As I was waiting for Roger I saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker fly into one
of the trees at the end of the road, which then started drumming. It was still drumming when Roger arrived, but
we were unable to locate before we went and picked up David. We had a Red Kite at the top of Blaston Hill
but had seen nothing else as we turned into the northern approach road for
Eyebrook Reservoir.
There was no sign of any Little Owls in the Old Oak and a brief stop at
the inlet bridge produced four Eurasian Tree Sparrows and we heard a Common
Chiffchaff. We drove further along the
reservoir to view the inlet where there was a single Common Shelduck and Roger
picked up a Western Barn Owl quartering the fields on the Leicestershire side
and a Common Buzzard was observed over the Rutland fields. Malcolm then joined us and he found the
Western Barn Owl perched some distance away on the Leicestershire side.
We eventually left and headed for the Lyndon Reserve at Rutland Water
seeing another Red Kite just beyond Manton.
We went into the centre and spent several minutes observing the feeders
seeing a good selection of commoner species, including two Eurasian Tree Sparrow
and there was a Common Chiffchaff feeding in the hedge to the left.
We went down to Teal Hide, seeing a Little Egret fly by as we approached
the hide. We could see the two Western
Ospreys in Manton Bay, with their first egg being laid yesterday. There were also two Great Northern Divers
between the hide and the Manton Bay and six Common Shelduck in the bay. Malcolm then found a single Eurasian Curlew
on Lax Hill and on scanning the area we found two more.
From Lyndon we drove to the unnamed road to view the North Arm but with
Tim away his feeders were virtually empty and other than a few tits visiting
there was nothing else. We moved to the
end of the road and walked out onto the spit and found a Little Egret and the
two Barnacle Geese on the north shore.
There was a pair of Eurasian Oystercatcher on the shore of the fishponds
and another pair on the southern shore along with three Common Redshank. There was no sign of the Black-necked Grebe
on the water and the Tufted Duck and Common Goldeneye numbers appeared to be
less than on Tuesday. There was quite a
bit of Common Buzzard activity over Burley Wood with at least six being seen
and there was also a single Eurasian Sparrowhawk displaying and a Red
Kite. There was another Common Buzzard
over Barnsdale and two over the area of woodland alongside the unnamed
road. We had hoped to see Sarah at the
Volunteer Training Centre regarding offering to help with some survey work she
had requested but see wasn’t there, but we did have another Red Kite.
Malcolm had already gone to the Egleton Reserve and we went to join him
in the centre. I viewed the feeding area
before going into the centre but there was fewer birds today and nothing of
note. There were seven Common Shelduck,
a pair of Northern Pintail and my first Northern Shoveler of the day on the
lagoon. There was very little else, although
we did find a single Eurasian Curlew feeding in the meadow. Malcolm set off for the northern lagoons,
having already had his lunch whilst we went back to the car park for our lunch.
As we walked to Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four a Great Spotted Woodpecker
flew over the big meadow and we heard a Common Chiffchaff as we were
approaching the end of the path. Malcolm
was in the hide and after telling us what he had seen we set about trying to
see at least some of it. He had seen
nine Black-tailed Godwits on island eight but when I viewed the island I could
only see eight, although we did eventually see all nine. There appeared to be a few Common Redshanks
on the lagoon, but we eventually decided that there were just two very mobile
birds. A Eurasian Curlew was resting on
one of the islands and didn’t move all the time we were in the hide. There were eight Common Shelduck and six
Eurasian Oystercatcher scattered around the lagoon and David and I both latched
onto a single Common Ringed Plover.
Malcolm had also seen a few Sand Martin and we eventually had at least
nineteen before they flew off to the south.
We eventually moved to Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three and found that the
second-summer Mediterranean Gull was still amongst the Black-headed Gulls on
the near islands. There was also two
Common Shelduck and a Common Redshank on the lagoon and a Eurasian Curlew was feeding
on the meadow to the left of the hide.
