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I decided to have another trip to the Egleton Reserve for another try for the Water Rail. I took my normal route through the Little Owl Sites and at last saw a single bird at Little Owl Site No. 8, unfortunately the only bird I saw but at least I saw a bird.

On arrival at Egleton I checked in with David who said he had been on a different route that morning and gone over Lax Hill and had seen virtually nothing.

So I got on my way and headed on my normal route to see what would appear for me.  I headed for Redshank Hide and nothing out of the ordinary was evident, so onto both Grebe and Buzzard Hides, again nothing unusual about but the light was getting dire. Having had rain on the trip over I was getting concerned as to keeping the camera dry.

I then walked round to Shoveler hide where again little was showing close by so I headed for Crake hide where I manged some images of a Marsh Harrier, this bird initially just kept showing above the hedge on the embankment between the main Reservoir and Lagoon three, eventually some Corvids pounced on it and for a few seconds it showed slightly better and then departed the area.  Later as the light was going but the clouds clearing two Goosanders appeared for a few minutes swimming around the bay at great speed, most of the time with the heads submerged looking for fish.

The water level in the Reservoir is still getting much lower, I tend to forget that even though its been very dull, we have had very little rain. Whilst in Crake Hide I saw two Water Rail hidden well in the reeds.

I am trying out a new backing page to the blog, please comment if you find it acceptable. Posted by Titus John White at 20:48 14 comments: 


Having missed a Rutland Water visit last week,only to be told at the bird club on the Friday evening how good it had been on the Thursday, with Water Rail and even a Bittern walking along the path towards a very surprised lady.

So I decided to have another visit to Egleton and see what would appear for me.

On arrival I booked in at the centre and after a quick word with David who gave me a few pointers as to what and where birds would be found, I set on my way down the Reserve.

I visited all the normal hides on my way in but not until Osprey Hide did I find anything new.  As I walked into the hide three people were already sitting, two with scopes and a lady with bins. I asked if anything was about and the gent on the far end of the hide said I think I can see a Red Head Smew, have a look, so up to his scope and sure enough a very long distance away with two Wigeon was a Red Head, very early for this bird to arrive but unfortunately no chance of an image, small bird , long distance.

I then visited Shoveler Hide and nothing much was showing close, so I then visited Buzzard hide, again nothing much to see so on to Crake Hide. A reasonable number of Teal were present so I sat for a while and watched some antics and then onto Lapwing Hide.  Some gents in the hide pointed out a Red Crested Pochard and the American Wigeon. Both birds were at a silly distance so I made no attempt at an image.

I then returned to Crake Hide for the rest of my visit and as the light was failing a Water Rail came out from in the reeds for a short time, a delightful little bird but even with winding up the ISO not easy to get any decent images.

I then made my way back to the car park where I saw a Red Kite sitting in the top of  a tree, being almost dark it really was a case of winding up the ISO and hope for the best, I could have done with my tripod but used the car roof  to steady the camera, not brilliant images but not perfect conditions.

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

Posted by Titus John White at 10:03 16 comments: 


Two weeks ago I decided to have another visit to Rutland Water, Egleton reserve to see if I could get any better images of the American Wigeon,  this was not to be as the bird was still on Lagoon 2, as its still is, but this time was even farther away, so I got on my way round to Sandpiper Hide, not much to see here either, so onto Shoveler Hide and unfortunately a very similar outlook, the water level had risen but very few birds at a reasonable distance. Onto Crake Hide  and a few birds not that distant but nothing to get excited about. Unfortunately it was very slow and only during this last week I see some Pintail Ducks have arrived so hopefully things can only get better.

However I had a good walk around the Reserve and visited most of the Hides.


I arrived at Lyndon at approx 14.30 hrs having passed through the Little Owl sites and again seen nothing, its getting really depressing. After walking down to Deep Water hide and seeing nothing I then followed on down the site and arrived at Tufted Duck Hide. It was then I realised how much the reservoir had fallen in level with large areas that were water just a couple of weeks previous being dry, so very little was seen. It was a very peaceful visit being the only person on the reserve.

I then headed for my normal haunt Waderscrape Hide, the Osprey Hide, and on arriving  it really struck me as to how low the water had become in such a short period of time.

I would have normally followed on down to Shallow Water Hide but such low water any waders would have been a considerable distance away.


After leaving Rutland I headed for Eyebrook as a Marsh Harrier had been reported but never unfortunately it never appeared for me.

Unfortunately again very little was seen other than a large number of Greylag geese. Had my tea watching gulls chasing each other. Less than a quarter of the birds, I kept think they were going to fly as they became very noisy, but unfortunately not in the end deciding to fly.


I had another visit for these little beauties and again they came very close, I have peck marks in the lens hood!!.

I only had a very short visit but it was most certainly worth it. I have been advised by Noushka that she believes these birds to be Juveniles due to the colouration of the feet . Posted by Titus John White at 21:06 16 comments: 

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