Roger picked me and after
picking up David we headed for Eyebrook Reservoir in the hope of seeing the
illusive Ferruginous Duck, which was reported again yesterday. It was a particularly cold morning after a
good overnight frost but thankfully the wind was quite light and it didn’t feel
too bad. We saw a single Buzzard as we
approached Cranoe but hadn’t seen a great deal else before we turned onto the
southern approach road to the reservoir.
A Sparrowhawk flew down the
approach road in front of us as we approached the reservoir and after parking
near the island coral we went into the coral to view the reservoir. With sun shining brightly the viewing isn’t
good from the coral but most of the southern shoreline is visible and we found
four Pintail but nothing else of note.
There was a single Dunlin amongst the Cormorant and gulls on the spit
and a Kestrel was hunting to the left.
David had noticed some Pochard
against the planation shoreline, so we went around to the fencing to get a
better view. There were two more Pintail
in the bay to the right of the fencing but the Pochard flock was still too distant,
so we were moved further along the road and then went over a style to get a little
closer.
Although the flock of birds
were feeding on the far side the light was superb and we were able to get
reasonable views as the Pochard and Tufted Duck as they continued to feed. There were five of us searching through the
flock and I counted 124 Pochard but there was no sign of the Ferruginous Duck
and we eventually agreed it wasn’t there.
The WeBS Count was scheduled
for tomorrow, but the weather forecast was for some heavy snow and Tim had sent
a message out yesterday asking if any of the counters were available to get it
done today. We had agreed that we would
count my normal areas, that is South Arm Three and Lagoon One, and so we departed
for Rutland Water to begin the count. As
we left Eyebrook Reservoir via the northern approach road there was a Little
Owl sitting in the old oak.
After parking near the Old Hall,
we walked along the southern shore to view the bay near the Old Hall. There wasn’t a great deal with just a few
Wigeon, Teal, Mallard and Tufted Duck being present. There were some Cormorants on the island and
a few Mute Swan, Goldeneye and Great Crested Grebe between the bay and the
island.
We then walked west along the
track and stopped to count the southern shore taking some shelter from the
breeze near the cattle grid. There were
far fewer birds along the south shore today, but I did find the five
Black-tailed Godwits that have been present for a while now. There was a Buzzard feeding on the ground
just to the left of Brown’s Island and I then found quite a few birds resting
along the shore on Brown’s Island. They
were mainly Teal with well over a hundred counted but also a single Shelduck, a
few Mallard and twenty-one Pintail. As
we walked further along the track we could see a mass of birds along the Lagoon
Three bund as far as Lapwing Hide, which took quite some time to count. There were mainly Coot (1456) and Tufted Duck
(742) but there were also smaller numbers of Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal and
Mallard. In the far corner near Lagoon
One we found a single Pochard and ten Little Egrets were resting on the bund.
We were all feeling quite
chilly by the time we had finished counting and headed to the Egleton Reserve
to count Lagoon One. There were far
fewer birds on Lagoon One and it was much more pleasant counting from the
viewing area, where there is heating.
Highlights were eight Shelduck, fifty-two Pintail, fifteen Goosander and
three Curlew. The wintering Whimbrel had
been seen earlier and was now supposed to be on the Wet Meadow, but we couldn't
find it. Roger then found two Stonechats
near Mallard Hide and there were two Great White Egrets on the Lagoon and the
female Marsh Harrier was observed on several occasions. I also found pair of Smew
on Lagoon Two, but we couldn’t find the American Wigeon.
With the count completed we
went back to the car for lunch, seeing a Marsh Tit at the feeders as we did
so. After lunch we decided to go to
Snipe Hide to view the Wet Meadow having some nice views of several Bullfinch
as we approached the hide. There was no
sign of the Whimbrel, but David spotted the Barn Owl sitting on the edge of the
nest box and we had at least three Red Kites from the hide. I called Tim to see how the count was going
and agreed to count what few birds were on the Wet Meadow, which included some
Canada Geese and Wigeon feeding on the meadow and several Teal and a couple of
Shoveler on the flash.
As I left the hide Tim and
Chris arrived and offered me a lift back to the car park and we then picked up
David and Roger who had gone on ahead.
Once back at the car park we headed for the centre, but I stopped to
photograph a Song Thrush that was feeding in the meadow.
Song Thrush
Having got back in the centre
we spent the rest of the afternoon there having further views of the Barn Owl
on the edge of the box and in flight and the Marsh Harrier. There was also up to nineteen Goosander on
the lagoon during the afternoon and another Curlew was found on the Wet Meadow. David also found the American Wigeon on
Lagoon Two whilst giving direction to some other birders looking for the
Smew. Roger then found a Sparrowhawk
perched near Mallard Hide that then flew towards us being joined by a second,
with the second perching briefly in front of the centre before being harassed
by a Carrion Crow. As the light faded we
heard the Whimbrel call and I picked it up in flight and saw it come down in a
bay on the long island. Although the
light wasn’t brilliant we could see it was smaller and darker than the nearby
Curlew, of which there were now five; a good end to the day.
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