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.