It was quite misty when Roger
I set off for Eyebrook Reservoir this morning but it was soon burnt off by the
sun and it was bright and sunny when we reached Eyebrook Reservoir. Other than a few Swallows and House Martins
on route we hadn’t seen a great deal and there was no sign of the Little Owls
this morning as we approached the reservoir.
We drove along the
Leicestershire side of the reservoir, turning around at Holyoaks and then
parked near the northern coral. The
light wasn’t brilliant from this side of the reservoir but it did give us an
opportunity to view the Rutland shoreline.
We found a single Little Ringed Plover, a Snipe and a Greenshank and saw
a Little Egret in flight before we headed for the bridge over the inlet
stream. There were three Red-legged
Partridges on the road as we approached the turn to the bridge but I suspect
that there will be many more shortly when birds are released for shooting.
It was quiet at the bridge but
I did find two more Little Ringed Plovers and a Ruff near the mouth of the
stream. We drove further around on the
Rutland bank and joined Malcolm and Mike Snow, who had been there some time but
hadn’t seen either the Little Ringed Plovers or the Greenshank. There was a single Dunlin feeding along the
Leicestershire side of the stream and we saw another couple of Snipe and there
was a Whinchat in the grasses between us and the posts. The only other bird of note was a Kestrel
that we saw just before we departed for Rutland Water.
Another Kestrel was observed
between Preston and the Manton turn as we headed for the north arm. Malcolm had arrived before us and was walking
back towards the cottage to see if the Spotted Flycatchers were there we had
seen on Tuesday. Roger parked at the far
end of the unnamed road and we started scanning the far shore of the
fishponds. Roger found a Wheatear
parched on a fence post that dropped to the ground and wasn’t seen again. He then picked up another bird on a post that
turned out to be a Whinchat, which continued to perform all the time we were there.
Malcolm and Mike joined us
having not seen the Spotted Flycatcher and then Chis Park arrived. After enjoying the Whinchat Chris heard a
Treecreeper and whilst looking for this we had quite a selection of birds,
including a Jay and Marsh Tit and we also heard a Coal Tit and a Nuthatch. We eventually moved down to the end of the
spit where there were a couple of Ringed Plover and two Dunlin one the north
shore and four Curlew resting behind a flock of Canada Geese. Brian, Roger Brett and Rosie then joined us
and two Red-crested Pochard and a Ruff were added to the day-list and two Snipe
flew by.
Mike then said that two waders
had just dropped in but I am not certain what they are. We were all soon watching the two birds,
which were a couple of juvenile Spotted Redshanks. Malcolm and Roger Brett had gone towards the
south shore to get a better light in trying to find the Red-necked Grebe. I alerted Malcolm of the Spotted Redshanks
and both he and Roger made their way back.
However, the two Spotted Redshanks flew east but came down again briefly
before flying off east again. When Roger
and Malcolm reached us we still had the birds in flight and they were both
lucky in picking them up as they continued east. Chris then found what he thought was the
Red-necked Grebe but it was some distance away and the light made it impossible
to be certain. The bird was clearly
smaller than two Great Crested Grebe nearby but I just couldn’t get any detail
on it and suggested we should go to the fisherman’s car park where hopefully we
would get a better view.
When Roger and I arrived,
Malcolm was already scoping the water with Richard who had seen it but it had
disappeared. The rest of crowd finally
arrived but despite all the additional eyes we still couldn’t find it. I then picked up a loan gull, which I
suspected was a Little Gull. It was
quite distant and there was nothing near it to judge its size and so I asked
Roger to look, who thought it was a Black-headed Gull. I still wasn’t convinced and Chris took a
look and again said it’s a Black-headed Gull but followed up with ‘but it does
look small headed’. He then went and
looked west into the north arm and found a Garganey near the spit at the end of
the unnamed road. The others then moved
to try and see it and as they did a Black-headed Gull went behind the gull I suspected
was a Little Gull and although the Black-headed Gull was far more distant it
was clearly significantly larger. I got
Malcom to look and he agreed that it was probably a Little Gull. I then went a took a look at the Garganey,
which was pretty distant but when I looked for the Little Gull it had
disappeared. Chris then found it near
the shore close to Dickinson’s Bay and agreed it was a Little Gull.
There was some talk about
walking further east to try and locate the Red-necked Grebe and Chris and
Malcolm setoff and Mike, Roger and I followed.
