I left home this morning hoping to get the tear-list off to a good start
and headed for Eyebrook Reservoir. David,
Malcolm and Roger had opted to go out tomorrow, but I always like to get out on
the first day of the year and the weather forecast wasn’t too good for tomorrow
and I was pleased to making a start. I
added just fifteen species on route to Eyebrook Reservoir that included a Grey
Heron, four Red Kites, nine Fieldfare and three Redwing and the small group of
Fieldfare turned out to be my only sighting of the day.
I approached Eyebrook Reservoir from the southern approach road and
parked near the gate leading to the fishing lodge where there is now a
feeder. There weren't too many birds
around the feeders with just a few Chaffinch feeding on the ground below the
feeders and I suspect that the feeder was empty. Roger and I had seen twenty Tree Sparrows
here last month and I was hoping for a repeat and I did find two before I was
joined by another birder from Norfolk.
He wanted to know how to get to the dam as he was hoping to see the Smew
that had been reported yesterday, along with two Black-necked Grebes. I explained that the fishing rights had
changed hands and it was no longer possible to gain access to the grounds and
his best chance was to go to the island coral and view from there. He was interested in seeing the Tree Sparrows
but whilst I was with him we just had more Chaffinch, a Greenfinch, two
Goldfinch and three Yellowhammers.
I left him looking for the Tree Sparrows and drove around to the island
coral where I could get a good view of the southern section of the
reservoir. As I scanned along the
southern shoreline there was a good selection of birds with Greylag Goose, Mute
Swan, Gadwall, Eurasian Wigeon, Mallard, Eurasian Teal, Pochard, Tufted Duck
and Coot all being seen. I then picked
up a wader in flight just before it alighted on the grass on the edge of the
water but then walked behind some juncos.
I got the scope on the area hoping it would appear and it wasn’t long
before it did and to my surprise it was a Common Sandpiper. This species is very unusual at this time of
the year in the counties, although one had been present on the Hambleton
Peninsular at Rutland Water during December and I suspected that it would
probably be the same bird. The Norfolk
birder then arrived in the coral and I pointed out the Common Sandpiper before I
continued to look for the Smew. The
Norfolk birder then found a drake near the plantation and then realised there
were two drakes. One then flew across
the dam before coming towards us and landing in the corner to our right but out
of sight and we didn’t see it again.
Roger then called to say he was up and after seeing the forecast for
tomorrow had decided he was coming out and I arranged to meet him in the north
arm at Rutland Water. I drove along the
Leicestershire bank but didn’t stop at the northern coral as the reservoir was
now full and there was no suitable habitat for waders and I continued towards
Stockerston. I checked out the old oak
but there was no sign of the Little Owl but the year-list had moved onto forty.
I added Starling on route to Rutland Water and then added Rook, House
Sparrow and Song Thrush before I stopped on the unnamed road to view Tim’s
feeders where there was a constant procession of birds visiting the
feeders. Most were Blue and Great Tits,
but I also had a Great Spotted Woodpecker, both Coal and Marsh Tits and two
Nuthatches. After parking near the gate
and getting out I heard a Treecreeper calling and found it in one of the close
trees. As I scanned the fishponds a
Little Egret flew by and the two Barnacle Geese were feeding with a group of
Canada Geese on the southern shore.
Roger then arrived, and we set off to the end of the spit to look for
the Black-necked Grebe that had been reported earlier.
There was a Wren calling near the gate and I saw several Little Grebes as
I scanned for the Black-necked Grebe.
There were far fewer birds in the arm today and with there being little
wind the water was fairly flat and the grebe should have been easy to locate
but it wasn’t and I was beginning to doubt that we were going to find it. However, persistence finally paid off when I
picked it up quite some distance to the east of Dickinson’s Bay and a Redshank
on the south shore was my fifty-eighth species of the day.
From the North Arm we went in one car down to the south arm to look for a
Red-necked Grebe that had also been reported.
Roger found a Great White Egret on the far shore and it wasn’t too long
before I found the Red-necked Grebe, which some distance out and left of the
island. There was far less of the island
showing today and clearly there was water being pumped in now that the local
rivers are swollen. Chris park joined us
and after giving him directions the Red-necked Grebe we started to scan through
a mixed flock of Tufted Duck and Coot when Roger found a Grey Wagtail on the
shore. We went back scanning the flock
of birds on the water and Chris found a female Scaup asleep and whilst trying
to find this I found a male. After getting
Roger onto the birds we walked towards the reserve and found ten Red-crested
Pochard on the far side and another Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over.
As we were walking back to the cars Tim arrived and after a chat we
continued with Chris going to the North Arm and Roger and I intending to go to
the end of the peninsular to look for a Great Northern Diver. Chris had seen a Great Northern Diver from
Whitwell and a Common Sandpiper, which suggested the bird I had seen earlier at
Eyebrook Reservoir was in fact a different bird. As we started to drive down to the peninsular
there were lots of vehicles and so we decided to go to Whitwell to find a diver
as parking would probably be difficult at the end of the peninsula.
We parked in the car park at Whitwell and walked down the water edge to
view Barnhill Creek where Chris had seen one earlier. As we scanned we both saw two birds dive and
suspected that they were both divers and when they surfaced we were able to
confirm that they were indeed Great Northern Divers.
It was now almost lunch time, so we went to the Egleton car park, which
was pretty full and after lunch we checked the feeders, where there was nothing
new, so we went into the centre to view Lagoon One. The water level had risen considerably and
there were far fewer birds but we did add Egyptian Goose, Northern Shoveler , Northern
Pintail and Goosander to the list. We
also found a couple of Eurasian Curlew and four gulls turned out to be Herring
Gulls and a single Stonechat was observed just in front of the centre. Brian and Rosie then joined us and Brian
found a Goldcrest amongst the reeds, which took the total to seventy-two.
With the rain easing we set off to the northern lagoons but were
disappointed that the American Wigeon hadn’t been seen all morning. We went into Grebe Hide, which was full, so
we went onto Osprey Hide but like everybody else drew a blank on the American
Wigeon.
We continued onto Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three were I added Shelduck and
Reed Bunting but a walk to Crake Hide failed to produce for the hoped-for Water
Rail, so we went back to Shoveler Hide.
Two Reed Buntings flew into the bushes to the right of the hide and
Brian said that there was a Water Rail feeding right in front of the hide,
which provided some excellent views.
Brian then called a Marsh Harrier, which unfortunately dropped behind
the trees and didn’t reappear but whilst looking for this I found a perched
Buzzard taking the total onto seventy-seven.
As we left the hide two Stock Dove flew over and a visit into Grebe Hide
produced three red-headed Smew. As we
reached the big meadow fourteen Golden Plover flew over and a Barn Owl flew
along the hedge before disappearing towards Lagoon Four. The final addition to the list was a Green
Woodpecker, which flew over the meadows as we approached badger hide and was
followed by my third Great Spotted Woodpecker of the day.
The year-list had reached eighty, which whilst not my best ever start to
the year was quiet a respectable start.
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