There had been significant rainfall overnight and it was still raining steadily
when I left home for Eyebrook Reservoir.
When I reached the reservoir, the rain was a little more intermittent
but was still heavy at times.
I stopped briefly at the bridge but there was nothing on the feeders and
a stop overlooking the inlet produced very little, with a noticeable reduction
in the number of wildfowl. At the Stoke
Dry feeding station there was some activity with Eurasian Blue Tit, Great Tit,
Long-tailed Tit, Common Blackbird, Dunnock, Common Chaffinch and European
Goldfinch all making visits but with no sign of immediate improvement in the
weather I headed for the Lyndon Reserve at Rutland Water.
The rain had eased slightly when I arrived at Lyndon and as I walked
towards the centre I flushed a Grey Wagtail off the path. When I reached the hide, Tim Caldicott was in
the hide and had seen a Great Northern Diver.
I soon found the diver, but the conditions were not good with the
visibility being poor. I could just make
out the two Western Osprey in Manton Bay and I heard a Eurasian Curlew but was
unable to find it. Two Eurasian
Oystercatcher flew over and a Common Chiffchaff was observed just outside the hide,
but I had seen little else when Steve and Terry arrived.
The Red-necked and Slavonian Grebes had been seen yesterday near Swan
Hide and with no sign from Teal Hide I decided to walk beyond Gibbets Gorse to
see if I could find them. I didn’t see
much as I walked through the woodland to Swan Hide or between there and my
final view point, which gave me a good view of the reservoir. From the view point I could see a few Common
Goldeneye and there was a concentration of Tufted Duck further along but all I
could find grebe wise were a few Great Crested Grebe and two Little
Grebes. With no sign of the scarcer
grebes I made my way back along the cycle track to the centre seeing a pair of
Eurasian Bullfinch along the final stretch.
When I got into the centre Paul informed me that there had been a female
Brambling on the feeders but that it had now disappeared. I was stood near the window hoping that it
would return when Steve called to see if I had had any luck with the
grebes. I made him aware of the
Brambling and shortly he and Terry appeared hoping to find it. There were several Eurasian Tree Sparrows
visiting the feeders and Steve noticed eight in the hedge to the left and when
making us aware he found the Brambling, which initially disappeared before
appearing at the front of the bush and giving good views. At the feeders we also had two Coal Tit, a
Marsh Tit, good numbers of both Eurasian Blue Tit and Great Tit and European
Robin, Dunnock, Common Chaffinch, European Greenfinch, European Goldfinch and
Common Reed Bunting.
Steve and Terry had managed to see the Greater Scaup from Teal Hide but
when I went to look the weather had closed in again and they had disappeared
into the mist.
From Lyndon I went to the unnamed road to view the North Arm where Steve
and Terry had found the Black-necked Grebe earlier, but despite a thorough
search I couldn’t find it. There was a
Common Redshank on the south shore and a second on the north shore where there
was also a pair of Eurasian Oystercatcher.
As I continued scanning the water I found a female-type Greater Scaup
but with little else I started to walk back to the car. Two other birders were observing the
fishponds and informed me that there were four Black-tailed Godwit amongst a party
of Eurasian Wigeon feeding on the far shore.
I soon found the four birds and called Steve to make him aware of their
presence. The two Barnacle Geese were
also in the same area and a third was present on the water near the end of the
spit and there were two Little Egrets near the godwits. Steve and Terry then joined me, but they
hadn’t seen a great deal during their circuit of the reservoir with a party of
Fieldfare at Whitwell being the best.
After checking out Tim’s feeders seeing just a Coal Tit of note I went to
the Egleton car park where I decided to take an early lunch. I had just about finished when Terry called
to say there was a Pink-footed Goose on the long island on Lagoon One. I quickly finished my last sandwich and went
to the centre to find the goose still on the island. There were a three Common Shelduck and a
single drake Pintail, along with several Northern Shoveler on the lagoon and we
could see at least five Common Shelduck on the Wet Meadow but with little else
Steve and Terry went for their lunch, whilst I went to the northern lagoons.
As I approached the area beyond Badger hide I saw a couple of Redwing and
there was a Common Chiffchaff singing, which I then saw, and two Lesser Redpoll
flew from some willow herb into a tree.
I called at Grebe Hide on route, where there were two Common Shelduck
and a pair of Eurasian Oystercatcher, before going onto Dunlin Hide on Lagoon
Four.
There was a pair of Eurasian Oystercatcher and a Little Egret on the near
island and I found a drake and a red-headed Smew towards the western bank. There was also a small number of Sand Martin
over the lagoon and I eventually managed to get at least fourteen. I then picked up eight European Golden Plover
in flight and spent several minutes watching them before they eventually
alighted towards the back of the lagoon.
I made Steve aware of the European Golden Plover and shortly afterwards
Terry joined me having left Steve in Sandpiper Hide, which was rather
crowded. Terry then found a couple of
Dunlin, which flew and then disappeared and we found another three red-headed
Smew and a pair of Pintail.
Having felt that we had exhausted Lagoon Four we headed for Shoveler Hide
on Lagoon three and Steve joined us at the bottom of the ramp to Sandpiper
Hide. After entering the hide I started
to scan the area to the left of the hide when Steve announced he had the
Mediterranean Gull that had been seen on Sunday, a near adult bird. It provided some excellent views over the
next thirty minutes both in flight and at rest on the islands and the water,
but it eventually flew off towards Lagoon Four.
There were two more Common Shelduck and at least two Common Pochard on
the lagoon and two Common Buzzard were observed over the woodland. Terry had gone to Lapwing Hide and missed the
first Red Kite of the day, which Steve picked up over Burley Wood. However, when he came back he found a Western
Osprey whilst looking for a Red Kite, which he also did see eventually.
Terry and I then walked back to the centre and heard a Great Spotted
Woodpecker but was unable to locate it.
Terry was calling it a day and I was going on to look for two Avocets
that had been on Lagoon Seven, but I nipped into the centre for a comfort
break. As I was leaving the volunteer
informed me that Terry had found a female Siskin on the feeders. Terry was still there when I went to the
feeding station but indicated that it had flown off. As we stood talking he realised that it was
in fact still there but on the far side of a feeder and almost out of
sight. As I moved to get a better view
it flew into a tree, but I looked at the wrong tree and missed it. I then saw what I thought might be it fly
into the hedge alongside the path and went to check it out, but all I could
find was a Eurasian Blue Tit. When I
went back to the feeding station Terry said there had been a male but that it had
also disappeared but he then it found in a bush and it then came down to the
feeders making the effort worthwhile.
Terry then called it a day and I headed for Lagoon Seven not seeing very
much on route with the best being a pair of Eurasian Oystercatcher on Lagoon
Eight and a Red Kite to the southwest as I approached Lagoon Seven. There was just a couple of Eurasian
Oystercatcher on the lagoon and so I went into Shelduck Hide to check Lagoon
Five where I found another three Eurasian Oystercatcher but not the Avocets.
I called at Snipe Hide on the Wet Meadow and found the two Avocets feeding on the flash where there were also eight Common Shelduck and a pair of Northern Pintail.
When I got back to the feeding station there was a Lesser Redpoll on the
feeders and another birder noticed a Eurasian Treecreeper to the left of the
hide, which was a good end to the day.
It had been an excellent days birding with eighty-six species recorded,
with the Pink-footed Goose, Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, and Brambling all
being county year-ticks, taking my total onto 125.
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