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.