As Richard has decided this year to only do some fill in duties with me and any others where no one is available I had a trip to Lyndon and the Ospreys on my own, this seemed really strange having only previously carried out duties with Richard.
My trip over was completely Little Owl less even though the weather was not that unfavourable.
On arriving at the centre for about 16.15 hrs, I booked in with Kayleigh and was told that Maya had laid a fourth egg that morning, lets hope they manage to raise all four young. I then headed down the site so as to be able to call in at both Deepwater and Tufted Duck hides, neither were that productive so I eventually arrived in Waderscrape Hide at 16.55 hrs and the previous volunteers could go and as they were leaving my fellow partner in crime, Jan arrived, an absolutely delightful lady with a wonderful sense of humour and a good knowledge of birds which is always a help for me.
On arrival I was told that 33/11 was away on a fishing trip so it was keep an eye out for his return. On his return the trip was hardly worth the effort as he brought back a very small fish. he ate a small amount and then took the remainder to the nest and the female took this to the T post and the 33 took over incubating duties.
After a small flight around the bay and a return with some hay for the nest, 33 was removed by the female from his duties { he can cover 3 eggs but 4 is a little over size for him } and he eventually went on another fishing trip and after a short time returned with a Pike of about 1 1/2lbs, this he took to his favourite tree and certainly was struggling with the fish as it bounced about. He was still having his supper when we finished our duty at 20.00 hrs but would have given some to the female when he had his fill.
It was up to the car park and away as it was nearly dark and a check for Little Owls on my return. I saw a bird at site No 9 and new bird in the headlights near to Site 5, this is a site we must watch out for and try to find the bird again.
After a small flight around the bay and a return with some hay for the nest, 33 was removed by the female from his duties { he can cover 3 eggs but 4 is a little over size for him } and he eventually went on another fishing trip and after a short time returned with a Pike of about 1 1/2lbs, this he took to his favourite tree and certainly was struggling with the fish as it bounced about. He was still having his supper when we finished our duty at 20.00 hrs but would have given some to the female when he had his fill.
It was up to the car park and away as it was nearly dark and a check for Little Owls on my return. I saw a bird at site No 9 and new bird in the headlights near to Site 5, this is a site we must watch out for and try to find the bird again.
RUTLAND WATER.
13th April.
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Mute Swans in field on the way To Deep Water Hide. Mostly Mute Swans with two Canada Geese and three Greylag mixed in. |
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Cormorant in Dead Tree, Tufted Duck Hide. We have a dead tree to the front of the hide about 150 metres away and also one to the front of Waderscrape Hide, both always have Cormorants in when ever you visit. |
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Canada Goose, Tufted Duck Hide. Couldn't resist and image even though it was a reasonable distance away. |
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Teal Drake, Tufted Duck Hide. Still about the reserve in reasonable numbers. |
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Mallard Drake, Waderscrape Hide. Such a common bird but so beautiful, we can all ignore them but its only when you take an image you can take in the beauty. |
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Greylag Goose, Waderscrape Hide. This pair arrived in the channels to the front of the hide and disturbed a Water Vole I was trying to get an image of. The Vole appeared a second time and I missed it again??. |
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Canada Goose, Waderscrape Hide. They are such a proud looking goose, this one is on the edge of Manton Bay.
MANTON BAY OSPREYS.
13th April.
Osprey duty 17.00 hrs to 20.00 hrs, a most enjoyable but cool evening until the wind died down.
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Male Osprey 33/11 with the first fish he returned with . Not the best of images but the birds are a very long distance away from the Hide. You can just about make out the fish. Have just checked the distance at 370 metres. |
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Female Osprey on T post with the small fish. |
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She then transferred to an adjacent tree to finish the fish. |
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And then had a quick flight around the bay.{awful images} |
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She then went out of view for a short time only to appear carrying a large lump of hay. |
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Female Osprey dumping hay on top of 33/11 whilst he was sitting on the eggs. |
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Female Osprey having taken over from 33/11 who then went away on another fishing trip. You can see the hay she had just deposited to her right. |
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33 away fishing. |
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Female Incubating, you can see the heap of hay to the front of her. |
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Male returns with a nice sized Pike but was having a struggle |
in keeping it still.
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So a quick fly around to see if he could get a better place to land. |
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Not a much different position than previous, but he got stuck into his catch and was still feeding when we finished our duty. Thank you for your visit, I hope you have enjoyed the images as much as I did in the getting of them. Sorry for the poor quality of the Osprey images, being a late duty the sun was to the front of me and the light was going. |
