TWO TRIPS TO SEE THE OSPREYS.

As reported in my last post, the Juvenile Ospreys have started migrating, so I decided on Monday the 22 nd to have a quick visit to Manton Bay, after having spoken to Paul in the Lyndon Centre and finding that T8 was still  with us. So after lunch I got on my way arriving at 14.00 hrs and made my way to Shallow Water Hide. It was another of our warm and humid days, so by the time I arrived at the hide, it looked as if I had fallen in the Reservoir, every body was the same, but don't complain, it could be raining again. I managed to find all three birds within a short time, much to the appreciation of some of the other visitors in the hide who had only found the female, one gent said he had taken about fourty images of the female on the post.  The female being on the T post eating  the remains of a fish and 33/11 and T8 being in the poplar tree behind the nest. I took some quick record images and waited for the birds to fly, I waited and waited and waited and they all sat in the same position until it was time for me to get back to the car park and home, a bit of a wasted trip but never really wasted when you have a camera with you. I managed some other images of other birds but it was really the Ospreys I wanted to see, could be the last chance until next Spring.

My next visit was for an Osprey Duty  on the 25th of August, Richard was feeling unwell so I contacted the Lyndon Centre to say I would be available for the duty and would get to site a.s.a.p. after 13.00 hrs. I arrived at Waderscrape Hide at 13.15 hrs and took over the duty. T 8 had left that morning but we still had 33/11 and the female both in the bay. I think people had decided to visit the Ospreys when they had found they were leaving early, so I had a very busy afternoon, very little time to take images, not that the birds flew about at all. What with numerous families with children which was really good, I love it when families turn up, the children are, as a rule so very interested. With one family of Mum,Gran and three young Girls having a really marvellous time. I lowered the scope down so the girls could see through without having to stand on a chair, even finished with Gran on her knees using it to every ones amusement. The girls and adults bombarded me with questions and were fascinated with the migration map we have on the wall, the youngest girl who could have only been about seven was amazed as to the distance the birds flew and was asking why do they go to Africa, I said if you had been you would understand, its warmer than England in the Winter and the food supply is close by and plentiful when you roost in a Palm tree on the beach. One couple had seen on the internet about the Ospreys and had driven down from Hull to see them before they had all headed South. I eventually finished my shift at 17.00 hrs and headed to Eyebrook for my tea as usual.  

On arrival I headed for the Bridge at the top of the Reservoir to see what was about. I had not been on the bridge for long when I saw a blue flash, a Kingfisher, this flew up and down the channel a few times and then landed on a branch, the results are below. 

On my return journey I saw two Little Owls. one at Site 9, an adult and likewise at Site 1, no images were attempted as it was getting late.

Having looked on the Osprey post, 33/11 was nest building yesterday, he should be thinking about following his youngsters.




RUTLAND WATER.
22 nd of August.

Female Osprey. {Maya}, Shallow Water Hide.

When I arrived at the Hide, this is the only bird that the other occupants could see. Please remember the nest is almost 250 metres from the hide.

Juvenile Male Osprey T8.

I eventually spotted T8 first sat in one of the Poplar trees behind the nest, this is another 50 metres farther away from the Hide.

Male Osprey 33/11.

The male sat farther back and higher in the tree. this was the best image I managed, the leaves kept blowing in front of him, none of the birds moved whilst I was on site. 

 Ruff {female}, Shallow Water Hide.

This bird flew in and staid to the front of the hide about thirty metres away for about 15 minutes.

Lapwing, short on plumage.

This was the only Lapwing I saw during my visit. Also most of the Common Terns seemed to have gone, all seem to be leaving very early.   

Canada Goose and Greylag Goose
.
Just looked out to the side of the hide and saw this and got a quick image, a collision seemed inevitable. 

Touch down without a mishap. 

Then some others came in, this time a Common Tern ducking. 

Little Egret fishing to the front of the Hide.

Even though the bird was over one hundred metres away, couldn't resist getting an image, kept doing the little jumping on the legs dance whilst fishing. 

Immature Migrant Hawker Dragonfly, Near Tufted Duck Hide.

Saw lots of Dragonflies but very few landing, mostly Brown Hawkers.

RUTLAND WATER.

OSPREY DUTY.

25th of August.

Waderscrape Hide.

Male Osprey 33/11 sat on the Manton Bay nest.

Male Osprey 33/11 sat on T post adjacent to nest .

Sat most of the afternoon eating his fish whilst the Female sat on the nest continuously food begging. Hide to the T post is 325 metres.

Female Osprey sitting on the nest food begging. 

At last the Male brings the remains of his fish to the nest and the female collects it and takes it to the T post to finish. This was  the only time the birds moved, yet again unable to get any flight images.

EYEBROOK RESERVOIR.

Taken from the Bridge at the Inlet.

