Richard having returned from his holiday on Speyside with his wife was available so after two weeks missing Little Owls was very keen to get out and see some.
He arrived at our house at 14.00 hrs and we were on our way heading towards Rutland Water. We visited all or usual Little Owl sites but only at one did we see a bird, Little Owl Site No. 7. We only saw this bird through Richard moving the car back a little to give a better view to its normal area only then to see it in another spot, but at least it was a bird and we were under way. We then moved on and spotted another bird at Little Owl Site No. 10.
We arrived at Rutland Water at 16.15 hrs and visited the Lyndon Centre for a chat and ice cream, took some images outside around the pond of damselflies and then set off down the track towards the hides looking for damselflies. We managed a few images but as it was still breezy it was difficult to get them to stay still for long enough to get an image.
We walked straight through to Shallow Water Hide deciding we would visit the hides on our return trip.
As we arrived at Shallow Water Hide, John Wright was just leaving saying 33/11 was away fishing and he had been waiting for his return for ages but could not wait any longer and had to rush away. We sat and waited for his return watching swallows, house martins shoveler ducks and many more things when he arrived, flew over the nest and headed towards Waderscrape Hide, this meant he was getting a bit closer to us than normal, he then started fishing over Manton Bay and some images are below.
We left Shallow Water Hide at about 18.00 hrs and visited Waderscrape Hide and then made our way back up to the car park calling in at Tufted Duck Hide but again no Otters, we will eventually see some Otters somewhere in the reservoir.
We then got on our way home and headed for Little Owl Site No. 9 for some tea, as it was Richards birthday on the Friday and mine on Sunday we had an extra for tea, a cake each as celebration. We had half our tea at this site and then headed towards a Barn Owl area for the second half and watched and fed for a while but to no avail.
We then headed on our way and saw another Little Owl at Site No. 2 which again was well hidden in the tree and found by Richard.
We finished at another Barn Owl area and sat and waited for a while but I think next week we will have to stay out later as the days are getting lighter later and light until about 22.30 hrs.
We then headed home after a wonderful afternoon out together, I personally got home, watered the greenhouse, and put my feet up with my wife, dogs and a glass of beer, end to a good day.
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Male Azure Damselfly. Image taken at the side of the small pond outside the Lyndon Visitor centre at Rutland Water. Richard had been speaking to them on the Wednesday and was told they had seen some Large Red Damselflies by the pond that morning so these images were taken as soon as we arrived. |
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Large Red Damselfly,Pond at Lyndon Centre. This image taken for me by Richard as I could not find the blessed thing at any cost. |
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Male Common Blue Damselfly, track down to the hides. We saw a lot of Damselflies, one of which we tried to get an image of but failed, it had for a damselfly a very slow wing beat but will try again next time, they tended to take off and fly a lot higher than the commons. |
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Richard Informs me it is a Scorpion Fly. We saw this at the side of the track and thought it was very pretty. |
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Green-Blue Lacewing, Chrysopa perla. We came upon this beauty near Shallow Water Hide and could nor resist getting some images. |
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Violet Ground Beetle. This image was taken the week previous when out with Arthur. This beetle is apparently nocturnal and is normally found under rotting timber. This one had forgot the rules and was out mid afternoon in the middle of the track. |
Ospreys Etc.
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Female Sitting with Young Trying to be patient whilst Male returns with Fish. Having just spoken to John Wright as he was leaving, he told us that 33 was away fishing and had not done very well today with his duties. |
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How They Have Grown. All three coming on well and have started to go darker with feathering. |
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33/11 Male Osprey. Shallow Water Hide. He suddenly appeared over the nest and then flew towards Waderscrape Hide which brought him closer to us as well. |
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He then started to look as if he was fishing and hovered. |
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Hovered some more and was really looking at the water below. |
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Looked as if he was going to dive to the water. |
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Original image before cropping. |
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But then hovered some more. |
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And then flew off towards the Lyndon Centre. |
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Shoveler Duck, Shallow Water Hide. Swam across the front of the hide. |
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Rabbit Near Tufted Duck Hide. Just could not resist this image. It could obviously hear us but just sat up to listen. |
Little Owls.
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Little Owl Site No.2. This bird spotted by Richard and at our first position this was the best image possible. |
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We then moved forwards a few metres and managed this, he looks about a sleep, hopefully feeding little ones. |
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Little Owl Site No 7. This bird again found by Richard after moving the car a few metres. Birds Our Garden. |
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Female Kestrel on Small Owl Box. It has been a windy week and this is a favourite position for the bird out of the wind. The Barn Owls are in the large box next to this and would not tolerate the Kestrel if it tried to enter the box. A silly pigeon tried to a week or two ago and was chased out in seconds by a very angry looking Barn Owl. |
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Jay with bit of Peanut. The pair spend a reasonable part of the day in our garden and particularly the area under the bird peanut feeder picking up the scraps. |
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A pretty bird and is becoming more tolerant of me taking images Thank you for your visit, I hope you have found it interesting, and if you can help with the Moth please leave a comment |
