Dave, Roger and I set off for
Eyebrook Reservoir in the hope of seeing the recent Bittern. It was rather foggy at times on the way over
but we did see two Great Spotted Woodpeckers and a Green Woodpecker close to Dave’s
and it was a bright sunny day when we arrived at Eyebrook Reservoir and one of
the Little Owls was obligingly perched in the old oak
We spent close to two hours at
Eyebrook Reservoir but the Bittern failed to appear but we did have several
views of a male Kingfisher on the stream and a Raven flew over and a Tawny Owl
was heard calling. Two Willow Tits were
observed close to the bridge. There were
thirty-one Dunlin amongst the Lapwings on the mud and six Snipe were observed
on the edge of the island of sedge.
Kingfisher
Kingfisher
Great Tit
We finally decided to call it
a day and headed off to the dam at Rutland Water. On arrival it didn’t take too long to locate
the Great Northern Diver, in what were almost perfect viewing conditions but
despite an extensive search we were unable to find the Black-throated Diver and
presumed it had probably departed. Roger
picked up the Black Redstart on the rocks close to the pumping station and two
Red Kites, three Buzzards and a Kestrel were observed in the direction of
Empingham.
The three Long-tailed Duck
were found close together in the north arm and there were now five Black-necked
Grebes towards Dickinson’s Bay. There
were only six Barnacle Geese present and the only other birds of note were two
Red Kites and three Buzzards over Burley Wood, a Sparrowhawk flew over the
north arm and a Redshank on the north shore.
After some lunch lagoon one
produced eleven Shelduck, three Little Egrets and circa thirty Golden Plover
but nothing else of note and we set off towards lagoon three. Visits to both redshank and grebe hides on
route produced very little but we did find a couple of Siskin feeding close to
redshank hide.
Female Siskin
The water was rising again on
lagoon three and four Shelduck and four Snipe were the highlights from shoveler
hide.
From plover hide on lagoon
four we found a red-headed Smew, six Ringed Plovers, a Dunlin, a Green
Sandpiper and a Redshank and two Buzzard were observed perched on telegraph
poles overlooking the water treatment area.
A visit to bittern hide on lagoon three produced nice views of a Water
Rail but very little else. From
sandpiper hide on lagoon four we had seven Ringed Plovers in flight and there
were eight Shelduck as well.
Jackdaw over lagoon four
First-winter Common Gull over lagoon four
As we walked back towards the
centre we noticed that a Barn Owl was sitting outside the nest box but it soon
few out of sight behind the trees on lagoon two. From the centre, surprisingly, we found our
first two Oystercatcher flying over Lax Hill and nine Curlew were also noted on
the hill. We also had further views of
the Barn Owl before we retreated back to the nest box as it was pursued by a
Carrion Crow.
We had agreed that we would
call at Eyebrook Reservoir on the way home in the hope that the Bittern was
present. Apparently it had been seen
once during the day but had also been reported further down the valley. The addition from this morning was a single
Shelduck.
On the way home we had a
Buzzard close to Blaston and surprisingly Roger and I had a Woodcock fly over
the road as we were approaching Slawston.
The habitat is mainly grass fields and not were a Woodcock would be
expected and particularly so early in the evening. We stopped the car but not surprisingly we
couldn’t find much to Dave’s disappointment as he was looking back towards a
Little Owl site when the Woodcock flew across the road and missed it.
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