VISITS TO RUTLAND WATER AND EYEBROOK RESERVOIR.

We decided this week, as it was that time of the year to have a hunt for some Damselflies, we set off as normal with my turn to drive, Richard arriving at 13.00 hrs and visited through our Little Owl sites but to no avail on our outbound journey. We decided to visit the Egleton Reserve initially to visit the dipping pond to look for damsels but only saw the one which looked as if it had just emerged and was high up in a bush. After this we decided to visit the Lyndon Centre to see what was happening with the Ospreys and also to have a look around the pond for Large Red Damselflies, these we saw here last year. We arrived and after a chat with Paul who sat in front of the television screen awaiting the hatching of the first egg, {he hoped} we had a look at the pond that's situated just outside the centre. After a short time Richard spotted some empty cases and sure enough sat on some reeds was a Large Red Damselfly. Cameras were straight into action and more hunting for specimens, we then spotted a damselfly emerging and this was followed by some newts, not very easy to get decent images of as they were about 15 cms down in the water.

After this we set off to Eyebrook Reservoir as a Short Eared Owl had been seen on the Wednesday evening but did not show for us, we saw a few birds but nothing special so eventually we got on our way home again passing through our Little Owl Sites. First site visited was number 12 but no bird was seen, Richard however took a couple of images of what in the car turned out to be a bit of wood, when he however put these on the computer to work on, to the side of the piece of wood was a Little Owl sitting very low, so one to Richard nil to me. After having our tea at this site, as at our normal eating site, number 9, the farmer was spraying what smelt like pig slurry so we ate at 12, we then passed through all our remaining sites and eventually saw a bird at Site No. 5, { HURRAH!!! }.

The site we had hoped would become nest 8 at Rutland has been abandoned by the birds and they are not together any more, they may pair up but will not breed is John  Wrights thoughts, so very sad, damn Egyptian Geese.

     

RUTLAND WATER, LYNDON CENTRE.

12th May.

Large Red Damselfly.

First of the year, wonderful to be able to get images again. 

Damselfly emerging from case, we were not sure as to this being a failure as it did not seem to move whilst we were on site.  

Newts, Pond Outside the Centre.

Initially just one newt appeared , this was then followed by two more, very difficult to get a reasonable image with the reflection from the water.

The three a little closer, leaning over the fence at the side of the pond, the next step would have been head first and in with them??. 

Orange Tip Butterfly. {female I think}.

I have since been told this is a  Green-veined White Butterfly.

This butterfly sat on a leaf on the far side of the pond.

EYEBROOK RESERVOIR.

Pair of Mallard Ducks flying in.

We had not been on site when this pair flew in, you just have to have a go at catching them before they land even though they were a silly distance away.  

Kestrel.

Several of these birds flew past us and again could not resist some images.

Hare Near Eyebrook Reservoir.

We stopped at a local Little Owl tree that every body stops at, could not see the tree as we were looking straight into the sun but to the left sat this hare.  

 Little Owl Site No. 5.


A purely record shot, as you can see the bird had really tucked itself away.

Fairy House

Between Little Owl Site 4 and 3.

Somebody has made this in an old tree stump by the side of the road. 

Even has a pink sheet on the washing line. 

MANTON BAY OSPREYS.

Male and female doing a bit of Double Incubation. Image from Web Cam. 

All three eggs have hatched, the empty eggs shell is still to the left.


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

Sorry the post is a bit late but the local network had a bit of a hiccup last night so I could not get onto the internet.