I set off quite early this
morning hoping that I could get some of the birds present yesterday before a
band of rain forecast arrived. I saw
very little on route with six Red-legged Partridges being the highlight. When I arrived at Eyebrook Reservoir it was
still dry although overcast and one of the Little Owls obliged this morning as
I stopped briefly to view the old oak. I
continued on to view the inlet hearing my first Willow Warblers of the year
near the bridge. I parked facing the
inlet but it appeared pretty quiet and all I could find was a Little Egret, a
Dunlin on the far side and a single White Wagtail. I did pick up a tern way down the reservoir
and decided to drive towards Stoke Dry to see if I could a better look. As I started to drive towards the car park a
Barn Owl appeared just over the hedge on the left and I saw it several times as
I followed it along the road. On
reaching the car park I couldn’t find the tern and the small party of Sand
Martins I had seen had also disappeared.
I decided to drive to the island to see if I could find the tern from
the southern coral but there was no sign and it had obviously departed. I went back along the Leicestershire bank and
stopped at the second coral. I took my
umbrella with me as I felt the rain wasn’t too far away and I would then be
able to at least use the scope. As I
scanned I picked up another Barn Owl way down to the south but it was heading
back towards me. I rushed back to the
car to get the camera and set it at a high ISO hoping it would come all the
way. However when I got back to the
coral there was no sign until it suddenly appeared just a few meters away and
passed right in front of the corral. I
did fire a few shots off but unfortunately they were all slightly blurred as
the camera was struggling to lock on and focus.
There were now a few spots of rain and several Swallows suddenly
appeared with perhaps as many as fifty eventually and a Sedge Warbler sang
briefly but I couldn’t locate it. I then
noticed a Osprey to the south, which was harassed by two Red Kites and what I
initially thought was a distant Buzzard turned out to be a Raven, which was my
first hear since August last year. With
the rain now becoming persistent and a little heavier I decided to head to
Rutland Water.
When I arrived in the car park
at Egleton the rain became very heavy and so I sat in the car for a few minutes
before it eased and then went to the centre.
There were plenty of Sand Martins and a few Swallow over the water,
particularly whilst it was raining and there were two Common Terns towards the
back of the lagoon. Malcolm joined me in
the hide and had been to Great Easton first to check up on a report of a Cuckoo
heard calling but he had only seen and heard Willow Warblers. He did however find a Yellow Wagtail on one
of the exposed sections of the long island and there was an Oystercatcher
towards harrier hide with two more visible on the wet meadow.
It wasn’t long before the rain
ceased and we set off for lagoon three hoping that the Little Gulls and Black Terns
present yesterday were still present. As
we walked towards the large meadow we could hear a couple of Willow Warblers
and one was then seen and just afterwards we found a Blackcap alongside the
path. When we arrived at Shoveler the
hide was empty and the wind had freshened and it felt pretty cold. There were plenty of Black-headed Gulls
feeding over the water on lagoon three and we found a single Common Tern
amongst them but there was no sign of yesterday’s Little Gulls or Black Terns. There was very little else, although I did
hear a Cetti’s Warbler on a couple of occasions and so we moved to Bittern
hide. There was a Little Egret and a
Snipe from the hide and a Buzzard was observed soaring above the reedbed. Being close to plover hide we called in but
didn’t stay too long and the cold wind was blowing straight in. We went back to sandpiper hide where it felt
a little better and we found a couple of Oystercatchers, a single Ringed
Plover, a Curlew and three Redshanks.
Erik then joined us in the hide and immediately found another two Ringed
Plovers and a Dunlin. Another plover he
picked up turned out to be a Little Ringed Plover and he then found a very
distant Snipe. There were some gulls on
the same island as the Curlew and they suddenly all took off as an Osprey
passed over the lagoon.
After some lunch we went to
the north arm to try and confirm a possible House Martin amongst the more
numerous Sand Martins. When we arrived
they appeared to be all Sand Martins with an odd Swallow but then Erik said he
had one and I also got on it before it disappeared behind a tree. It was some time before we saw it again and
this time Malcolm was able to get on it as well. Erik then said he had a Yellow Wagtail on the
fence on the north shore. I quickly
located the bird and whilst observing it Erik and Malcolm said its dropped into
the grass but it was still sitting there through my scope and we then realised
we had watching different birds and there were in fact two. A forth Common Tern of the day was also
observed but there was very little else and Erik and I returned to the centre
and Malcolm went to try and see the Great Northern Diver and Red-necked Grebe.
There were still a few Sand
Martins around over lagoon one and Brown’s Island but other than a couple of
Curlew in flight we couldn’t find anything else and Erik called it a day and
decided to call at Eyebrook Reservoir again.
Malcolm was there when I
arrived not having seen either the diver or the grebe at Rutland Water but he
and another birder had seen a Dunlin and a Ringed Plover and the another birder
had seen a Mediterranean Gull. I scanned
the shore and found the Dunlin along with plover, which I identified as a
Little Ringed Plover and then found two more.
I drove around to the coral as there was a report of Yellow and White
Wagtails. There was another birder in
the coral when I arrived but he had not seen either of the wagtails. I had seen an Osprey from the Rutland bank
but it was now much closer and was obviously fishing, although it eventually
departed without catching anything. I
did find three White Wagtails on the exposed mud but when Colin and Chris
arrived they had walked out of sight but after a short wait they returned and
Chris found a forth on the Rutland bank and whilst scanning I found a Yellow
Wagtail. Colin then picked up an Osprey
heading towards us from the direction of the Stoke Dry car park. As it got closer we could see that it was
fitted with a satellite tracker and passed quite close before heading off to
the north. It showed no interest in
actually fishing and it was probably a bird on passage rather than being one of
the Ospreys from Rutland Water. There
was also a good number of Swallows still present just before I left for home.
Red Kite
First Osprey
First Osprey
Second Osprey
Second Osprey
Second Osprey
Second Osprey
Second Osprey
Second Osprey
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