TWO VISITS TO RUTLAND PLUS A QUICK VISIT TO EYEBROOK.

I had an afternoon visit to Rutland Water on the 24th of May, leaving home at about 12.40 and driving straight through so as to make the most of the time available in the hides. On arrival and a quick chat with Kayleigh, I made my way straight through to Shallow Water hide, by the time I arrived the sun was some what absent and a cool wind had got up, so no Damsel flies or Butterflies. After a short time in the hide, and intruder Osprey arrived but only caused a minor problem and was soon on its way with 33 giving chase. The light was very poor and so are the images from this visit.

My next visit out was on the 26th of May, Richard was busy trying to catch up with some jobs so I had a visit to Rutland Water on my own. I arrived at 14.00 hrs having passed through our normal route and visiting the Little Owl Sites, I only managed a single bird at Site No. 2 and the image is very poor as the bird was buried behind leaves. On arrival and a quick a word with Paul I got on my way down to Shallow Water hide, again it was cloudy and a bit windy so no Damselflies or Butterflies on my way down tho the hide. After arriving in the hide after a very short time the sun started to break through and was with me for the rest of the afternoon so that was a bit of a bonus. After about an hour I had a slow walk back up to the centre and managed two Butterflies on my way back. Another chat with Paul and told him I was going over to Eyebrook Reservoir, he told me that most evenings Ospreys had been going over to catch fish, so with that I got on my way and arrived at about 17.15 hrs and had not been on site long when the first Osprey arrived. So I stood behind an area of railway sleepers taking images of an Osprey and eating my tea, what a wonderful way to spend and evening.  

RUTLAND WATER.

24th May.

Male Osprey, Waderscrape Hide.

Sorry for the poor quality of the image, Male Osprey 33 removing an intruding bird from Manton Bay, as you can see he means it with talons outstretched.

Returns to the nest  female and the young, mission accomplished. 

Greater Black Backed Gull.

This bird then arrived and flew over the nest so up went the Male again. 

And again was duly evicted from the Bay.

RUTLAND WATER.

26th May.

Male Osprey, Shallow Water Hide.

Bringing another stick to build up the nest. 

Great Crested Grebe, Shallow Water Hide.

Female sitting on the nest. She never moved so unsure as to any eggs.

Male seeing off a Mallard away from the nest. 

Male Osprey, Manton Bay.

He eventually decided to have a fly around the bay so was slightly closer. 

And then a quick fly behind the trees and back with another stick. 

Male and Female and you can just make out a little head sticking up between them. 

The huge youngsters.  

Green Veined White Butterfly. 

Shallow Water Hide.

Female Common Blue Damselfly. 

Oyster Catchers, Shallow Water Hide.

Several about the area, these landed not far from the hide. 

Red Admiral Butterfly, Shallow Water Hide.

First seen this year but already the wings are damaged.

EYEBROOK RESERVOIR.
26th May.

Male Osprey.

Stood and ate my tea whilst taking the following Images, what a wonderful end to the day. 

Thank you for your visit, I hope you have enjoyed your visit as much as I  did in getting the images.

AN EXTRA VISIT AND AN INTRUDER AT MANTON BAY.

I decided on Tuesday the 17 th of May to have an extra visit out as the forecast was fair and the weather for later in the week looked poor, so at 12.30 hrs I made my way towards Rutland Water with the idea of seeing some Damselflies and hopefully my first Dragonfly and perhaps a few Butterflies and of course the Ospreys.

I arrived and to my surprise found Richards walking across the car park, he had been at Egleton in the morning and called round to Lyndon for his lunch and hopefully see some more Large Red Damselflies. After a quick chat and looking in the pond together, he went away to pastures new in an old Limestone Quarry and I got on my way about the site.  After a little time at the pond and in the Centre with Kayleigh, I got down to Shallow Water Hide and spent the rest of an entertaining afternoon with several old friends in the hide. The entertainment being that after about half an hour in the hide we could see the Manton Bay male 33/11 returning towards the nest but with two other Ospreys in hot pursuit. He luckily got back to the nest first and was followed by just one bird, the other had veered away and was returning to whence it came. This bird was very persistent and was continually circling and trying to land on the nest, this actually carried on for in excess of fifteen minutes and at times was a bit worrying with chicks being left on the nest without an adult in attendance to protect them.  

