I considered not going out today following yesterday’s yellow warning for
strong winds but it didn’t seem to bad and the warning was eventually cancelled
and so I made my way to Eyebrook Reservoir a little later than usual. I didn’t see a great deal on route with a
single Red Kite at the Horninghold crossroads being the best.
I arrived at the northern approach to the reservoir at around 08:20 and
went to the northern corral after turning around. I had seen a single Red-legged Partridge as I
approached the reservoir and there were twenty-three on the track from the gate
where I turned.
When I entered the corral, I could see a Little Egret in the stream and
eventually saw three. As I scanned the
far shore I found two Common Greenshanks and then noticed some small waders on
the mud, which turned out to be five Common Ringed Plover and two Dunlin. There were two Ruff on the shore to the south
of the corral and I saw a couple of Northern Pintail on the reservoir. I drove around to the Rutland side, where it
was quite difficult to view, due to the wind, but I did count another twelve
Northern Pintail making fourteen in total.
Whilst I was in the corral there was a small movement of Barn Swallow
and I counted twenty-two and also picked out a single Sand Martin.
I had called Steve to see if he was out and had any luck with yesterday’s
reported American Wigeon, which was in the fishponds at Rutland Water. He and Terry hadn't found the wigeon but had
seen six Green Sandpiper in the fishponds and thirty-two Common Redshank in the
North Arm and I therefore felt that it would be a good place to start at
Rutland Water.
I saw two more Red Kites, one just before Uppingham and another over the
town and arrived at Rutland Water at 09:15 and at the unnamed road a few
minutes later. I parked near the gate
into the field and made my way down to the water trough to view the fishponds. There were plenty of birds and I saw three
Little Egrets but was only able to locate three Green Sandpipers and there was
a Yellow-legged Gull on the bund and a single Common Pochard on the water.
I returned to the road and walked down the road and through the gate to
reach the spit. I counted the Little Grebes and found twenty-two and with just
twelve in the fishponds the numbers appear to be dropping. When I reached the spit there were twenty Egyptian
Geese feeding on the south shore, which I assumed were the twenty that had
flown over the fishponds earlier and there was another nine on the spit. Five of the six Great Egret Steve and Terry
had seen were still present in the southern corner and there were five Little
Egrets scattered along the southern shore.
I then found several of the Common Redshank on the shore and initially
when I counted them I could only find twenty-eight. However, I finally managed to count
thirty-two only to find another bird making thirty-three and I did a recount
and was able to confirm that there were thirty-three, which is an exceptional
autumn count.
As I scanned the north shore I found a party of smaller waders and could
see there was a mixture of Common Ringed Plover and Dunlin, but they weren’t
easy to count due to a combination of the wind and their constant
movement. They flew around on several
occasions and then landed a little closer when I was able to see there were ten
Common Ringed Plover and eighteen Dunlin.
I found a single Northern Pintail amongst the wildfowl and a Common
Buzzard was observed over the reservoir to the north. There were 100+ hirundine over the water but
they all appeared to be Common House Martin.
From the North Arm I went to the Egleton Reserve and after parking walked
to the centre. I quick look at the
feeding station produced just a couple of Great Tits and so I went into the
centre to view Lagoon One. Mike was
already there, and we went up to the viewing area to view the lagoon. There was a Common Kestrel perched towards
the Wet Meadow and a couple of Common Greenshank at the back of the
lagoon. Two Ruff were observed to the
right of the centre and a single Eurasian Hobby was observed over Brown’s
Island. A female Western Marsh Harrier
made a brief visit causing some disturbance and there were four Little Egrets
on the lagoon. A Common Snipe flew over
and shortly afterwards Mike and I went for our lunch.
Whilst having lunch in the car park a Eurasian Hobby flew over and a
WhatsApp message from Steve indicated that the American Wigeon was in Manton
Bay. When Mike and I had finished our
lunch we decided we would go to Lyndon to hopefully see the wigeon.
When we arrived in the car park Steve’s car was still there and so I gave
him a call and found he was in Teal Hide and that he had found the American
Wigeon from there, but it was in Manton Bay, which is some distance away. Terry had therefore gone to Wader Scrape Hide
as he wasn’t certain he was picking up the right bird.
