A VISIT TO CALKE PARK AND EYEBROOK RESERVOIR. 

We have been experiencing some very grey and wet weather, which unfortunately has not been that conducive to going out birding or to getting reasonable images, 
I had a visit out on a very dull afternoon that was interspersed with heavy rain showers and even shooting at ISO 3000 the results were not good in fact were hopeless.
The header image of the Smew is from earlier in the year at Rutland Water, Lagoon 4.




CALKE PARK.

We had an afternoon with some sun so I decided to have a quick visit to Calke Park to see if any deer were about, as luck had it they were at a reasonable distance away and starting to disappear out of view over the side of the hill. I still had a few deer that bit closer so I took a few images and gave it best andheaded for home.  

Fallow Deer from the lower car park area.

This is the site that greeted me on arrival, but after this I managed to find a few deer somewhat closer.

Young Hind, Fallow Deer.

This youngster was happily feeding about 120 metres away.

She then decided to trot away to join the main body of deer. 

An even younger hind again a similar distance away. 

Stag Fallow deer.

This stag was tucked in amongst the trees, this being the clearest image I managed without trunks or branches obscuring him. As it was getting cold I decided to have a walk about looking for the Red Deer to no avail so I headed for home.

A VISIT TO EYEBROOK RESERVOIR.

I decided on the following Thursday as the weather forecast was for heavy showers and sunny periods to head to Eyebrook  then I could stay reasonably close to the car and keep the kit dry, and me.

I had a reasonable afternoon seeing numerous Red Kites and several Kestrel, abird I have not seen lately.

Later in the afternoon a gent I see on a regular basis when visiting turned up and asked if I had seen the male Smew as he had seen two in the morning, so after moving around a reasonable amount we eventually found the birds on the far side of the water using his scope. So we got underway and drove around to the far side to find the birds had moved back to whence we had come from.

With this as time was going by and the light was fading fast I headed for home, I will catch up with the Smew another day.   

 

Red Kite, Upper Bunker Hide.

I visited the hide to see if I could get any site of the Short Eared Owl I had seen previously and after a few minutes this bird appeared on the far side of the reservoir, it never came over close about 200 metres away, the same bird below.

This bird was near Stockerstone village flying over the fields, so it was camera out of the window and fire away. 

By the time I saw this bird I was near to the village of Horninghold and so again it was a case of stop the car, and take a few images out of the window, also by this time it was starting to cloud over.

Same bird as above. 

I was back at the reservoir and the sun was showing again when I managed to get this bird, this time slightly closer and with a white wing tag, {an East Midlands tag}. 

The wing tag is visible in this image. 

Kestrel near the inlet stream bridge.

This bird sat towards the top of a tree about 80 metres away.

And then flew down to the ground. 

Here standing on the ground  only a few seconds later to fly back into the tree and land back on its branch.

Another Kestrel unfortunately partially obscured  by the branches of a tree, this bird was seen when we were looking for the Smew. 

It then flew out and headed out over the Reservoir at speed.

It then had a little hover before flying off to the other side of the mud as the reservoir is very low. 

Another Kestrel, Opposite bank to Stoke Dry village.
Again partially hidden by the tree. It was good to see the Kestrels as I had been wondering as to why they had seen absent. 

 Male Teal, opposite to Stoke Dry.

I took this image whilst we were looking for the Smew, we were standing in a gateway not far from the water.


Thank you for your visit, I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I did in the getting of the images.
Lets hope we can get some better weather but the forecast is for heavy rain and gales.

 May I take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Christmas and a wonderful new year and may we all managed to see some of the birds that have been avoiding us. 

ANOTHER RUTLAND VISIT, EYEBROOK AND LONGMOOR.

I decided to have a visit to Rutland Water and to meet up with a friend, he had phoned to say he was coming so we arranged to meet at the Egleton Reserve and have a walk about.

On arrival we found the reservoir had really fallen in level, this never helps as it just drives all the birds farther away. 

Water was being pumped into lagoon four which is something they do every Winter, as this reaches a set level in the lagoon, it over flows into lagoon three which will be very useful but what we really need is some heavy rain to bring the river in flood.

Rutland water has the level maintained with water from the River Nene that is a few miles away. 

This water is pumped by three very large pumps in a pumping station at Wansford and after a short length of pumping main the water then gravitates down a large tunnel and into the reservoir. These pumps can only be used when the river is in flood, it was the same last year and the reservoir was virtually full by the Spring.

We had our walk about and saw not very much we could get images from as the birds were mostly at long distance away but we had a good walk, chat and saw plenty of birds.
We also had a walk around to Old Hall to see a Red Necked Grebe but this was as silly distance away so no images. It was only after we had walked that we realised how far it was and then we had to walk back to the car park.

Great White Egret, Lagoon 3, Shoveler Hide.

Luckily this bird came to us. The area where it is about to land is normally under about 600 mm of water. A bird feeder has been erected in the the front of the hide to attract the Bearded Tits, these had apparently visited in the morning but nothing was around whilst we were in the hide.
  

Lapwing, Lagoon 4, Sandpiper Hide.

Large numbers of these birds were about and were up and down all the while.
Earlier a Peregrine Falcon had been on the Osprey nest and had taken a Lapwing, but whilst we were in the hide it was absent.

EYEBROOK RESERVOIR.

I decided to have a visit as a Short Eared Owl was being seen on a regular basis so I got on my way and arrived for about 13.00 hrs.

