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.