My idea was to get to Eyebrook and have my tea, I stopped by the bridge and walked up and looked over as Kingfishers are seen on a regular basis { might I add not by me } . Then a blue flash flew down the channel turned and flew back up and  then turned and flew back and landed on a stick sticking out of the water. I quickly picked up the camera, pointed at the stick and shot, only to find the pigeon to the left of the stick had disturbed  the Kingfisher and I didn't see it again.

It would have been a 100 metre plus image, but it would have been a Kingfisher at last, Ruddy Pigeon. 

Moorhen below the Bridge.

A rushed image as the bird ran across the inlet Brook on the lily leaves. 

Hare Near Stockerstone Village.

After sitting and having my tea and seeing two Ospreys on the far side of the Reservoir, I got on my way and headed for home only to come across this Hare on a field track I use to get onto the Little Owl route.



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

A VISIT TO EGLETON AND BARNACK HILLS AND HOLES RESERVE.

I decided on Monday the 15th of August to have an extra visit to Rutland Water and have an afternoon looking for Damselflies and Dragonflies, I managed to get away from home by about 12.30 hrs and headed straight for the Egleton Centre with a slight diversion to the vets to collect some medication for one of our dogs. I arrived at about 13.45 hrs and after booking in I went straight round to the dipping pond, which has in previous years been very productive, but this year not very good and afraid to say it let me down again. I then got on my way towards the Woodland Walk and the hides associated with it, and after a short walk through the Bird Fair marquees and all the workmen putting everything together for the weekend, I started on my way down through the Woodland. I soon was seeing plenty of Dragonflies but as usual not many were landing, I was seeing Hawkers and Darters all over the place and after a short time and visiting the hides, I made my way towards Lagoon 3 and Shoveler Hide, just outside to the side of the ramp something caught my eye, not very big and not a shape I was able to recognise, was a fly. After trying to find out myself as to what I had found, I in the end contacted Sarah Proud at the Volunteer Centre, who is our on site expert who e-mailed back saying it was a fly from the Ichneumon family, impossible to say as to which but at least this was a start and she also gave me a link onto hopefully the real experts, so I forwarded a copy of the image to them, so watch this space. 

Then Richard and myself had our normal Thursday afternoon trip out, it was my turn to drive and Richard arrived at 12.45 hrs and we got on our way, Richard had seen that Chalkhill Blue Butterflies had been seen  at the Hills and Holes Reserve at Barnack near to Stamford so we set our course to go straight through and Little Owl on our return journey. Richard was on duty at Bird Fair on the Friday morning so we didn't want to be late back, he would have to get up by 05.00 hrs to be on site in time. 

On arriving at Barnack the Reserve was easy to find and we were soon walking round but initially hardly anything Butterfly like was seen, however after leaving the outside path to the reserve and following some paths across the centre, I eventually found what we were looking for and called Richard over as he was walking an adjacent path running parallel with mine. These are most certainly a very pretty Butterfly even thought we were a little late in the season and the wings were getting a little torn and tattered. We spent a couple of hours on site with the Butterflies and Dragonflies. This is most certainly a very productive area for the future, with signs showing areas of Wild Orchids and many other wild flowers so next year we will be visiting again and earlier in the season.

We then had a quick visit to Bloody Oaks Quarry, a site near Empingham Village, a site Richard had visited with Sarah some weeks previously so on our way by we had a quick walk around, its only a very small site and would be very easy to drive by on the road. From here we had a quick stop at Little Owl Site No.11 and then onto Site No. 9 for a well earned tea and saw a Juvenile sitting in the nest hole but no signs of the adults. After this we carried on through our normal sites but no more birds were seen and we were home by a reasonable time so Richard could get home and be up early the following morning.   

As an update on the Manton Bay Ospreys, T6 got on her way migrating on Monday last, the  15 th of August, she has not been seen since, we wish her good luck on this perilous journey.  Also T7 has also got on his way on the 18th, so we have 33, Maya and T8 still in Manton Bay. Must have a quick visit before they have all migrated. 

RUTLAND WATER,
Egleton Reserve.
Woodland Walk.
15 th August.

Speckled Wood Butterfly. Female.

Many of these flying about but this one has the least damage to the wings. 

Common Darter, Immature Female.

On the walk I ws seeing these flying all over the place, some were even up high in the trees. 

Southern Migrant Hawker, Female.

Saw considerably more Brown Hawkers but managed no decent images of them.  

Ruddy Darter, Male.

Ruddy Darters were again all over the Reserve area in large numbers, great to see that after such a slow start in seeing Dragonflies, they seem to be making up for lost time.  

Common Darter, Female.

Fly from the Ichneumon Family, waiting to find out which it is.
Anybody any ideas???.

This is the fly I mentioned above. Total length is probably only 16 mm to the end of what appears to be its sting. This is flying along the handrail alongside the ramp up to Shoveler Hide .
    

Peacock Butterfly, on Flowers outside the Egleton Centre.

Couldn't resist an image, first time I have noticed how colorful the underside of the wings are.

HILLS AND HOLES RESERVE.

Barnack.

18 th August.