When I was on site, the only ring I could read was of the Manton Bay male 33, the other birds ring to me appeared to be also a 3, it has since been found that the bird was in fact 2R, this being a bird from Dyfi in Wales and was a 2013 hatched bird that had returned to her Glaslyn nest at Dyfi on the 3rd of May, she since then has made her way over to Rutland, how can these birds find other Ospreys, just amazes you.

I managed no visits to our Little Owl Sites on my trip back as after the entertainment at Shallow Water Hide I was running a bit late and had to head straight for home after a most wonderful visit.

BARN OWL BOXES, 

OUR GARDEN.

Kestrel on the front of the large Barn Owl Box.

 This bird sits on the front of the larger of the two boxes. This was after the Kestrels had outed the Barn Owls but it appears at the moment that the Barn Owls are back. I have found Barn Owl Feathers on the ground around the box area and the Kestrels are just hanging around in the trees farther up our garden.

Our Barn Owl Boxes.

For those that have not visited my second post, back in 2014  showing our Barn Owls, this is our set up with two boxes close together and a feeding station between for if and when the weather gets over wet or cold so we can supplement the food . The grey boxes on the back of the main support poles are the connections for the cameras in the boxes.

News from Today 22nd May. Barn Owl feathers found below the boxes and I have seen nothing of the Kestrels today, keep your fingers crossed we have the Barn Owls returned.

RUTLAND WATER

17th May.

Pond Outside the Lydon Centre.

Pair of mating Crane Flies. Pond to the Front of the Lyndon Centre.

Crane flies are on of the largest group of flies with in excess of 15,000 species and sub species.  

Damselfly Exuvia after Hatching.

This Nymph has crawled up a the reed and  in this image has not yet commenced splitting the case.

Large Red Damselfly.

This sat on a leaf not far from the fence. 

Frog Hopper Beetle.

Again in the are of the pond, and found by Richard. 

Orange-tip Butterfly.

Found this one in the lee of the wind on the track down to Shallow Water Hide.

SHALLOW WATER HIDE.

Please remember that the distance from the hide to the nest is 239 metres {checked of Google Earth}. 

Whats Happening??

On arriving in the Hide, I had my hello's to some friends, Monica and Tony and upon opening the shutter saw this bubbling of the water. 

Great Crested Grebe.

This was the culprit swimming in shallower water. 

And gone under again. 

First Mallard with Chicks seen this year
.
She had another six young with her but they were in amongst the reeds along the bank. 

Female Osprey returning to the nest after having a fish.

When first looking out the hide, the female was on the T post with the remains of a fish and 33 was looking after the young.

Male 33 returning to Nest.

Male returning to the nest with another Osprey in hot pursuit.

Unfortunately not the best of landings. 

Top bird is 33/11 and lower bird is Clarach 2R/13 the Dyfi female. 

Again 33 returns to the nest and leaves virtually immediately. 

2/R Clarach above the nest with the female on the nest calling. 

33 had been flying round the back of the poplars, and returns to the nest to find 2R sitting on the camera post. 

Female Osprey leaving the nest after 33 flew past and missed 2R. No protection at this time for the young. 

Female returns to the nest and the young are again protected. 

33 still chasing the intruder.

Female intruder 2R, Clarach.

First recognised by the Staff at Dyfi due to the missing wing feather to the left of her body.  

Missing feather is really evident in this image.

33/11 below and 2R/13 above.

You can still see the missing feather to the side of her body. Lets hope she stays at Rutland as we have a surplus of males at the moment. 

Osprey Chicks 22nd May 2116.

As you can see these chicks are growing at a tremendous rate. 

Thank you for your visit, I hope you have enjoyed your visit as much as I did in getting the images.