I was out with David today and
we were planning to just go local and headed for Eyebrook Reservoir first. There was a Red Kite observed on route to
Cranoe and several Red-legged Partridge after passing through Blaston.
As we turned onto the southern
approach road to the reservoir a Sparrowhawk was flushed from a roadside bush
and stopping near the entrance gate we found another party of Red-legged
Partridge in the field, a Red Kite perched and then in flight to the north and
there were a few Fieldfare and a Redwing near the old feeding station. We moved onto the island coral where we were
hoping to find the Ferruginous Duck, although it had only been reported once
since I saw it on the 14th.
There were quite a few ducks along the southern shore and we found a
couple of Pintail and quite a few Pochard and a small party of Pochard swam out
from behind the island but there was no sign of the Ferruginous Duck. There was at least one Herring Gull and a
Great Black-backed Gull on the island spit, along with a party of roosting
Cormorants but with little else we drove to the other side of the island to
view the bay to the north. Again, there
were plenty of birds and even more Pochard with eight-four recorded during our
visit and there were also four more Pintail but again no sign of the
Ferruginous Duck.
We moved further along the
Leicestershire bank finding circa thirty Red-legged Partridge on the road near
Holyoaks and presumably more had been released.
We continued along the road before turning around on reaching Harborough
Hill Road to look for the Little Owls.
We didn’t expect to see any as Malcolm had seen a Barn Owl drop into the
hole in the tree on Tuesday indicating that the Little Owls were no longer in
residence.
We drove around to the Rutland
side of the reservoir to view the inlet and found thirty-four Dunlin, a Ruff
and a Redshank and just before we moved on a party of circa sixty Golden Plover
dropped in and there were also four Shelduck on the water.
From Eyebrook Reservoir we
headed to Exton where a single Hawfinch had been reported earlier today. When we reached the area overlooking the
cemetery there were far fewer birds than last Saturday, although there were a
few Fieldfare and Redwing. We remained
on site for a good hour but just a few Greenfinch and Goldfinch joined the
thrushes in one of the trees and when we left there weren’t any birds in the
trees with all the thrushes flying off to the south and the other birds just
disappearing. A surprise was a Grey
Heron that appeared to come out of the ground in the cemetery before flying off
and we did see a Kestrel and heard a Nuthatch.
Our next target was the Great
Northern Diver at Rutland Water and after parking in Sykes Lane car park we
walked down to the beach to view the area close to the dam. There was no sign of the diver and after
walking to the monument to have a word with Phil we found out that he had seen
it in flight heading for Whitwell and so we went around to the Whitwell car
park. There was a Little Egret in the
bay and I picked up a Kingfisher in flight but there was no sign of the
diver. We could see Andy and Roger Brett
near the monument and Roger texted me to see if we had seen the diver and when
I called him back they hadn’t seen it but said the three Red-breasted
Mergansers were with some Great Crested Grebes in the south corner of the
dam. We scanned the area and eventually
picked up the mergansers but they were so distant if Roger hadn’t indicated
where they were I doubt I would have been able to identify them. A Red Kite also flew over, which was the
third we had seen with the other two being on the southern shore from the dam.
We decided to go to the North
Arm seeing a Buzzard over the road alongside Burley Wood before parking along
the unnamed road in the North Arm. The
two Barnacle Geese were on the shore but other than a few Pochard and a couple
of Little Grebe there was nothing else of note.
Whist we were scanning the water I heard a Raven call and alerted David
and we then picked it up flying towards Burley Wood.
As I walked down to the spit
there was a Great White Egret just of the end of the spit and I then found
another seven feeding along the southern shoreline. There were thirty-six Pintail with most along
the southern shoreline and a few Pochard.
We were about to go to the Egleton Reserve when I got a ‘WhatsAp’
message from Andy indicating that the diver was in the north corner of the
dam. We saw Andy and Roger as we were
leaving and found out that they had seen the diver from the south shore whilst
getting a better view of the mergansers.
We decided to go back to Sykes
Lane car park and after walking to the beach again David soon picked the diver
up, which the provided some nice close views between frequent dives and we were
able to determine that it was a juvenile.
We could see the three Red-breasted Merganser close to the dam but they
had moved to about the midpoint and so we decided to go to the Lyndon Reserve
for our lunch.
After lunch we went down to
Teal Hide and on viewing the feeders found a Tree Sparrow and a Coal Tit
amongst the more numerous Blue and Great Tits.
From the hide there were eighteen Dunlin, four Black-tailed Godwits and
two Redshank feeding along the shore close to Goldeneye Hide at the base of Lax
Hill. There was also a single Great
White Egret and I counted thirty-six Pintail amongst the more numerous Wigeon,
Gadwall, Teal and Mallard. I then found
two Great White Egrets towards Brown’s Island that then came and joined the one
on the Lax Hill shore and then two more on the Heron Bay bund and presumably we
had probably seen thirteen on site today.
Nigel joined us in the hide and after a brief chat David and I left and
headed towards Wader Scrape Hide.
David thought he heard a
Treecreeper just as we entered the meadows and on stopping and looking for a
few minutes we found the Treecreeper along with six Long-tailed Tits and two
Great Spotted Woodpeckers. A look from
Deep Water Hide produced our first Goosander of the day but we couldn’t find a
Scaup amongst the large flock of Tufted Duck, but a Green Sandpiper flew by.
As we approached the turning
for Wader Scape Hide a Green Woodpecker was observed and on reaching the hide
David found a Curlew in Manton Bay and we eventually had four. There were just four Pintail in the bay and whilst
scanning the shore I found two Snipe and then David said he had a fifth
curlew-type bird, which he though was a Whimbrel. A quick look through the scope and it looked
as though it was being slightly darker and smaller and then it turned to reveal
it crown stripe confirming its identity.
It had well worth our time
visiting the Lyndon Reserve and we thought we would still have sufficient time
to go the Egleton Reserve. On reaching
the reserve David went into the centre to check the book and I checked the
feeders where I found a Marsh Tit. There
wasn’t a great deal in the book for today and so we headed off for Lapwing
Hide. As we walked towards the hide we
met another birder who said that there were two Water Rails showing from Crake
Hide and that the American Wigeon was still off Lapwing Hide.
A quick check in Crake Hide
produced nothing and on continuing to Lapwing Hide we found a lot of birds and
it took several scans before I found the American Wigeon and then David picked
up five Red-crested Pochard in flight and two male Goosander behind the large
raft of duck. I had a look on Lagoon Two
and found a rather nice Sparrowhawk perched in one of the willows near Smew
Hide. It was also apparent that
Goldeneye numbers were increasing whilst we were in the hide and we had over
thirty by the time we started to head back.
We went into Crake Hide again and found two Water Rails on the far side
but visits into both Shoveler and Sandpiper Hides produced just a single
Pintail on Lagoon Three.
A brief stop at the gate
overlooking Lagoon One produced two Shelduck but there was no sign of the hoped-for
Barn Owl.
It had turned out to be an
excellent day’s birding, despite our poor start and between us we recorded
eighty-nine species of which I had seen or heard eighty-six.
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