If I've been a bit quiet in Bloggerland for a couple of weeks, it's because I have been away on the Isles of Scilly for a family holiday. I'm back in the saddle now, and feverishly working through the several thousand frames I fired off whilst there - hopefully there will be a few good ones (he said with a grin on his face!).This post concerns a visit to Rutland Water, prompted by an attendance at the Volunteer Training Centre for the pre-season meeting for volunteers on the Rutland Osprey Project. As this meeting was scheduled to start at 18h00 so I set off mid-afternoon with the intention of visiting some of my Little Owl sites as the weather was fine.
Unfortunately, as I headed eastward across the county, the weather got more and more windy, and I realised I had little hope of finding an owl in the cold and windy conditions.
Near Queniborough, a Buzzard flew up from beside the road, but my attempts at photography were rather poor. Further on, near Burrough on the Hill a spotted a distant pair of Buzzards having a bit of an altercation. Here are a couple of images of that, although I wish I had been somewhat nearer the action.
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| Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) - near Burrough on the Hill |
To my surprise, I found an owl tucked in away from the wind at my Little Owl site No.37.
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| Little Owl (Athene noctua) - my Site No.37 |
There were no further owl sightings before I got to Rutland Water, where I called in at the Egleton Visitor Centre, enjoyed my first ice cream of the Rutland season, and then set off northwards.
Cutting a long story short, it seemed to be unusually quiet on the bird front on this part of the reserve. I spotted little of interest on Lagoon 4, and only photographed a Pochard.
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| Pochard (Aythya ferina) (female) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve |
Most of my photos were taken from Shoveler Hide on Lagoon 3. I missed the potentially most interesting shot as a Water Rail shot across in front of the hide and instantly disappeared into the reeds. I reckon it must have been lurking within a metre of where I was sitting, but below my line of sight - unless I had stuck my head out of the window and looked down!
Here are some of the shots I did take - all of very common birds. There was much strong and low sunshine on occasion and I found photography challenging, although it did give a fine blue colour to the water. Fortunately the wind had died down somewhat too.
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| Shoveler (Anas clypeata) (male) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve |
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| Shoveler (Anas clypeata) (female) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve |
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| Teal (Anas crecca) (male) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve |
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| Gadwall (Anas stepera) (male) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve |
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| Gadwall (Anas stepera) (female) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve |
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| Pintail (Anas acuta) (male + female) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve |
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| Pintail (Anas acuta) (male) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve |
I'd taken a picnic tea with me which I'd left in the car and, at the appropriate time, headed back to the car park. By now it had turned very dull and rather cold. On the way back I found one of the meadows to be full of Redwing. However, these flew off the moment I saw them (and they saw me!). One Song Thrush did, however, decide to be brave.
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| Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve |
Whilst eating, I reflected that the afternoon had been a little disappointing - little did I know what was in store! Having finished my picnic at an appropriate time, I set off for the VTC. I was nearly there when I noticed a familiar shape sitting on a roadside fence post. I stopped the car at an angle in the road, and took some shots. I then moved forward a bit further and took some more. The second image is a poor one, but it gives an indication of the depth of the feathering on the head as it was caught be the wind.
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| Barn Owl (Tyto alba) - near Egleton |
Having taken my shots, I had to pass the owl to get to my destination. As I set off it flew to a fence a short way back from the road, and I got some more shots from a closer range.
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| Barn Owl (Tyto alba) - near Egleton |
The owl then flew from this position to another roadside post ahead of me. However, it flew off again as I approached on my way to the VTC.
It was a short and enjoyable meeting at the VTC, where it was good to catch up with old friends and meet new faces.
Afterwards, the weather had gone downhill, and I headed straight home, with no further sightings - but I was still buzzing from my Barn Owl encounter.
If someone with a reliable crystal ball had told me that, including this day, I'd see four different species of owl in UK over a nine day period, I'd have assumed Little, Barn, Tawny, and possibly Short-eared. Little did I know that one of those would be missing and the substitute would be fabulous!
I suspect that it will be a while before I'm ready to publish a post on my Scillies visit, so my next post will probably be about something closer to home.
Thank you for dropping by.
