David and I were out for a day’s local birding today and headed for
Eyebrook Reservoir where we were hoping to meet Malcolm. When we got beyond Kibworth we were surprised
to see how much snow was still lying and in some places the drifts at the edge
of the roads were still significant. We
hadn’t seen anything of note when we reached the turning to Stockerston Lane
but with a significant drift on one side of the road and only a single track obvious
we decided to continue to the northern approach road. This turned out to be a good move as Malcolm tried
to come along the road and had to turn around and go back as it was impassable.
After turning onto the northern approach road, we stopped to view the old
oak and found a Stock Dove, which then dropped into the hole, confirming that
the Little Owls were no longer in residence.
I have records of Little Owls at this site since the 1970’s and let’s
hope that they might return and become established again.
We continued onto the bridge where we stopped and found the water level
to be very high and the stream wider than I have seen it for some time. There was very little around the small
feeding station and we only saw Blue and Great Tits visiting it, although we
did have two Eurasian Tree Sparrows on the opposite side of the road and a
Great Spotted Woodpecker flew in and perched briefly. David noted a Little Egret in flight and a
female Goosander, which is an irregular visitor to the reservoir these days.
As we drove around to view the inlet there was a Common Kestrel perched
on the fence and two Yellowhammers on top of the hedge. We checked out the inlet but with no suitable
habitat for wading birds there was very little except for a few Eurasian
Wigeon, Eurasian Teal and Black-headed Gulls.
We stopped further along the reservoir where we saw a distant perched
Common Buzzard but little else. Malcolm
then arrived and after a brief chat we all headed off to the Old Hall at
Rutland Water.
There were two Egyptian Geese in the field west of the Volunteer’s
Training Centre, but we hadn’t seen anything else as we parked at the bottom of
Lyndon Road in Hambleton before walking over the cattle grid to view the South
Arm.
We were hoping for Greater Scaup, Great Northern Diver and Red-necked
Grebe, all of which had been seen yesterday.
Steve and Terry joined us just after David had found two drake Greater
Scaup towards Brown’s Island and he then found a Great Northern Diver in South
Arm Three and was clearly on a role. Terry
then located another party of Greater Scaup, that contained four more males and
three female-types. Three Red Kite were
then observed towards Hambleton, but the Red-necked Grebe was proving more
difficult, which is not that unusual. After we were joined by Gerry, David
walked along the cycle track to view South Arm Three, whilst Malcolm and I went
the other side of the Old Hall to view South Arm One.
We still couldn’t find the Red-necked Grebe and it wasn’t long before
David joined us having had the same result in South Arm Three. As he walked towards us a Eurasian
Sparrowhawk was observed displaying over the wood and we heard a European
Golden Plover calling but couldn’t locate it.
We then had another look for the grebe from our original position but
there was still no sign and we headed off to the North Arm.
As we drove along the unnamed road we stopped to view Tim’s feeders where
there were plenty of Blue and Great Tits and single Marsh and Coal Tits. We moved further down the road and parked
before walking through the gate to reach the spit. There was a pair of Common Shelduck and
Eurasian Oystercatcher on the north shore and then David, obviously still on a
role, found the Black-necked Grebe.
There were two more Eurasian Oystercatcher and a Common Redshank on the
south shore and I then saw two Dunlin drop on the northern spit. Gerry then joined us and after giving him
directions for the Black-necked Grebe we found it had moved a considerable
distance and was coming closer to us. We
could see that it was beginning to moult into summer plumage, appearing less
black and white than it had been recently.
David then picked up an egret flying towards us from the east and as it
got closer we could see that it was a Great Egret and shortly afterwards a
Northern Raven flew over calling. I then
found two more Dunlin on the shore quite close to us and shortly afterwards we
had all four in flight. We mentioned to
Gerry that we hadn’t seen the two Barnacle Geese and he said they were in the
field on the other side of Tim’s cottage.
We went back up the road an initially couldn't see the Barnacle Geese but
then found them further away with a group of Canada Geese. A Eurasian Nuthatch was then heard, and we
saw it in one of the trees before two flew towards Tim’s feeders. We were also hoping for a Eurasian
Treecreeper but had almost given up when David spotted one in the same tree we
had seen the Eurasian Nuthatch in.
