I left home at approximately 12.30 hrs feeling fine and headed straight through towards Rutland Water arriving on site at approximately 13.30 hrs. Richard was unavailable as he and his wife were meeting up with his brother in Uppingham for lunch.
By the time I arrived at the Egleton Centre my nose was streaming and I was feeling not good at all, but I went into the centre and booked in and set out on my way around the hides. Visiting several hides and seeing very little, I eventually arrives at Shoveler Hide on Lagoon 3 as the Bitterns had been showing on a regular basis {for everyone else that is.}
Siting myself down in the hide and of course sneezing and coughing, I kept getting looks of "unclean", please leave and so after a short time I left the leaving everyone hopefully uninfected and went around the other hides close by.
Having visited Lapwing Hide, upon leaving two ladies who had been in Shoveler Hide arrived and said you should have stopped in the hide, virtually as you left the Bittern came out for about ten minutes and were very easy to see, "thanks for that."
By this time I was feeling it was time to go home, it was difficult to set the camera up properly so I made my way back towards the car park and on my way home.
On my return I saw Little owls at Sites 5 & 15.
By the time I arrived at the Egleton Centre my nose was streaming and I was feeling not good at all, but I went into the centre and booked in and set out on my way around the hides. Visiting several hides and seeing very little, I eventually arrives at Shoveler Hide on Lagoon 3 as the Bitterns had been showing on a regular basis {for everyone else that is.}
Siting myself down in the hide and of course sneezing and coughing, I kept getting looks of "unclean", please leave and so after a short time I left the leaving everyone hopefully uninfected and went around the other hides close by.
Having visited Lapwing Hide, upon leaving two ladies who had been in Shoveler Hide arrived and said you should have stopped in the hide, virtually as you left the Bittern came out for about ten minutes and were very easy to see, "thanks for that."
By this time I was feeling it was time to go home, it was difficult to set the camera up properly so I made my way back towards the car park and on my way home.
On my return I saw Little owls at Sites 5 & 15.
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Great White Egtret & Curlew, Egleton Centre Hide, Lagoon 1. Again the bird was a long distance away from the centre, 350 metres on checking and the light was not perfect but as with last year I will get some good shots eventually. |
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Great White Egret & Crow. The crow started to have a bit of an attack at the Egret, the Egret stood upright and the Crow departed. |
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Would like to get a shot of a Great White and Little Egret together so as to get a comparison to the size of the G.W.E. |
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Redshank, Crake Hide, Main Reservoir . Very pretty wader in an area where normally the water is deep but due to the reservoir being low waders are present, |
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Shoveler Drake, Crake Hide. Pretty duck very much in winter colouration. |
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Little Egret Landing near Lapwing Hide, Lagoon 2. Little Egret are present in large numbers at Rutland, still an interesting bird to watch. |
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Widgeon, Plover Hide, Lagoon 4. Widgeon are starting to increase in numbers at the moment . |
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Common Darter, Near Bittern Hide. Even though it was somewhat windy, in this area it was sheltered and I managed this image of a very late dragonfly. Saw several Hawkers whilst in Shoveler Hide but due to the wind were impossible to get an image. |
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Little Owl Site No. 15. The only bird I managed an image from, again siting behind the wire fence.
VISIT OUT WITH RICHARD.
Richard and myself managed a visit out on Thursday 29th October and even though the forecast was rubbish we decided to go out. We got away from our house not much after 11.30 hrs and headed away on our normal route. Not long after leaving home it started raining and I'm afraid this was to last for the bulk of the afternoon.
Having visited a few Little Owl sites we saw birds at Site 9 & 19, both birds we have not seen for a while so at least this was on a positive note.
Richard suggested we should visit Eyebrook Reservoir, we can bird watch from in the car at the top end of the reservoir and also because and American Golden Plover had been seen over the previous few days. The weather improved to the state of only having light rain but no plover was to be seen and the light was awful.
Having had our lunch out, we returned home for tea, the only image taken being the Little Owl below and the camera settings changed several times to get anything like an acceptable image.
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Little Owl Site No. 9. This is a bird we haven't seen for a considerable time, Richard had seen the bird on a previous visit out so great to see it again.
IN OUR GARDEN.
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Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly. Seen on our garage wall and not in bad condition for the time of the year. |
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Harlequin Ladybird, again on garage wall. Invasive ladybird that are eating our native ladybirds. |
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Toadstool. Fly Agaric, Amanita Muscaria. Very pretty but very poisonous toadstool. |
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Have had several grow on the far side of our garden. |
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Have since dug them up and disposed. |
