David and I were out today and had planned to go to Lings Wood in
Northampton to hopefully connect with a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. When I picked David up it was overcast with
some light rain, which was intermittent and a little heavier at times. When we reached Lings Wood the rain was a
little more persistent and we weren't too optimistic. We sat in the car with the windows slightly
open and after a sort while we heard a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker drumming. We got out and after putting on our gear
walked the short distance to where we thought the bird was. However, it stopped briefly and then started
again close by but stopped again before we had located it. We hung around in the area where we thought
it was but there was no more drumming or movement until David saw a bird fly
into one of the trees near where we were standing. We got onto the bird and were pleased to see
it was the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, which started to drum again before moving
to another tree. It drummed briefly
again and then flew what appeared to be some distance and with the rain still
falling we returned to the car. The day
had begun well as the woodpecker was a year-tick for both of us.
Our next planned visit was to Ecton Sewage farm, where David was hoping
for a Green Sandpiper, which I had seen last month. When we arrived, the rain had eased, and we
walked through the caravan camp, over the meadow and onto the sewage treatment
outlet stream. Just after passing over
the small bridge we heard a Common Chiffchaff but were unable to locate, but it
was a second year-tick for David, and we then heard a Cetti's Warbler as we
approached the stream. When we reached
the outlet channel there were quite a few ducks at the far end that included
Gadwall, Mallard and Eurasian Teal but most flew off as we looked up the
stream. We did find a couple of Green
Sandpipers on the edge of the channel and the Cetti's Warbler called again but
not surprisingly we couldn’t find it.
With little else we went back to the track and walked north to view the
fields but didn’t find anything of note and a second visit to the outlet
produced nothing new and we started to head back to the car. There were a couple of Grey Herons and a
Little Egret on the stream and two Great Spotted Woodpeckers flew over.
It was still raining as we left for Rutland Water and was still doing so
when we reached the Lyndon Reserve almost an hour later. After signing in at the visitor’s centre we
spent a few minutes observing the feeders seeing a good selection of common
species, including a couple of Eurasian Tree Sparrows. As we started to walk
down to Teal Hide David spotted one of the Great Northern Divers just off shore
and so I returned to the car to get my camera.
When I got into the hide the diver was still reasonably close and I
managed to get a few shots.
Great Northern Diver
Great Norther Dive
There were eight Egyptian Geese at the base of Lax Hill along with two
Eurasian Oystercatchers and I also found a single Eurasian Curlew. As we scanned the South Arm looking for the
Red-necked Grebe we found eight Greater Scaup but there was no sign of the
grebe. I moved to look down towards
Manton Bay where David had seen his fourth year-tick of the day, Western
Osprey. The two Western Osprey were
still perched on the T-perch and I the found a second Great Northern Diver
almost in Manton Bay. After letting
David and Mike Snow, who had joined us, view the diver I continued scanning and
found a drake Common Scoter.
We eventually moved onto Dickinson’s Bay where there had been four
Greater White-fronted Geese amongst the Greylags but all we found were the
Greylags and two Egyptian Geese. Two
more Egyptian Geese flew over and there were three Little Grebes in the bay but
there was no sign of the Black-necked Grebe.
A stop overlooking Tim’s feeders produced a single Coal Tit but nothing
else and so we drove to the end of the unnamed road and as we pulled up I
noticed a group of swans and immediately suspected that they were Whooper
Swans. I alerted David as I confirmed
their identity and after getting out of the car made Mike aware before going
through the gate to try and photograph them.
Whooper Swans
Two of the swans had slightly duller bills and a greyish cast to their
plumage indicating that they were first-winter birds. There was a single Little Egret on the north
shore and I found a female-type Greater Scaup feeding amongst some Tufted Ducks
but there was no sign of the Black-necked Grebe. I walked further down the spit to view the
south shore where I found two Eurasian Oystercatchers and two Common Redshanks
and Mike located the two Barnacle Geese on the north shore. As we walked back to the car David found a
Snipe on the north shore of the fishponds and a Eurasian Nuthatch was heard
calling.
We went to the Egleton Reserve and after some lunch, seeing a Great
Spotted Woodpecker, before we went to visitor's centre to view Lagoon One. A brief stop at the feeding station produced
a Lesser Redpoll and a good selection of commoner species. The water level on the lagoon is now very
high and consequently few areas are suitable for waders, but we did find five
Common Shelduck, several Northern Shoveler and a Common Pochard on the water
and four more Common Shelduck could be seen on the Wet Meadow.
After a while we decided we would go to the northern lagoons and met
Ricky and Graham coming back, who hadn’t seen very much, except for a couple of
red-headed Smew. Whilst we were talking
I had a What’s-app message from Chris Hubbard indicating that he had found a
Slavonian Grebe from Deep Water Hide at Lyndon and so we decided to go. As we walked back David heard a Common
Chiffchaff singing and we eventually located in some bushes to the east of the
path
When we got back to Lyndon we went straight to Deep Water Hide and found
Chris still there as was the winter pluamged Slavonian Grebe, which was the
first in the counties this year. The
Common Scoter was also showing well, although surprisingly we didn’t see it
feeding, which the Slavonian Grebe was doing constantly. I found one of the Great Northern Divers
again and David saw six Eurasian Curlew fly in and land on the edge of the
water on Lax Hill and Chris picked up a Western Barn Owl that flew over the
water from Lax Hill to the Lyndon Reserve.
We had a good look through the Eurasian Curlew to make sure that the
overwintering Whimbrel wasn’t with them, which it wasn’t. The Slavonian Grebe suddenly started to make rapid
progress towards the visitor’s centre and we lost it. Chris had already gone back when he three of
us made our way back to the centre but when we reached the centre Chris was
going back to try and photograph the Common Scoter and hopefully find the
Slavonian Grebe. David then noticed that
both Great Northern Divers were together just offshore, and we were able to
make a number of the visitors aware but just before we departed we could only
find one.
David and I decided we would go to Eyebrook Reservoir to end the day but
on arrival there appeared to be very little.
We drove up to the fishing lodge gate before turning around and heading
back down the Leicestershire side of the reservoir. There were quite a few fishing boats on the
water and consequently no gulls. As we
approached Holyoaks Farm we saw a Western Barn Owl hunting alongside the road
before it flipped over the hedge towards the reservoir. To our surprise a second bird then appeared
slightly nearer and over the hedge on the opposite side of the road before
flipping back over the hedge from where it had come. As we drove further along the road the first
bird was near the fencing and so we went to the northern corral hoping we might
be able to photograph it. However, when
we got into the corral we found it hunting towards the inlet bridge but hoped
it might return. It disappeared in the
far corner of the field but reappeared on several occasions but seemed to be
keeping to the same area. When it
disappeared again David went to change his shoes and a few minutes later it
suddenly appeared quite close having approached by flying along the hedgerow
and out of sight. I shouted David and
started to fire off a few shots but the first few were out of focus, although
the camera did eventually lock-on and I got a few decent shots, although the
light was poor and consequently the ISO high, but it was an excellent close to
the day. We checked the old oak as we
departed but there was no sign of a Little Owl and we saw nothing else of note
on route home.
Barn Owl
Barn Owl
Barn Owl
No comments:
Post a Comment