We waked a fair distance to a suitable viewing point and Chris picked up
a small grebe straight away but it turned out to be a juvenile Great Crested
Grebe. As he and the other looked down
the arm I scanned the area between myself and Barnsdale and found the
Red-necked Grebe out in the middle of the arm.
It is still in summer plumage and what a cracking bird they are. As we watched Brian called to say they had
also found it from the fisherman’s car park but it would be far more distant.
As we walked back we realised
that it was quite late and suggested that we should go to the Egleton Reserve
for lunch but Chris had mentioned that Spotted Flycatchers were still near
Tim’s cottage and so we called there on route.
It didn’t take long to find one and we eventually had three and possibly
four before heading for Egleton.
As we drove along Church Lane
a Green Woodpecker flew over the road and landed in one of the trees and calling
as we drove by.
After lunch Malcolm, Mike,
Roger and I headed for the northern lagoons and went to Sandpiper Hide on
Lagoon Four first. When we got into the
hide Chris was watching and Osprey over Burley Wood and we were able to get on
it before turning our attention on the lagoon.
There was a Great White Egret just to the left of the hide and six
Little Egrets scattered around the lagoon.
I was surprised to find that there were no Common Terns resting on the
exposed mud but did eventually see one, after Roger altered me to two that were
over the lagoon, one of which alighted.
There were four Ringed Plovers and a Dunlin on the spit in front of the
hide and we had at least two Greenshanks.
There was a second Osprey on the lagoon and Chris then picked up three
Red Kites just west of Burley Wood and there were also a few Buzzards over the
wood.
Greenshnak
Great White Egret
From Sandpiper Hide Malcolm,
Mike, Roger and I moved onto Osprey Hide to look for the American Wigeon on
Lagoon Two. When we entered the hide, Richard
was there and he said the Wigeon was amongst the group of wildfowl and Coot
feeding in front but that he had gone off it and wasn’t sure where it now
was. Malcolm, Roger and I soon picked it
up Mike was struggling to find it and he was the only one who hadn’t seen it
before. Roger let him look through his
scope whilst I got Mike’s scope on the bird and he was soon having descent
views of the bird but it then went behind some reeds and we left to go to
Lagoon Three.
Malcolm went straight into
Shoveler Hide whilst Mike, Roger and I went into Buzzard Hide as the Bittern
had been rather well there on the 23rd and Water Rails had also been
showing well. We didn’t see either but
we did hear a Water Rail. Roger Brett
and Rosie joined us in the hide briefly when a Sparrowhawk flew by but we
didn’t see a great deal else and we went back to Shoveler Hide amd joined Chris
and Malcolm.
They had seen two immature
Marsh Harriers and three Green Sandpipers but the harriers had dropped into the
reeds and the sandpipers had disappeared.
There were three Common Terns over the lagoon and Chris picked up a Red
Kite as it few east over the woodland.
Shortly afterwards I picked one of the Marsh Harriers and Chris then
found the second flying higher above the one I had found. They were both juveniles and flew around
almost as a synchronised pair and they were possibly from the same brood. Roger then spotted a Reed Warbler, which I
failed to see, but whilst I was looking for it I found a Water Rail on the edge
of the reeds, which provided some nice views before it disappeared into the
reeds. A Common Sandpiper then flew in
and landed on one of the old nesting platforms before it flew again and
disappeared. Mike then noticed two Green
Sandpipers that appeared to the left of the hide and then a Snipe appeared on
the edge of the reed island and I then noticed two Reed Warblers on the edge of
the reeds. Chris then found a Sedge
Warbler on the edge of the near reeds but with no sign of the Bittern we headed
off back to the centre.
The usual Saturday crowd was
in the viewing area and they had seen a couple of Hobbies and a Greenshank,
none of which were now on view. There
was a plenty of Tufted Duck on the lagoon but we didn’t find any wildfowl of
note amongst them. One of the Hobbies
then appeared at the back of the lagoon and then was joined by the second, with
one flushing a Marsh Harrier. The
harrier was clearly different to the two birds we had seen from Shoveler Hide
and a second bird, this time an immature, appeared between Harrier and Snipe
Hides and we suspected that we might have seen four different birds. Finally, a Kingfisher was observed on one of
the signs erected for Birdfair, which was a fitting end to an excellent day’s
birding.
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