I waited in the upper bunker hide with another gent until just after 15.30 hrs when this bird suddenly appeared from within the Marsh grass about 20 metres to the front of us, we were at the time in deep conversation and even though I saw this bird emerge, we were both caught off guard and neither managed any images even though it flew over us I would say only 6 metres above us, it was a case of language John!!!!!
Other than this very little was seen, some Golden Plover were out on the mud some distance away. 

Red Legged Partridge, Near the Upper Bunker Hide.

I had seen many of these birds on the road near to Eyebrook but this bird was a solitary walking around near to the hide, not far from where the Short Eared Owl appeared {about five metres closer}, why didn't it come out whilst I was getting these images.

Golden Plover, Upper Bunker Hide.

Eyebrook Reservoir is also becoming low in water level and these birds sat on the mud 250 metres from the hide.

Greylag Geese, Lower Bunker Hide.

After a trip around the neighboring area looking for any Red Kites about, I called in at the lower hide and saw these geese .

A VISIT TO LONGMOOR.

I decided to have a visit to Longmoor Reserve for an hour or two with a couple of Short Eared Owls that have been about for over a week, I was going to visit earlier in the week but finished up instead out on the tractor trying to pick up all the leaves scattered over the land.

I arrived at about 14.00 hrs with the hope these birds would appear at a reasonable time as the birds did at Cossington Meadows two years ago, unfortunately this was not to be, likewise they remained a considerable distance away not helped by idiots standing to the front of the hide. They eventually appeared at 15.45  hrs hence the orange colouration on some of the images from the sun as it was going down 

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 This bird had been flying towards us in the hide but then turned around and flew away.
 

 Then a quick left hand turn only then to fly over some trees on the far boundary and disappear.

This is the second bird, this was flying over a plantation area to the left of the hide and considerably higher than the first bird. 

This bird was not as close to the tree as it appears but was a silly distance shot.

My last image, this bird can be seen carrying a mouse. 

 I'm sorry about the poor quality of the images but I was shooting over silly distances. LROS have been reporting these birds but have stopped doing so due to people abusing the the privilege of seeing these beautiful birds. You cannot set yourself up in the middle of an open area where the birds will fly and expect these birds not to see you. Also to stand in the front of the hide is not fair to the people in the hide, this was happening whilst I was on site and we still had plenty of room in the hide.

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

A TRIP TO A VERY WET RUTLAND, THEN ONTO EYEBROOK AND CALKE ABBEY  IN THE SUN.

I decided for my Thursday visit to head for Rutland and the Egleton Centre, on the trip over, the weather was mostly cloudy and bright, but when getting in the Oakham area the heavens opened and we had heavy rain.

I arrived at the centre and decided to head to the Lyndon reserve thinking I could get into Teal Hide {where Whooper Swans had been seen} without getting very wet as the hide is close to the centre.

So I arrived , put my waterproofs on and headed for the hide only to find on arrival, workers were putting in concrete bases for a new hide and demolishing the existing hide, so much for my plans. 

I then decided to cut my losses as it was still raining and have a quick visit to Eyebrook, the weather forecast was for the rain to go away late morning and it was already heading towards 13.30 hrs so really nothing to lose.

Osprey Chain Saw sculpture, The Lyndon Centre.


I have walked past this sculpture so many times and only took this image as the light was so poor as a test.

EYEBROOK RESERVOIR.

At least at Eyebrook you can stay in the car for a look about without getting wet through, so I had a look about, didn't see much but a Red Kite attracted my attention.

Red Kite, Near Horninghold Village.

I drove around the reservoir as the rain had decided to get lighter, I saw a Red Kite sitting in a tree, as I drove nearer it flew away but I noticed a road kill by the side of the road. After about 80 metres I found a gateway into a stables so I reversed into this and sat and waited to see what the bird would do. After a short time it landed in the tree but had got me spotted so I sat patiently and the bird seemed to settle down.

   

After a few minutes and some images sitting and waiting. 

It then decided {as I had hoped} to fly down to the road and inspect the carcass. It looked to me as I drove past like a Moorhen.

I had only set the ISO at 1000, should have made it 5000.

It had a couple of flights during the time I watched it as cars went by.
  

In the short time I watched the bird, it had a real feast. 

This is the first time I have ever managed to get any images of a Red Kite on the ground, they are normally so very nervous, but probably with the distance I was away it felt a more secure.

CALKE ABBEY.

2nd November.

As the weather had been so poor yesterday, I decided to have a quick visit to Calke Abbey for the Rut .

I arrived at about 14.30 hrs not wanting to be over late in leaving as it was a bird club evening so I went immediately to the area where the deer are usually about.

All I could see were Fallow deer but I could hear a Red Stag bellowing down in the valley but upon having a walk round I could still hear him but could find no sign of the beast.

The Fallow deer were showing very little signs of rutting so it was a case of take a few images and get home for tea and return another day or try elsewhere.

Fallow Deer Stag.

Showing very little, if any sign of the rut, he seemed perfectly happy just to lay on the ground and snooze.

These three stags are perfectly at peace with each other, not what I was expecting.

Younger Stag not showing any interest in any of the Hinds.

Young Fallow Deer Hind.

Young Stag.

Another young Stag.

Another young Hind.

This much older Stag was giving the air a good sniff behind this Hind.

Same couple.

Older female Red Deer with a younger Hind but no sign of a Stag other than the one in the valley bellowing away still, and still was when I went home.

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