Another Wild Flower I 'm not Sure as to What It Is.

Such a beautiful flower, you helped me last time Margaret, hopefully you can look in your book again and come up with an answer.

Six Spotted Burnet, landed on some more of the same flowers. 

Common Blue Butterfly, Male. 

To me this is a stunning butterfly.

Chalkhill Blue Butterfly, Male.

As you can see the wings are not perfect but what a stunning Butterfly, so pleased we visited the site and found them.

Chalkhill Blue Butterfly, Female.

Again a stunning butterfly, the wings on this female in far better condition. 

Under wing pattern on the female. 

Field Grass hopper. 

Small White Butterfly, Female.

Common Darter, Male.

We saw a reasonable number of Darters around the site, and were informed by a lady that some of these were female Ruddy Darters, I personally didn't see any. 

Small Skipper, Bloody Oaks Quarry.

We only had a very quick visit to this site as we wanted to get on our way home and visit the Little Owl Sites and also have our teas. After taking this image and walking back to the car we saw a Lizard sitting on a stump, unfortunately it also saw us and was away.



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

TWO VISITS TO RUTLAND WATER.

I decided to have an extra visit out on Sunday afternoon the 7th of August, it seemed an age since I had seen the Ospreys so after lunch I got away as quick as possible and made my way straight to the Lyndon Centre. On arrival it was a very quick chat with Kayleigh then down to Shallow Water hide quick pace arriving at the hide at 13.50 hrs only to meet up with Monica, this time without her husband Tony. This couple Richard and myself meet up with a reasonable amount, I met up with them also during the Winter when visiting Cossington Meadows for the Short Eared Owls.

It was a very windy afternoon and the Ospreys were tending to stay perched and mostly keeping out of the wind. I never saw the adult female or 33 and only two juveniles were easy to see, as to where the third bird or adults had hidden themselves difficult to say but neither Monica or myself could find them. Another gent in the hide thought he had seen another bird somewhere over towards Heron Bay but this never materialised.  After about one and a half hours I left the hide and headed back towards the car park and home, Monica had been on site since 06.30 hrs and was intending to stay until at least 18.00 hrs and later if the wind dropped.

My next visit was for an Osprey duty on the 11th of August, Richard arrived to start the shift for 13.00 hrs and I turned up for about 13.30 hrs to find even though the weather forecast was not good, a reasonable number of people in the hide.  When I arrived Richard had been seeing a Marsh Harrier to the front of the hide not far away but it never returned during my shift, but never mind, always another day, Whilst on duty we had all three juveniles and the adult female in the bay so that was good for the visitors. We had a very busy afternoon with people visiting most of the time, we also had some very helpful visitors, so when we were answering questions they kept an eye on the birds and kept us updated as to the whereabouts which made it a lot easier when new people entered the hide. What was nice was the number of children we had visit and the questions they were asking, obviously taking in all we had told them. We even had a couple from Sardinia { we wondered if they were Mafia }. After a busy but interesting shift, I decided to go to Eyebrook Reservoir for my tea, and here saw two Ospreys and a Marsh Harrier, all were at the far side of the water but still wonderful to see with the bins.

On my return journey I saw a Little Owl and Site no. 9 but the only decent image I got was by driving down the road and taking a quick image only to find later on I had wound the lens into 210 mm, what a fool but never mind at least I saw the bird.

The Kestrels have at last gone but we still see them occasionally flying over the garden.

RUTLAND WATER

SHALLOW WATER HIDE.

7th August.

Juvenile Osprey.

I only saw two Juveniles during the afternoon, no sign at all of the third bird or adults. 

A quick splash and then away back around the bay. 

Dip the feet in the water. 

Fly round the back of the nest. 

And up onto the camera post. 

Juvenile Common Tern.

Several Juveniles kept landing on the posts and fence, some still being fed by the adults. 

Great Crested Grebe.

Several birds were swimming to the front of the Hide. Someone in the Hide {Monica} did a count of the birds in the bay, and came up with a figure of 62. 

A quick dive. 

And up with a fish. First time I have ever seen a Grebe catch a fish.  

A Cormorant land some 100 metres away amongst a flock of Gulls .

OPSREY DUTY.

Waderscrape Hide.

11th August.

Juvenile Osprey T6, the wanderer that everybody thought was lost. 

 Juveniles have the white edge to the feathers.

Juvenile Osprey T8. T7 flew down to a dead section of tree and sat close to the Adult Female for most of the afternoon. 

Adult Female, taken to be an un ringed Scottish bird. 

She did a lot of calling whilst flying around 

And then headed towards the Lyndon Centre.
  

Little Egret.

Last week we had the G.W.E., a much larger bird.   

Juvenile Moorhen.

If you remember I posted an image of a very small Moorhen chick a week or two ago. This I take it is one of them, still in the pool to the front of Waderscrape Hide.

Migrant Hawker, our garden.

This was chasing small flies around one of our Giant Redwoods and eventually landed.

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