When Roger and I left for
Eyebrook Reservoir this morning it was rather dull and overcast with a brisk
westerly wind. We didn’t see a great
deal on route, except for thirty plus Red-legged Partridge as we drove along
Stockerston Lane towards the southern approach road to the reservoir.
We parked near the gate to the
fishing lodge finding more Red-legged Partridges in the field to the north and
three Red Kites over the hills further to the north. As we drove around to the reservoir to the
island coral there was a Little Egret in the first bay and as we pulled up at
the coral there was a party of tits in the hedgerow that contained both Blue
and Long-tailed Tits.
From the coral there was a
party of gulls on the spit that contained quite a few Herring Gulls and a
single Great Black-backed Gull. There
was also a Ruff and a couple of Shoveler amongst the more numerous Mallard.
A brief stop at the entrance
to Holyoaks Farm produced yet more Red-legged Partridge and a single Buzzard on
the ground. At our next stop, the
northern coral there were plenty of Teal, Lapwing, Black-headed and Common
Gulls and a single Yellow-legged Gull around the inlet and we found a Ringed
Plover, four Dunlin and six Ruff and a Greenshank along the Rutland
shoreline. Roger found a male Stonechat
in the grasses along the Rutland side of the reservoir and after some
disturbance three Shelduck flew out of the stream onto the reservoir. Scanning the reservoir there were good numbers
of Wigeon, Gadwall and Mallard and we picked out six Pintail and I counted
forty-seven Shoveler and just before we moved a small party of Pochard in
flight contained a single Tufted Duck.
There were two Buzzards and a Red Kite over Stoke Dry Wood and two more
Red Kites over the Rutland fields and another Buzzard between the coral and
Stoke Dry Wood.
We drove towards Stockerston
before turning to view the old oak but there was no sign of the Little
Owls. As we returned to the reservoir
there was a Kestrel over the fields east of the reservoir but we didn’t see a
great deal else and set off for Rutland Water.
We hadn’t gone very far when I noticed a party of birds flying around,
which I thought were Golden Plover. On
stopping I could confirm that there were fifteen Golden Plover flying low over
the reservoir, which appeared to come down near the inlet. Roger hadn’t seen them and so we reversed
back to one of the gates to park. However,
we couldn't find the Golden Plover and presumably they had landed on the
Rutland shore and out of sight. We
waited a while hoping they would fly again but they didn’t but the brief stop
produced some visible migration that included Skylark, Meadow Pipits and two
Swallows.
At Rutland Water we went to
fisherman’s car park on the Hambleton Peninsular hoping to find the Red-necked
Grebe in the North Arm. Before we
climbed over the gate to scan the arm two Jay flew over and we then scanned the
arm for a good twenty minutes but with no sign of the Red-necked Grebe we
returned to the car. After climbing back
over the gate, I noticed a bird quite close to the shore that turned out to be
a female Goldeneye, which hadn’t noticed whilst scanning the arm.
We drove back along the
peninsula and turned into the unnamed road to view the western end of the North
Arm. As we scanned the fishponds before
moving through the gate another Jay was observed. There was a Pintail, two Little Egrets and a
Greenshank on the far shore but very little else and all we could find in the
southern bay was a single juvenile Ringed Plover and sixteen Pochard. Scanning Burley Wood produced just a single
Red Kite and a brief stop at Tim’s feeders produced several Blue and Great Tits
and a single Coal Tit and Nuthatch.
It was now approaching
lunchtime and so we went to the Egleton car park and found a sheltered spot out
of the wind. After lunch we walked down
to the centre and viewed the feeders, where a Marsh Tit made a brief visit,
before going up into the viewing area to view Lagoon One.
Graham was having his lunch in
the viewing area and Ricky joined us shortly afterwards. I counted ten Pintail on the lagoon, there
was a single Great White Egret at the back of the lagoon and two Curlew on the
long island. A Kingfisher then appeared
briefly on the fence posts just in front of the centre and shortly afterwards I
picked up one in flight that was being pursued by a second. It had started to rain whilst we were in the
centre but as it eased we all set off for the northern lagoons.
We stopped just beyond the
small bridge to view the meadow, which was hadn’t been cut for the
Birdfair. There appeared to be quite a
few birds in the hedgerows and we had at least two Song Thrushes, several
Bullfinches and whilst watching a party of Goldfinch feeding on some Rosebay
Willow Herb seeds at the back of the meadow I noticed that there were two Lesser
Redpoll and eventually I found six before they all flew off.
We continued to Smew Hide on
Lagoon Two and found one of the American Wigeon right in front of the
hide. It was now in almost full breeding
plumage with no visible sign of any eclipse plumage. There was also a seven Pintail, a Little
Egret and another Great White Egret on the lagoon.
From Smew Hide we moved to
Buzzard Hide on Lagoon Three where we could see a Green Sandpiper towards
Bittern Hide but with little else we moved to Shoveler Hide. From Shoveler Hide we found five Pintail,
seven Pochard and there was a Black-tailed Godwit feeding to the left of the
hide but there was no sign of the Green Sandpiper. A then saw a Kestrel towards Lagoon Four and
a female-type Marsh Harrier performed over the reedbed. There was also a Little Egret and another
Great White Egret flew in and Graham Ricky left shortly afterwards. It wasn’t much after that Roger and I also
gave up on the hoped-for Bittern and went to Dunlin Hide on Lagoon Four hoping
to find the second American Wigeon.
When we arrived in the hide
there were three other birders but they hadn’t seen the American Wigeon but
there was yet another Great White Egret, which had apparently been there quite
some time. There were just six Pintail
on the lagoon and the numbers appear to have decreased but it will be
interesting to see how many our found in tomorrow’s WeBS Count.
We went back into the centre
and joined Ricky in the viewing area who informed us that there were now two
Great White Egrets and we found one at the back and another on the end of the
long island. It started raining rather
heavily whilst we were in the centre but as soon as it eased we called it a day
and headed back to the car.
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