David and I headed for Eyebrook Reservoir this morning but hadn’t seen a
great deal as we entered the northern approach road to the reservoir. David drove around to the Rutland side,
seeing a Green Woodpecker and a Common Kestrel, and after parking we looked
back into the bay at the inlet, where there was a good number of wildfowl and
gulls. The wildfowl were mainly Mallard
and Eurasian Teal and the gulls Black-headed.
There was suddenly some disturbance and a juvenile Peregrine Falcon flew
over but didn’t appear to be interested in hunting and the birds soon dropped
back down. As we scanned the mud and
edges we found a Common Greenshank, a Little Egret, five Common Ringed Plover,
six Ruff and a Common Snipe. As I went
through the birds on the water I found a rather smart drake Mandarin Duck,
which appeared to be associating with some Greylag Geese. It swam behind them on the water and then up
the stream and when the geese went onto the mud the Mandarin followed them.
Drake Mandarin Duck
Drake Mandarin Duck
I called Malcolm to see if he was out and found he was at the bridge with
Roger and they both drove around to see the Mandarin. I then found six Little Grebes on the water
and two Red Kites were observed over the Leicestershire fields.
From Eyebrook Reservoir we drove to Barnsdale at Rutland Water where we
were hoping to find the Great Northern Diver and the Red-necked Grebe. After parking we walked down the road to view
the arm, seeing a Common Chiffchaff and Long-tailed Tit before we reached the
viewing area.
There weren’t a lot of birds to the east, being mainly Great Crested
Grebes and I did find Little Egrets on the far shore. Malcolm then thought he might have the
Red-necked Grebe and gave us all directions.
When I found the possible bird, it was with a Great Crested Grebe and in
very poor light as we were looking towards the sun. It and the Great Crested Grebe were swimming
quite quickly towards the end of Armley Wood and the possible was clearly
smaller than the Great Crested Grebe, but it was difficult to pick out any
colouration. The white on the Great
Crested Grebe stood out but the other bird looked mainly dark, but the shape
was characteristic of a Red-necked Grebe and we all eventually were satisfied
it was the Red-necked. As David and I
got into the car to go to Egleton, Roger alerted us to a Northern Raven
calling, and we eventually saw two between the road and Burley along with circa
thirty Common House Martins.
David was to visit a pub in Edith Weston to arrange for his walking
group’s lunch in December and was keen to look for a Red-crested Pochard before
he left and so we made our way to the Egleton car park, seeing a Eurasian Jay
as we drove along the main Stamford road.
After we got to the car park we stopped briefly at the feeding station,
where we saw, Blue and Great Tits, House Sparrow, Common Chaffinch, European
Greenfinch and European Goldfinch but with nothing else we headed for the
northern lagoons.
When we reached Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three we learnt that we had just
missed both the Eurasian Bittern and a Western Marsh Harrier. The Western Marsh Harrier had also scattered
the waders that were feeding n the lagoon.
We eventually saw three Green Sandpipers, two Common Snipe and two Ruff
before David went to Lapwing Hide to look for the Red-crested Pochard. Malcolm, Roger and I remained in the hide
hoping the bittern might show again as it had apparently dropped into the reed
island. Other than a few Common Pochard
and a Common Buzzard over the wood we had seen very little else when David
called to say he was off to the pub, having seen a Great Egret from Buzzard
Hide. We did see a Great Egret very
briefly as it dropped behind the island and out of view, which David said was a
second bird. A Little Egret appeared to
the left of the hide and four Egyptian Geese flew over before we decided to go
to Crake Hide.
Grey Heron from Shoveler Hide
Egyptian Geese over Lagoon Three
As we walked along the track I suggested we should go into Buzzard Hide
to see if we could see both of the Great Egrets. When we got in only one Great Egret was
visible and I counted fifty-three Common Pochard. The birds suddenly took to flight and Roger
picked up a Eurasian Sparrowhawk coming towards us, which then went over the
hide. As I looked at the birds in flight
there were two Black-tailed Godwits and three Ruff, which all landed back on
the islands. A Red Kite then flew over
the lagoon for a few minutes before flying away.
Northern Lapwing from Buzzard Hide
Having seen most of note from the hide we moved onto Crake Hide and
whilst in the hide a Grey Wagtail was heard as it flew over, but we couldn’t
locate it and just afterwards Roger noticed a Water Rail in the reeds next to
the hide.
Water Rail
David had called to say he was back from his visit to the pub and was in
the centre and so we started to make our way back, with the intention of
calling in Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four.
I then had a BirfGuides notification that there was a Pectoral Sandpiper
at Deeping Lakes, which is under an hour away from Rutland Water. I called David to make him aware and whilst I
was on the phone Roger thought he might have had a Eurasian Hobby that had
disappeared and was possibly visible from Sandpiper Hide. Malcolm went up the ramp to the hide, whilst
Roger and I remained at the bottom as I had heard a Eurasian Treecreeper. Malcolm then came back saying there was no
sign of the hobby and just afterwards we located the Eurasian Treecreeper.
When we got back to the centre I went up to the viewing area to make
David aware we were back, and we went to the car for lunch and which we all
went in David’s car to Deeping Lakes.
We arrived at Deeping Lakes around 13:30 and Malcolm had what he thought
was the Pectoral Sandpiper when the rest of us joined him. However, it went behind the island before we
all had a good look and we weren’t certain if it was it or just a Ruff. I saw Mike Snow further along and went and
joined him and he was able to confirm that we had seen the Pectoral
Sandpiper. I then realised that Brian
and Roger were also there and that they had all come over from Rutland Water as
well. David and Roger then joined us and
a few minutes later the sandpiper was on view again in a gap along the
island. It then flew to the back of the
lagoon and landed on an island where it had been seen earlier.
A Western Yellow Wagtail was then heard calling on a couple of occasions,
but we were unable to locate it. The
Pectoral Sandpiper then came back to the original island and we had some nice
views, if a little distant, of a superb juvenile before we set off back to
Rutland Water.
We had a Red Kite just after leaving the reserve and a Little Egret
alongside the River Welland as we approached Deeping St James.
When we arrived back at Rutland Water we headed for the unnamed road
leading to the North Arm and after a chat with Chris and Colin we went down to
the spit. There were five Eurasian
Curlew on the north shore, which were disturbed by a Red Fox and flew to the
south shore. Malcolm then found the
Red-necked Grebe again but it was still very distant, although the light was
now better. I then counted twenty-one
Little Grebes and there were twenty-four Egyptian Geese. Four Northern Pintail were observed towards
the north shore and another four were found in the south bay along with a
Little Egret.
We went back to the Egleton Reserve and were considering going to Lagoon
Four but on checking the book it seemed a better option to remain in the centre
as the Western Marsh Harrier and a Common Kingfisher had been seen. Erik, who we had seen in the North Arm, was
already in the viewing area and informed us he had seen a European
Stonechat. It had been seen between
Snipe Hide and Harrier Hide but appeared to have disappeared when Erik said he
had found it. When I got on the bird he
had realised that it was a Whinchat and whilst looking at the Whinchat the
European Stonechat appeared close to it and we then had a second Whinchat. There was also a Great Egret and five Little
Egrets on the lagoon.
Great Egret
Great Egret
As we continued scanning the lagoon we found three Northern Pintail, a
Snipe, a Ruff, a Common Sandpiper and two Green Sandpipers. The Western Marsh Harrier also paid a visit
and it was an adult female and not one of the two juveniles I had been seeing
recently.
David, Malcolm and I paid a brief visit to Eyebrook Reservoir where we
found twelve Northern Pintail and a Common Snipe, which we hadn’t seen this
morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment