It was overcast and a little miserable as I left home, although the
forecast for later was for a nice spring-like day. There were a couple of Little Egrets on
Wistow Pool and a Common Buzzard was perched at the side of the road between
Kibworth and Tur Langton, but I hadn’t seen a great deal else as I turned onto
the northern approach road at Eyebrook Reservoir.
There was no sign of the Little Owl in the old oak and so I continued
onto the bridge, seeing a Western Barn Owl quartering the ground as I
approached the bridge. The owl had
disappeared after I had parked and on checking the feeders, which were almost
empty, there was a single Eurasian Tree Sparrow extracting the last remaining
food. The water in the stream was very
muddy and like the last visit the stream was wide and the reservoir full.
With little else I moved around to view the inlet where I found a single
Little Egret, but other than a few Teal there wasn’t anything else. I scanned further up the reservoir and found
a pair of Pintail, but I soon moved along the Rutland bank where there was a
party of seven Common Pochard and ten Common Goldeneye scattered along the
Leicestershire side of the reservoir.
I went across country, which didn’t produce anything of note, to the
Lyndon Reserve and I arrived just after 08:00.
The centre had opened at the weekend and the first Western Osprey, the
Lyndon female, had returned yesterday and I was hoping to see her and the
Red-necked Grebe that had been seen from the centre recently. It is worth mentioning that this is the
earliest date a Western Osprey has returned by quite a few days and I suspect
that it might be a while before her mate arrives.
I wasn’t expecting anyone to be in the centre, but Paul had arrived early
and after a chat and then viewing the feeding station, where there were at
least five Eurasian Tree Sparrows I went to Teal Hide to look for the grebe.
I had seen images of the Western Osprey on the PC and when I scanned
Manton bay found her still on the nest.
There were nine Greater Scaup towards Brown’s Island and I thought at
one point I had the Red-necked Grebe, but it dived before I had made certain
and then I couldn’t find it again. I
spent quite some time in the hide searching for the grebe without success and a
single Eurasian Oystercatcher on Lax Hill was my only reward.
I the received a What’s app message indicating that Steve and Terry had
found four Greater White-fronted Geese in Dickinson’s Bay, which were
presumably the birds that were seen here last month and subsequently at Fort
Henry Ponds. After another brief chat
with Paul, I set off for Dickinson’s Bay.
As I turned into Lyndon Road to drop down to Dickinson’s Bay, Steve and
Terry were just leaving, and indicated that the geese were with Greylag Geese
under the trees. I parked at the bottom
of the hill and walked the short distance around the cycle track to view the
bay and soon found one of the Greater White-fronted Geese standing in the
water. I then noticed the other three
were roosting on the shore with their heads tucked away and thankfully all four
were not roosting as they would have been easily overlooked. There were a couple of Egyptian Geese also on
the shore and twelve Little Grebes scattered around the bay. I scanned the north arm and found the
Black-necked Grebe, now in almost full summer plumage, and another five Little
Grebe close to Barnsdale Creek.
From Barnsdale I went to the unnamed road in the North Arm and after a
brief view of Tim’s feeders where there was a steady stream of Blue and Great
Tits and a Great Spotted Woodpecker, Marsh Tit and Coal Tit, I continued to the
end of the road and went through the gate to view the North Arm. Gerry was just coming back indicating that he
hadn’t be able to find the Greater White-fronted Geese and so I explained where
they were and advised him to go to Dickinson's Bay. I found a pair of Eurasian Oystercatcher and
a Common Redshank in the fishponds and the two Barnacle Geese were on the north
shore and I also relocated the Black-necked Grebe. Scanning over Burley Wood produced a single
Eurasian Sparrowhawk being mobbed by some corvids and as I walked back to the
car I heard a Eurasian Nuthatch and found it in a tree alongside the path.
I drove to the Egleton car park and after a brief stop at the feeding
station went into the centre. Whilst I
was chatting to Stephen I had another What’s app message from Steve, indicating
that there was a Black-legged Kittiwake at the dam. It is quite a rare passage visitor to the
counties and so I decided to go, half expecting it to have gone. After passing through Whitwell, Steve called
to say not to rush up to the dam as it looked as though they had gone. Terry had found a second, but they were now
unable to find them but as I was now quite close I decided to continue.
I could see Steve and Terry about halfway across the dam and when I got
close they said hurry up they are still here.
After getting directions I looked through the scope and found them
straight away and was pleased I had continued.
