David, Roger and I set off for
Eyebrook Reservoir and with the wind easing it felt much warner than during the
recent few days. We had a Buzzard as we
approached Cranoe, a Red Kite over the farm along Uppingham Road and five
Kestrels before reaching the turning to the reservoir.
We parked near the gate to the
fishing lodge but saw very little and then went to the island coral where we
found Malcolm. We spent time scanning
the area and found six Pintail amongst the numerous Wigeon, Teal and Mallard
along the western shore. Four Pochard
were observed in flight and I found a red-headed Smew in the southeast corner
of the dam.
We all moved to the other side
of the island and viewed the reservoir from the fencing. A Kestrel was seen on several occasions and
there were twenty-nine Pochard on the far side but there was no sign of the
Ferruginous Duck amongst them, although it was reported later in the day. As I scanned the far point of the island I
found a first-winter male Scaup, but we eventually moved onto the northern
coral.
There were quite a few Dunlin
and David saw a Ruff, but they were not easy to see as they were feeding along
the close bank and were obscured by the vegetation. They were eventually disturbed and flew with
the Ruff landing in the open water and thirty-seven Dunlin on the mud. A single Golden Plover flew over and we found
a pair of Stonechat on the Rutland side.
There were good numbers of wildfowl to the south of the coral that
included four Shelduck.
Malcolm had looked for the
Little Owl when he arrived without success, but we decided to go and had a
Buzzard fly over the road as we approached the old oak, where were found a
Little Owl. We went back to the bridge
over the inlet seeing another Kestrel as we approached the bridge. We weren't seeing a great deal and decided to
head to Rutland Water, agreeing to see Malcom in the Egleton car park.
When we got to the car park
Malcolm joined us and our plan was to do a circuit of the reservoir. After checking the meadow between the car
park and the centre where we found two Song Thrush and several Blackbird and
Redwing we went to the North Arm.
We stopped briefly to view the
fishponds where we had our first Little Egret of the day before stopping to
view Tim’s feeders where we found a Great Spotted Woodpecker feeding. We parked at the far end of the unnamed road
and found the two Barnacle Geese amongst a small party of Canada Geese on the
north shore. As we walked down to the
spit I heard a Redshank call and then saw two disappear around the end of the
point. There were plenty of birds to
scan through on the water and I found a single female Common Scoter and David
then found a drake Scaup. I counted
sixty Pintail in the southern bay where there was also another Little Egret.
As we left the North Arm for
the dam we stopped again to view Tim’s feeders and found a Coal Tit and a
Nuthatch. We had another Kestrel at the
side of the road alongside Burley Wood but nothing else on reaching the Sykes
Lane car park.
We walked out to the dam and
one of the first birds I noticed was a female Red-breasted Merganser and was
presumably one of the three that had been present recently. We then spent quite some time scanning for
the Great Northern Diver which Roger eventually found some distance away off
Whitwell. We went back to the car and
set off for the Lyndon Reserve seeing nothing of note.
As we turned into the road
leading to the reserve there were two Redwing near the entrance and after
parking we went to view the feeders, which were unfortunately empty and
consequently there were few birds. We
could see a Great White Egret and a Redshank in the pool to the west of the
centre but with no sign of any Tree Sparrows we continued to Teal Hide.
I scanned the area towards
Manton Bay where I found two more Great White Egrets, one near the sluice and
the other in Manton Bay where there was also four Pintail. David then found a Curlew along Lax Hill
shoreline and I found a Black-tailed Godwit near Goldeneye Hide, where there
was also a Redshank and two more Great White Egrets. A flock of Dunlin were observed in flight and
when they landed near Goldeneye Hide we counted twenty-two. Roger then found the Red-necked Grebe to the
west of the Old Hall but there was no sign of the recent flock of Red-crested
Pochard.
We went back to the Egleton
car park for lunch after which I checked the feeders outside the centre where a
Marsh Tit paid a brief visit. From the
viewing area there were five Shelduck, six Pintail and eleven Goosander on
Lagoon One and two Stonechat just in front of the centre. Malcolm also found a red-headed Smew on
Lagoon Two, but we eventually moved on to the northern lagoons.
A Great Spotted Woodpecker
flew over as we approached the badger hide and circa thirty passerines flew
into the wood alongside the path. We
stopped along the path to view the area the passerines had flown into and found
mainly Siskin and just two Goldfinch that were now feeding in the alders.
We went into Grebe Hide on
Lagoon Two and soon found the drake American Wigeon amongst a large flock of
wildfowl, most of which were Gadwall.
From Grebe Hide we continued to Crake Hide where we had good views of a
couple of Water Rail. There were plenty
of birds in front of Lapwing Hide, mainly Coot, but also a good mixture of
commoner wildfowl and I counted a dozen Pintail off Brown’s Island.
As I walked back with David we
had a Lesser Redpoll fly over before meeting Chris Park. Chris informed us that there was a flock of
Red-crested Pochard on Lagoon Three and an Oystercatcher on Lagoon Four, which
is a god record locally at this time of the year.
We went into Shoveler Hide and
counted fourteen Red-crested Pochard and another Water Rail performed
exceptionally well just in front of the hide.
What Chris hadn’t mentioned was that a female Marsh Harrier was perched
in one of the bushes to the right of the hide and we all missed it.
We moved onto Sandpiper Hide
to hopefully find the Oystercatcher and Mike Snow already in the hide indicated
where the Oystercatcher was, but it had disappeared, and we could only find
Lapwing. Roger then cried Sparrowhawk
flying left to right low over the lagoon and not surprisingly it was flushing
all the birds. The Sparrowhawk
disappeared without anyone else seeing it and although we all heard the
Oystercatcher calling it wasn’t seen and didn’t return. Golden Plover began dropping in and there
must have been close to 250 by the time we left the hide and there were also a
few Dunlin mixed amongst the Lapwings.
When we got back to the
viewing area in the centre there were twenty-two Goosander on the lagoon,
including eleven males, and eight Little Egrets and three Great White Egrets
and then Malcolm picked up a Barn Owl over lagoon two area. It perched on a post near the path and so we
all went back along the path for a better look.
It was still on the post when we got to the gate and then performed well
for several minutes before drifting off out of sight.
It had been an excellent day’s
birding in which there were some excellent birds amongst a total of ninety
species.
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