Second-summer Mediterranean Gull
Second-summer Mediterranean Gull
Second-summer Mediterranean Gull
Second-summer Mediterranean Gull
Second-summer Mediterranean Gull
Little Grebe on Lagoon Three
Little Grebe on Lagoon Three
Egyptian Geese on Lagoon Three
Common Shelduck on Lagoon Three
Northern Shoveler alighting on Lagoon Three
Tufted Duck on Lagoon Three
We spent quite some time watching in the hide, mainly viewing and
photographing the Mediterranean Gull and I picked up the nine Black-tailed
Godwits as they flew off to the east.
Black-tailed Godwits flying off to the east
Although it had been a bright sunny start to the day following an
overnight frost, it had now become quite unpleasant and was overcast with a
noticeable increase in the wind speed.
As we went back to Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four it started to rain and when
we were in the hide there was a heavy shower.
As it eased several Sand Martins appeared with at least ten being
seen. Chris Hubbard had joined us in the
hide but when it stopped raining we all left with the intention of going back
to the centre and Chris heading for Shoveler Hide. However, when we got to the bottom of the
ramp we met Chris Park who informed us that he had just seen a Little Ringed
Plover on one of the islands and so David, Malcolm and I, along with Chris Park,
went back into Sandpiper Hide. Chris
indicated which island he had seen the Little Ringed Plover and we soon found
it feeding on top of the island.
We finally made our way back to the centre, seeing a Lesser Redpoll on
route and then Malcolm called it a day.
I went to view the feeders again and David and Roger went into the
centre. There was nothing of note on the
feeders and when I joined David and Roger they informed me that the Pink-footed
Goose had been seen. We set about
scanning the Greylag Geese on the meadow and David eventually found the
Pink-footed Goose at the far right. I
had received a WhatsApp message indicating that the Slavonian Grebe was in
front of Deep Water Hide at Lyndon and with it being a year-tick for Roger we
decided to go and see if we could find it.
Just after leaving the Egleton car park I had another WhatsApp message
from Chris Park saying there were two winter Black-necked Grebes from Lapwing
Hide. When we arrived at Lyndon, it was
raining quite hard and so we went straight to Teal Hide to view the South
Arm. We scanned the area to the west of
the hide but there was no sign of the Slavonian Grebe and I eventually scanned
South Arm Three looking for the Black-necked Grebes, which I thought I might
have quite close to Lapwing Hide. I got
David onto them and as we watched them they started to move away from the hide
towards the Old Hall and on two occasions flew bringing them much closer and we
were able to confirm that they were the Black-necked Grebes.
One of the Great Northern Divers had come a lot closer and surprisingly
it called twice as it is most unusual to hear the evocative call from wintering
birds. I fired off a few shots of the
bird and later identified it as an adult.
Roger then found a Western Barn Owl perched alongside Heron Bay.
Great Northern Diver
Great Northern Diver
Great Northern Diver
I turned my attention in trying to locate the Slavonian Grebe and found a
bird I thought might be it feeding towards Heron Bay. I got Roger and David onto the bird, but the
distance, light and heavy rain was making it very difficult to be 100% certain
but I and David were pretty sure it was the Slavonian Grebe. Roger was less convinced and decided to go to
Deep Water Hide to hopefully see it better.
David volunteered to go with him whilst I remained in the hide to keep
track of the bird. It continued feeding
for quite some time but then suddenly stopped and swam into Heron Bay and I
eventually lost sight of it. I tried
calling both David and Roger without success and eventually I went to the far
side of the centre to seek shelter, hoping they wouldn’t be too long. It was only about five minutes before they
got back but unfortunately, they hadn’t seen it much better and were still
unsure of its identity.
It had been another good day’s birding with eighty-three species recorded,
one of which, Little Ringed Plover, was a year-tick, moving my year-list onto
164 and my county year-list onto 126.
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