They had just had a Sand Martin, which they had also seen from Whitwell
but there was no sign now. Scanning away
from the dam I saw at least four Red Kites and four Common Buzzard.
When I got back to Egleton it was time for lunch and whilst having this
Gerry arrived indicating that he had been watching five Eurasian Curlew in the
Egleton Meadows and I asked if the Whimbrel was with them. He hadn’t payed too much attention and went
back for a second look and shortly afterwards another message from Steve arrived,
indicated that the Red-necked Grebe was in South Arm Three between Teal Hide
and Brown’s island.
Gerry then returned saying that the five curlew-type birds were all
Eurasian Curlew and he then rushed off to try and catch-up with the Red-necked
Grebe. I took a more leisurely approach
to Fieldfare Hide but couldn’t find the grebe, although I did find a second
Great Northern Diver.
I continued to Gadwall Hide and found Gerry was still there and that he
had seen the Red-necked Grebe with a lot of help from Steve via the phone. He explained that it had moved quite some distance,
but he told me where he had last seen it and we picked it up moving steadily
down the South Arm towards the dam. He
hadn’t seen the diver and so we set about looking for it and I eventually found
it in the bay to the east of the Old Hall.
We then started to walk back calling at Harrier Hide, where we found five
Eurasian Curlew on the Wet Meadow before continuing onto Snipe Hide. There were two Eurasian Oystercatchers quite
close and a Great Cormorant was initially feeding in the drainage dyke close to
the hide but then went and sat on the sluice before flying off. The five Eurasian Curlew were still visible
but had moved closer to Harrier Hide and there was a single Northern Shoveler
on the near flash, which was the first of the day. Three other birders then joined us in the
hide and shortly afterwards Gerry went for his lunch. One of the three birders then indicated that
there was a bird of prey on a post, which he thought might be a Peregrine
Falcon. I looked and couldn’t see
anything and realized it was on a post I couldn’t see due to the
vegetation. I moved slightly to get a
better view and identified it as a Eurasian Sparrowhawk and then went back to
my original spot. Just as I sat down
another bird of prey flashed in front of the hide, causing mayhem, and as it
twisted near Mallard Hide we could see that it was a Peregrine Falcon and it then
made several attempts at taking a Eurasian Wigeon but failed and flew off and
settled in a tree. It was visible in the
tree but was partially obscured but then a Carrion Crow started to mob it and
it took to flight and headed off to the north, climbing higher and circling as
it continued to drift north.
Eurasian Oystercatcher
Great Cormorant
As there was now very little on the Wet Meadow I made my way back to the
centre and went up to the viewing area to view Lagoon One. There wasn’t a great deal on the lagoon with
six Common Pochard being the best.
Grey Heron
Gerry had joined me in the centre and we decided to go to the northern
lagoons. We stopped around the feeding
station near Badger Hide but other than a few tits and Common Reed Buntings we
didn’t see a great deal else. As we
scanned the next meadow I added Long-tailed Tit and Eurasian Bullfinch for the
day.
A visit into Grebe Hide on Lagoon Two produced a few Northern Shoveler
but nothing else and we continued onto Sandpiper Hide.
Six Common Shelduck on Lagoon Four were my first of the day and we also
found four Northern Pintail and two drake and three red-headed Smew. There was also a Little Egret, and five
Eurasian Curlew flew in before we moved onto Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three.
When we entered the hide, Steve was already there but other than another
five Common Shelduck and seven Common Pochard there wasn’t a great deal. Steve then picked up four Sand Martin high up
beyond the lagoon towards Hambleton and I managed to find them briefly then
lost them but Steve who had them in his scope eventually found six.
Gerry then called it a day and I went to Dunlin Hide with Steve for
another look on Lagoon Four, seeing my first county Linnets, which Steve had
heard calling and then found in a tree near the hide. The five Eurasian Curlew were still on one of
the islands but flew off shortly after we entered the hide. As we scanned around we found three drake and
nine red-headed Smew, with one of the red-heads being a first-winter male. Steve then found a couple of Dunlin and I
noticed a pair of Goosander on the nearest islands and another female then flew
in. One of the Eurasian Curlew returned
before I called it a day and headed off back to the car park.
Two drake & three red-headed Smew
Female Goosander
It had been a good day with seventy-nine species recorded that included
three year-ticks and two additional Leicestershire & Rutland year-ticks,
taking my totals onto 158 and 117 respectively.
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