We were having a pretty good day and headed to the Egleton car park
before walking down to the centre to view Lagoon One. After checking the book and entering a few records
we went up to the viewing area and found a large portion of the lagoon was
still frozen. There were three male and
three female Goosander towards the far side of the lagoon and a single Eurasian
Oystercatcher on an area of the exposed long island. We eventually decided with nothing new being
found that we would walk just beyond the badger hide to look for thrushes in
the meadows and other passerines in the hedges before we had lunch. There were just a few Common Blackbird and Song
Thrushes but there was no sign of any winter thrushes and we found ourselves
looking into the ringing feeding area from the Rutland gate. There were plenty of birds coming and going,
despite the feeders looking empty and we saw Blue and Great Tits, along with
Common Chaffinch, European Greenfinch and European Goldfinch. Malcolm then found a pair of Eurasian
Bullfinch and David kept saying he could hear redpolls, which Malcolm and I
couldn’t hear, but shortly afterwards two flew in and we eventually had four
Lesser Redpoll before returning for lunch.
Malcolm who stayed a little longer than David and I then came back with a
rather nice photo of a superb male Lesser Redpoll.
Whilst we were having lunch Steve and Terry arrived after their circuit
of the reservoir but had little to report and so after lunch we set off to the
northern lagoons. Volunteers were
working close to Grebe Hide and it was no surprise that yesterday’s reported
Siskin were nowhere to be seen. A quick
check for the hide for the American Wigeon produce a few Northern Shoveler and
a single drake Northern Pintail but nothing else and we continued onto Lapwing
Hide.
There were few birds close to the hide, but we did find all nine of the
Greater Scaup, which were now together, along with a small party of Tufted Duck
but they then all flew further away, and we went to Shoveler Hide on Lagoon
Three.
There were plenty of birds on the lagoon, including five Common Shelduck,
several Northern Shoveler and three Northern Pintail and two Eurasian Oystercatcher
flew over. A Water Rail came out from
the reeds to the left of the hide and walked across the ice to the island
before running back into the reeds.
Scanning above the reedbed there were four Common Buzzard and a Red Kite
soaring over Burley Wood, but we eventually moved on to Sandpiper Hide on
Lagoon Four.
There were Common Shelduck on the lagoon, but our main target was Smew
and we eventually found five males and eight red-heads. David then said he might have a Yellow-legged
Gull but before Malcolm and I could get on it flew and landed in the water
making it less easy to identify. It was
clearly darker mantled than a nearby European Herring Gull and eventually it
came out of the water onto the western bank, revealing its yellow legs. Malcolm then picked up a Green Woodpecker in
flight, which we had heard calling on several occasions, and I watched it as it
landed in one of the dead trees near Dunlin Hide but it then flew again before
I could get David onto it. With the
Yellow-legged Gull still showing well we decided to go to Dunlin Hide to try
and get a better view. David and Malcolm
took some photos before it flew off with a party of gulls towards the South
Arm. Steve then joined us in the hide
and he found a female Northern Pintail amongst the Eurasian Wigeon on the
western bund but with little else we decided to head back to the centre.
As we left the hide David noticed a Fieldfare in the meadow along with
another thrush that turned out to be a Song Thrush, but he then found a Redwing
just to the right of the two birds.
We didn’t see a great deal else before we got back to the centre and went
up to the viewing area hoping that a Barn Owl would perform. Whilst we were waiting for the hoped-for Barn
Owl I picked up a Eurasian Curlew in flight over the Wet Meadow, which dropped
into the grass and out of sight before either David or Malcolm got on it. They then focussed on the area and found the
bird but we then realised that there were several and so I also focussed on the
area and we eventually found five birds but sadly the Whimbrel wasn’t amongst
them. Whilst discussing that Malcolm had
already seen a Barn Owl at Great Eastern earlier today, David and I cried out
almost together there is one flying at the back of the lagoon, which then
performed well for several minutes before going back to the owl box and
perching near the entrance. Malcolm then
said he thought he had a Stonechat near the tree where we had been observing
the Curlew and a quick look through the scope confirmed his suspicions and that
it was a female. David then picked up a
Barn Owl on the Green Bank, which was some considerable distance from the
Lagoon One bird and we assumed that it was probably a different bird. It wasn’t long afterwards that we called it a
day and headed off back to the car park and set off for home.
The only sighting on the way home was of a Common Kestrel as we turned
towards Billesdon. It had been an
excellent day’s birding in which I recorded eighty-eight species, one of which,
the Yellow-legged Gull was a year-tick, taking my total onto 150.
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