There was a Muntjac on the
road just after I had come through Cranoe and a Red Kite at the junction of the
Harborough Road as I left Blaston.
At Eyebrook Reservoir the
Little Owls still remained elusive but a stop at the inlet bridge produced a
Kingfisher and my first here since November 2014. The Shelduck and the seven young were still
feeding in the stream but the only wader, other than a few Lapwings I could
find was a single Oystercatcher. There
were two Lesser Whitethroats still in the same blackthorn bush as on the 28th
and there was a single Yellow-legged Gull on the mud and a Common Tern over the
reservoir. There was a couple of Swift,
ten Sand Martin and a House Martin feeding over the water but very little else.
At Rutland Water I went to the
north arm and walked down towards the spit finding three adult and an immature
Dunlin, a Common Sandpiper and a Redshank.
There was a second Redshank on the north shore and a couple of Common
Sandpipers on the bund along with a Little Egret and another four Little Egrets
in the fishponds.
A brief stop at the Egleton
feeding station produced a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Chiffchaff and a
Treecreeper also visible from the screen and I saw another Chiffchaff as I
walked to the northern lagoons. I
initially visited Shoveler hide on lagoon three where there was a sizeable
flock of Tufted Duck amongst which I saw several Pochard and there was also
Teal, Gadwall and Mallard as well as a single juvenile Shelduck. A Sedge Warbler showed briefly just in front
of the hide and a female Tufted Duck appeared with a brood of five tiny
young. A Dunlin also made a brief visit
before flying off and after hearing an Avocet an adult and the two fledge
juveniles flew from behind the reed island heading towards lagoon only to be followed
shortly afterwards by a second adult. I
didn’t see any of then return but saw both juveniles and one of the adults back
a few minutes later.
Female Tufted Duck and brood on lagoon three
Little Egret on lagoon three
Yellow-legged Gull over lagoon three
Yellow-legged Gull over lagoon three
Feeling I had exhausted lagoon
three I went to sandpiper hide on lagoon four where I found an Osprey on one of
the ‘T’ perches. There were two
Oystercatchers on island four, a single Little Ringed Plover and seven Ringed
Plovers on island one, a single Dunlin on island two and three Common
Sandpipers that were quite mobile and scattered around the lagoon. There were fewer Yellow-legged Gulls with
only ten present but I suspect that some were off feeding around the reservoir
and would most likely return later.
After some lunch I decided to
go to the Lyndon Reserve and after arriving in the car park set off for shallow
water hide, seeing two Chiffchaffs, a Willow Warbler and a female Blackcap
after passing the path to wader scrape hide.
When I arrived in the hide there were two others present and it was much
less crowded than at the weekend. As I
scanned the far shore I found three Common Sandpiper, three Green Sandpipers
and a Greenshank and there was a single Dunlin on the near shore. All five Ospreys were present but other than
one of the juveniles flying off there was little activity. Just after the couple left the hide and after
some disturbance I found a single Black-tailed Godwit. With little else I made way back to the centre
calling at Tufted Duck hide on route to find the view partially obscured by a
stand of reeds. There was a Reed Warbler
singing from the reeds and then I heard a Kingfisher call and found it sitting
on a fallen branch just to the right of the hide. I moved to that end of the hide and was able
to get some good shots before it finally flew off in the direction of Manton
Bay.
Kingfisher
Having reached the car park I
decided to go home via Eyebrook Reservoir and was rewarded with eleven Little
Egrets, a Black-tailed Godwit, a Curlew and a Yellow Wagtail and there were now
three Yellow-legged Gulls resting on the dried mud.
The only bird of note on route
home was a Buzzard perched in a tree just outside Slawston.
I had recorded eighty-three
species during the day, which is pretty good considering I spent most of the
day birding alone.
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