also a couple of Little Egrets.
As we walked alongside the
large meadow David heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker and I picked it up flying
along the back of the meadow but we hadn’t seen anything else of note as we
approached Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three.
We were hoping to catch up
with a Bittern that had been seen fairly regularly since Birdfair and settled
down in the hide and started to scan the area.
There were six Little Egrets feeding to the left of the hide and a Great
White Egret partially obscured on one of the islands. Elsewhere around the lagoon there were five
Common Terns and we saw a Reed Warbler close to the hide and a Cetti’s Warbler
was heard on several occasions. A
female-type Marsh Harrier was then observed over the reedbed and a Buzzard over
the woodland. Brian, Roger and Rosie
then entered the hide and just afterwards an Osprey flew over carrying a fish
and it wasn’t too long afterwards that we departed and went to Sandpiper Hide
on Lagoon Four.
Osprey
There was a Green Sandpiper
and Greenshank on the exposed mud in front of the hide and two Black-tailed
Godwits, one further along the same spit and the other amongst the roosting
Common Terns of which there were thirty.
Roger Brett then called to say that the Bittern had just showed but had
now disappeared again. We continued
scanning Lagoon Four and a Little Ringed Plover dropped in close to the Green
Sandpiper but other than thee Yellow-legged Gulls there wasn’t a great deal else
and we went back to Shoveler Hide to try for the Bittern again.
Greenshank
Greenshank
It wasn’t a surprise when the
Bittern didn’t show again but we did have a Kingfisher and a Sedge Warbler to
finish the day.
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