I called briefly at Eyebrook
Reservoir this morning where it was quite chilly in the northeast wind. The Little Owl obliged in the old oak but a
Little Egret in the stream was the only other bird of note.
Two Red Kites were observed
just after Seaton as I headed for Normanton at Rutland Water. I parked outside
the reservoir car park and walked the short distance to view the area between
the fishing lodge and the church and found a pair of Mandarin Duck close in
shore. A Chiffchaff was also heard
singing briefly but I couldn’t locate it.
At the dam the northeast wind was making it quite chilly and there was
very little present. I looked for the
Black Redstart in the usual places with no sign but I did see a lone Buzzard
over the dam. As I walked back to the
gate to the dam for one last scan for the Black Redstart I met Steve and whilst
we were talking he picked up the Black Redstart on the dam and a Chiffchaff in
a small tree close to the gates. Six
Dunlin flew low over the water before gaining height and heading off east.
Female Mandarin Duck at Normanton
Male Mandarin Duck at Normanton
I gave Steve a lift back to
the Sykes Lane car park and then continued to the north arm where I found two
of the Long-tailed Ducks, the Slavonian Grebe and the four Black-necked
Grebes. There was a couple of Shelduck
and two Oystercatchers on the north shore but nothing else of note and I went
to the Egleton Reserve.
From the centre there were ten
Curlew on the long island and three Oystercatchers were observed on other
islands. A female Goosander flew to the
back of the lagoon, which was a nice record as they appear to have left quite
early this year.
I had met Bob in the north arm
and I walked to Dunlin hide on lagoon four with him and we found another pair
of Oystercatcher, three Avocets, five Ringed Plovers, five Dunlin and three
Redshanks. We then walked to plover hide
as Bob had seen a red-headed Smew disappear behind island three.
We soon found the red-headed
Smew and also another two Ringed Plovers and a Green Sandpiper and two Buzzards
were observed perched on the telegraph poles overlooking the filter beds.
Ken joined us in the hide and
shortly afterwards he and I returned to the centre whilst Bob went to shoveler
hide on lagoon three. We had seen Steve
as we walked back who had found a Black-tailed Godwit asleep on the long island
and so we popped into the centre before I had my lunch. I found the bird now feeding on the edge of
the long island but there was nothing else new and so I went for my lunch.
Male Reed Bunting at the Egleton feeding station
Female Chaffinch at the Egleton feeding station
After lunch Ken and I walked
to snipe hide on the wet meadow, primarily to see how the work was progressing
as a new scrape was being created. The
digger was still in operation but the work looked almost complete and hopefully
the area will attract some good birds.
We decided to walk back to shoveler hide on lagoon three but found very
little, a single Snipe being the best with two of the Shelduck flying in from
lagoon four.
Female Shelduck on lagoon three
Male Shelduck on lagoon three
Ken decide to call it a day
but I took another look on lagoon four before making a final call at the centre
but found nothing new.
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