Mike and I set off towards Wader Scrape Hide but didn’t see very much on
route but met Terry as we were approaching the hide. He had seen the wigeon, but it had taken him
some time to find it as the view is partially obscured by vegetation. He gave some indication as to where the bird
was and Mike and I then went into the hide.
We could see plenty of birds on the water, many of which were wigeon, and
having set the scope up I started to scan through the flock. We couldn't see all the birds as a couple of
willows obscured some of the water where some of the birds were. However, Terry said the American Wigeon was
amongst the Canada Geese and I think it was the third pass that I found the
eclipse male American Wigeon. I alerted
Mike who was then also able to find it.
I opened the windows at the left-hand side of the hide and scanned the
area towards the bridge. Work was being
carried out on Shallow Water Hide again and consequently there were fewer birds
but there were five Eurasian Curlew roosting on the far side and I also found a
Green Sandpiper. There were five Little
Egrets in the bay and I found a Yellow-legged Gull on the bund and thirteen
Northern Pintail on the water. Mike then
picked up a Red Kite soaring towards the west and just afterwards I was able to
locate the American Wigeon for another birder in the hide.
We went into Teal Hide when we got back to the centre as Steve had
located another forty Common Redshank in South Arm Three. We scanned the shore from Goldeneye Hide into
South Arm Three but there was no sign and on speaking to Steve they had apparently
walked towards Fieldfare Hide and out of sight.
I then picked up a couple of Common Terns that were flying towards us from
the dam but before they reached us they turned and headed back towards the dam.
After returning to the Egleton car park Mike departed and I checked the
feeding station, where there were a few common birds but nothing unusual.
European Greenfinch
European Goldfinch
As I went to the centre Steve and Terry were
walking down and we went into the centre together. We hadn’t been in there very long when Terry
picked up a passerine between Harrier and Mallard Hides, which turned out to be
a Whinchat. As we were looking at this I
picked up a male European Stonechat, which was hovering over the vegetation
before landing on one of the fence posts and then dropping into the grass. Steve then picked it up again slightly to the
left and we all had reasonable views.
After seeing a Red Kite over Lax Hill, a Hobby flashed in front of the
centre and headed towards Mallard Hide before disappearing. I caught sight of a pale tip to the tail
indicating that it was a juvenile and shortly afterwards there was an adult,
which we then saw several times before I left Steve and Terry and headed to the
northern lagoons.
I went into Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three first and found Martin already
there. He briefed me on what he had seen
but a Peregrine Falcon had caused some disturbance just before I arrived. There were three Green Sandpiper and a Ruff
on the island in front of the hide and there were two Hobby over the wood. I moved around to Buzzard Hide with Martin,
to get a different view of the lagoon.
There were sixty Common Pochard on the lagoon and I picked up two
Black-tailed Godwits on the island and Martin noticed the head of a Great Egret
behind another island. Three Ruff then
flew in and dropped out of sight near to Shoveler Hide. The Great Egret then took to flight only to
return a few minutes later and landed back on the island but this time in full
view.
Great Egret
Great Egret
Great Egret
I then noticed what I thought would be the two Hobbies over the wood but
when I looked it was a Hobby chasing a Eurasian Sparrowhawk, which was then
joined by the second Hobby before the Eurasian Sparrowhawk dropped out of
sight. Two of the Green Sandpipers
dropped in front of the hide before we left and I set off to Crake and Lapwing
Hides.
Male and female Common Pochard
Male Common Pochard
Female Common Pochard
Green Sandpiper
When I got into Crake Hide there were two Little Egrets and presumably
the two Green Sandpiper I had just seen from Buzzard Hide.
Green Sandpiper
There were plenty of wildfowl in front of Lapwing Hide and I did manage
to find a single drake eclipse Red-crested Pochard. There were five Little Egrets in front of
Brown’s Island and I could see another six on the Lyndon shore. I looked towards Fieldfare Hide, which is not
visible from Lapwing Hide and found four of the forty Common Redshanks.
A visit into Dunlin Hide on Lagoon Four produced six Northern Pintail and
five Yellow-legged Gulls and there were two Red Kites and a Common Buzzard over
Burley Wood.
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