The forecast for the morning
wasn’t great with rain predicted between 08:00 and 10:00 but it was dry but
dull when I left home. I had a single
Red Kite on route to Eyebrook Reservoir on my approach to Cranoe but there was
no sign of the Little Owls as I approached the reservoir.
There was a Red Kite over the
junction to the bridge and there were still plenty of Red-legged Partridge as I
drove to Holyoaks Farm entrance where I turned and then parked near the
northern coral. There were lots of Teal
at the inlet but very little else and so I scanned the birds feeding to the
south where I found two Shelduck, sixteen Pintail and thirty-one Shoveler and
there were also Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Wigeon; Gadwall; Mallard, Tufted Duck
and Coot. A few Lapwing and Black-headed
Gulls were now at the inlet and the number of Common Gulls had also increased
with a single first-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. I heard a Golden Plover calling and picked
one up in flight and shortly afterward there were nine amongst the Lapwing and
I then found a couple of Ruff. Scanning
the fields to the east of the reservoir I found a Red Kite and there was
another and three Buzzard over Stoke Dry Wood and a single Raven flew north
along the far ridge.
I stopped briefly at the
bridge but saw very little and moved around and parked on the Rutland side of
the reservoir to view the inlet. Other
than a Kestrel I was just seeing the same as I had observed from the coral and
was soon on my way seeing another Kestrel before I turned towards Stoke Dry.
I went to the Lyndon Reserve
where I met Terry who was on his own and we then walked to Wader Scrape Hide
seeing three Lesser Redpoll near Deep Water Hide and ten Siskin near the path
to Wader Scarpe Hide.
From the hide we found seven
Dunlin, four Ruff, two Snipe and a Green Sandpiper on the northern shore and
there was a Redshank on the south shore where Terry also saw three more Snipe
but something caused some disturbance and I missed them. I counted seventeen Pintail before the panic
and there was a Little Egret and Great White Egret on the far shore. Terry then indicated that there was another
Great White Egret near Heron Bay and I then picked a third in flight across the
bay. He also picked up a party of
thrushes flying south, which certainly contained some Fieldfare but also
Redwing. As we walked back we had a few
more Redwing but didn’t see a great deal else before we got back to the cars.
I parked at the end of the
unnamed road and found two Barnacle Geese amongst the Greylag Geese resting on
the north shore and a Great White Egret flew into the fishponds. I went through the gate and scanned the north
shore where I found yet another Great White Egret before moving further down
the spit to view the southern bay. There
was a good number of Pochard and I counted fifty-six and then found the pair of
Red-crested Pochard. As I scanned the
shore there was another Great White Egret, which was pursued by another and
when I scanned the whole of the area I found there were four on view at the
same time and presumably I had seen seven of the eight that have been seen
going into roost. A brief stop at Tim’s
feeders produced a Marsh Tit and a Coal Tit but no Nuthatch today.
From the North Arm I went to
Egleton where a Buzzard passed over the car park whilst I was having my lunch.
Buzzard over the car park
I went into the viewing area
in the centre to view Lagoon One where there were four Curlew at the back of
the lagoon and a Great White Egret trying to hide behind the tree in the
water. Was this the eighth individual or
had one of the others come onto the reserve?
There was a Marsh Tit calling just
beyond the badger hide, which I then saw briefly as it flew across the path and
disappeared. I called in Osprey Hide and
eventually found the American Wigeon and three more Pintail.
When I reached Shoveler Hide I
found Andy Howes in the hide, but he had only just arrived and hadn’t seen
anything of note. Terry came in shortly
afterwards and said he had seen a Goldeneye from Buzzard Hide and a quick scan
and I found it feeding behind the main flock of wildfowl. We then picked up a Red Kite and a Buzzard
over the wood, which there then joined by a second Buzzard and a female-type
Marsh Harrier and then a third Buzzard.
Andy went to Sandpiper Hide and Lagoon Four and shortly afterwards Terry
and I went to Lapwing Hide but most of the birds were distant and we couldn’t
find a Scaup that had been reported yesterday.
Terry then left and shortly afterwards I found a Great White Egret
feeding between Gadwall and Fieldfare Hides.
I left just afterwards and
made a brief visit to Buzzard Hide before going back into Shoveler Hide. There wasn’t much change, but a Little Egret
came quite close and I took a couple of shots of it as it fed in the shallows.
Little Egret
Grey Heron
I left Shoveler Hide and went
to Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four, but the Golden Plovers Terry had seen earlier
had gone and there was very little on the lagoon with a single Little Egret
being the best. The gulls comprised of
mainly Black-headed and Common with just a few Lesser Black-backed Gull and no
other larger gulls. A single Pintail
dropped in before I made my way back to the car park.
I looked across Lagoon One
from one of the gates and found thirty-two Pintail on the long island, which
had probably come onto the lagoon to roost.
I called at Eyebrook Reservoir
on the way home and viewed the inlet from the northern coral again where there
were now eight-four Golden Plover, three Dunlin and four Ruff. There was also plenty of gulls, mainly
Black-headed and Common but also a few Lesser Black-backed and Herring and a
single Great Black-backed.
A single Red Kite near Blaston
was the highlight of the journey home.
No comments:
Post a Comment