MISSING A DUTY AND ANOTHER VISIT TO RUTLAND.

Due to works being carried out on our central heating system and my wife being poorly, I had to cancel my Osprey duty last week. Richard was asked to be on duty from 09.00 hrs to 13.00 hrs and so Sheelagh did our normal shift, so all was covered. I must admit I really missed the duty. For those that follow the Ospreys on either the cameras or facebook you will have read that T6 went missing for four days, nobody has come up with a reason for this and as to where she went who can tell. She was either fed by 33/11 or she fed herself but all is back to normal with her back in Manton Bay.

This week Richard and myself had our normal Thursday afternoon visit out. Our initial idea was to visit a site at Brigstock near Corby to look for Butterflies but the weather was somewhat mixed in the forecast so we opted for a trip along our normal route with a stop off at our Little Owl sites and then finish the rest of the afternoon at the Egleton Reserve at Rutland Water. Richard arrived at 13.00 htrs and we got on our way heading for Little Owl site No. 1 where no bird was seen. We eventually saw two birds at Little Owl site No. 9, one on a fence post and one sitting in the hedge bottom, we then moved onto towards Site No. 12 where a bird was seen sitting on the Barn door, again images were taken but are not over good, Richard took his images from a bit farther along the road and got the shadow of a second bird in his shot, do shadows count as to having seen a bird???.

On arrival at the Egleton Centre we booked in with our friend David and set on our way to the Woodland Walk to see if anything of interest was about. It took a while for anything to show but after a short time the sun broke through and we started seeing a few Damselflies, then the odd Butterfly and eventually we started seeing some Dragonflies in one area we were seeing reasonable numbers of Southern Hawkers interacting and of course then it started to rain, so that finished that for a while. We headed to the nearest hide for refuge out of the rain neither having taken any wet weather gear, only a polythene bag for the cameras, so we headed into Grebe Hide and upon opening the shutters found we had a Great White Egret to the front of the hide partially covered by some small bushes but as it had been mobile over the previous few day were sure it would come into better view. This it eventually did after it had flown up to Osprey Hide and then returned.

We then after the rain had stopped returned to the Woodland Walk but the rain had put everything deep into cover so we headed back to the car park and head towards Little Owl Site No. 9  for our teas which we were both ready for. 

At Site 9 whilst devouring our teas  we watched a Juvenile Little Owl sitting in the original nest hole, so we have had a breeding pair in the area of the nest tree again. We then tracked our way through the sites and eventually at Little Owl Site No.1 found a juvenile sat outside the nest hole. So all in all we had a wonderful afternoon out and finishing with at least four little owls.        

RUTLAND WATER.

EGLETON RESERVE.

4th July.

Great White Egret, Grebe Hide.

This was a real bonus for us, two birds had been at the reservoir for a few days but had been very mobile and people were reporting them all over the place so for us to find one on Lagoon 2 was sheer luck and all through a rain shower.

Same bird having a preen of its wings. After this it flew left and headed towards Osprey Hide.

It then returned and landed on this platform where it perched for a reasonable length of time, a family of Mum Dad and three young boys arrived and were fascinated by the size of the bird. The young boys were having a wonderful time , it was great to sit and talk with them, whilst with us they also saw an Osprey and a Marsh Harrier.  

This is when the wind caught the back of its head and flicked the feathers up. 

This bird has the black end to its bill, the other bird has a pure yellow bill. 

And then it headed away towards the centre and any of the Lagoons, it had been on Lagoon 6 earlier.
Not the best of images, as soon as the bird took off, I started to shoot as soon as I could find it in the view finder, only after thinking about any +EV??????.

WOODLAND WALK.  

Comma Butterfly.

Just a head shot of this delightful butterfly.

Emerald Damselfly, female.

We saw plenty of females but I think Richard saw a male but that was the only one. 

Another female Emerald Damselfly.  

Speckled Wood Butterfly.

As you can see the sun had come through and things were starting to show for us, several Speckled Wood appeared. 

Southern Hawker Dragonfly, Near Osprey Hide.

First one I have managed to get up close to this year, they are late and still scarce.

Southern Hawker Thorax and wing base.

Ruddy Darter, Outside Osprey Hide.

We saw a few Darters but not up to last years numbers.

Marsh Harrier, Grebe Hide, Lagoon 2.

Again some rushed shots, the bird appeared and no thought given to any EV, these are really only record shots. 

YOUNG KESTRELS.

OUR GARDEN.

2nd August.

We are seeing less and less of these youngsters as they venture farther away from our garden, they are also becoming far more cautious and these images are taken over about sixty metres. 

I have today only seen one bird and that flew up the garden, my wife saw one land on the nest box about lunch time.  {6th August}

It has been a delight having these youngsters around but we want our Barn Owls back. 

It has been wonderful to watch them develop. 

And they have become real experts in landing and are also hovering.





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

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