This morning I arrived at
Eyebrook Reservoir at around 07:30 and went as far as Holyoaks Farm entrance
before turning around and heading back and parking near the northern
coral. There was noticeably more
Red-legged Partridges around today and many had obviously been released pending
the forthcoming shooting activity.
There was another birder in
the coral but they hadn’t seen much but I found a Snipe on the Rutland shore
and the other birder then found a Ruff and there was a Red Kite over the
Rutland fields. With little else I drove
around to the Rutland side to view the inlet where I found a Green Sandpiper
and a Greenshank. As I scanned along the
Leicestershire shoreline I picked up two Black-tailed Godwits but with little
else I moved off to Rutland Water.
I arrived in the car park at
Lyndon and after a brief chat with Paul I viewed the feeding station, where
there were nine Tree Sparrow and four Greenfinches, before setting off for
Shallow Water Hide. As I reached the
main path I heard a Chiffchaff call and then saw four as they moved across the
path into a bush on the other side.
There was another Chiffchaff just after I passed Deep Water Hide and I
heard several more before reaching Shallow Water Hide.
There were masses of Greylag
Geese in front of the hide and along the shore to the west and a few Canada
Geese. As I scanned the shore with the
scope I found a Green Sandpiper at the far end of the geese but this was the
only waders despite the conditions looking quite good. There was a single Little Egret on the far
shore and a Kestrel flew low over the water.
There were good numbers of wildfowl with two Pintail and a Pochard being
the highlights.
Greylag Geese
Stock Dove
I eventually called it a day
and started to head back to the centre but a party of birds just after turning
onto the main path halted my progress.
There weren't’ easy to see amongst the bushes but I did have another
Chiffchaff, a single Blackcap and a Treecreeper amongst the more common Blue,
Great and Long-tailed Tits and a little further along I saw a Goldcrest after
hearing several call. There were still
quite a few House Martin and small number of Sand Martin feeding over the water
and scrub but not anywhere near the numbers that were present on Sunday.
When I reached the centre,
Paul was kind enough to make me a cup of tea before I made my way to the
Egleton Reserve.
After parking and visiting the
centre briefly, seeing two Great White Egrets on Lagoon One, I went off towards
the southern lagoons. The feeding
station and woodland was far quieter than at Lyndon and I hadn’t see very much,
other than a Green Woodpecker when I reached Snipe Hide. The Wet Meadow flash was disappointing again
with just a few Canada Geese on the meadow and two Teal on the flash but I
could see four Little Egrets and a third Great White Egret on Lagoon One from
the hide.
I moved onto Harrier Hide
where other than two of the Great White Egret there was very little and I
expect there would be even less later as there was a team of volunteers going
out onto the lagoon.
Great White Egret alighting on Lagoon One
A visit to Fieldfare Hide
produced just a single Little Egret and four Little Grebes and then a visit to
Pintail Hide on Lagoon Six, produced just a Moorhen. I viewed Lagoon Eight from the path but again
there was very little and then continued onto Shelduck Hide on Lagoon
Five. I looked at Lagoon Seven from the
ramp to Shelduck and it was almost bird less and from Shelduck Hide I saw just
three Little Egrets and the southern lagoons were proving a real
disappointment.
When I entered the 360 Hide I
was pleased to see at least a few birds and I eventually found four Greenshanks
and a Curlew before heading back to the car park for lunch.
After lunch, I walked with
Briand and Roger Brett to Grebe Hide to look for the American Wigeon, which
hadn’t been reported since Saturday.
Initially there was no sin but Brian then found it as it swam from
behind one of the islands. Another
birder who had been looking for it for a while was quite pleased and indicated
that many had left without seeing it. We
also had a couple of Hobby whilst we were in the hide, one of which at least
was a juvenile that had perched on one of the goal posts.
Juvenile Hobby
From Grebe Hide we went to Shoveler Hide to view Lagoon Three where two Bitterns had been seen earlier. There were four Green Sandpiper and a Greenshank on the lagoon and a single Little Egret. There were masses of duck, mainly Gadwall and Tufted Duck with just a few Teal, Mallard, Shoveler and Pochard. Another birder in the hide started taking photos to the left of the hide and he then said there is a Cetti’s Warbler showing well. I got alongside him and could see the Cetti’s quite well but when I focussed on it there were too many reeds blocking the view and it then flew across the front of the hide and disappeared before I got any shots. An Osprey then flew over carrying a fish, which was probably the juvenile seen on Lagoon Four earlier.
With no sign of the Bittern,
Brian and Roger went to Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four and shortly afterwards I
went to Buzzard Hide hoping I might see it from there. I hadn’t been in the hide many minutes when a
Kingfisher flew in front of the hide but there was no sign of the Bittern and I
moved on to Lapwing Hide.
Juvenile Moorhen feeding in front of Buzzard Hide
As I opened the flap in
Lapwing Hide I could see what I suspected was a Black Tern and on raising the
binoculars found that there were two. I
called Roger to make him and Brian aware but when I looked for the terns again
I couldn’t find them and it was several minutes before one appeared. I followed it as it moved towards the Lagoon
Three bund and it was then joined by two others. I watched it fly away towards the green bank
and eventually lost it again and when I couldn’t find any of them I went to
Sandpiper Hide.
When I got into the hide Brian
and Roger where still there and after informing me what they had seen I started
to scan the lagoon. I found four Ringed
Plover and two Dunlin just to the left and Roger pointed out the Ruddy Shelduck
on the west bund and there was also a Ruff and a Greenshank on view. There were several Yellow-legged Gulls in
their usual pre-roost area and more Common Gulls than of late. A party of waders was then seen on the
stretch of land connecting islands seven and ten and there were six Ringed
Plover, two Dunlin and three Ruff and just after Brian and Roger had departed
two more Dunlin appeared.
I then left the hide and after
getting back to the car went back to Eyebrook Reservoir as Brian and Roger had
seen more waders there than I did this morning.
I saw a Red Kite along the main road south of Uppingham and parked in my
usual spot to view the inlet.
I scanned the stream first and
found a Little Ringed Plover, a Snipe, a Black-tailed Godwit and a Green
Sandpiper and then scanned the Leicestershire bank where I found a Greenshank
and another Black-tailed Godwit. I
hadn’t seen any of the additional waders seen by Brian and Roger, although the
Little Ringed Plover was new. With no
time to visit the coral to view the Rutland shore I called it a day and headed
off home, seeing two Buzzard as I drove to the bridge.
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