Another Memorable Day! - on 12th April, 2017

Just four days after my last published 'memorable day' I had another one. This one was, again,  attributable to Tim Mackrill, although he's not aware of the fact! Tim was giving a talk that evening, for the benefit of the Rutland Osprey Volunteers, and I was booked to attend. It seemed sensible, as the venue was at 19.30 at Rutland Water which is some 45 miles (72 km) from my home, to combine my attendance with a visit to Rutland Water itself.

The day got off to a good start as we had a Chiffchaff in our garden. Although this is not a rare bird, it is rare in our garden. I didn't get as good shots as I'd have liked, but here's one.

Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) - our garden

I set off after an early lunch and first called at my Little Owl Site No.02 as I hadn't seen an owl there for a while. I'm delighted to report that one was showing.

Little Owl (Athene noctua) (male) - my Site No.02

I headed towards Rutland Water on the usual owling route, but no owls were seen - probably because it was rather windy.

At one point on my route, down a narrow lane, a small creature scuttled onto the road and darted back again. I stopped the car, and found a shrew, which I believe to be a Pygmy Shrew, in the grass. At first I thought it was injured, but my photos suggest it just had a soaking-wet patch of fur.

Pygmy Shrew (Sorex minutus)?

Having checked in at the Egleton Visitor Centre at Rutland Water, I set off northward on the trail that leads to the hides on that side. I'd not gone far before I found a crop of Snake's-head Fritillaries in one small meadow. Unfortunately, a photo of the area would have looked most unattractive as the immediate area was roped-off, with wire netting round most of the individual plants. There were both pink and white forms here.

Snake's-head Fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

In another meadow, there were two Egyptian Geese resting. I'm sure I'm not the only person who has mixed feelings about these strange-looking birds. Once they were relatively uncommon, but they're now firmly established over much of the country, and in such numbers at Rutland Water that they make a nuisance of themselves, particularly when they occupy Osprey nests before the Ospreys return. Here's one Egyptian Goose from that day - not even an attractive bird in my opinion.

Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

From one of the hides (I didn't note which) I photographed Tufted Duck and Coot. In this light, the difference in body colour and head colour could easily be seen.

Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) (male) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) (female) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

Coot (Fulica atra) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

I eventually reached Shoveler Hide on Lagoon 3, which tends to be one of the best hides for sightings. The water level in Lagoon 3 was higher than I've ever seen it before. There was virtually nothing left of the islands that are usually in front of the hide. There were also few birds of any interest to be seen. I sat patiently for a while and was, eventually, rewarded by a drake Garganey emerging from behind some reeds. I managed a safety record shot through the reeds.

Garganey (Anas querquedula) (male) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

I sat watching intently and, after about ten minutes, the duck came out into the open, but steadily made its way away from me. My photos from this part of my observations were not too good. However, after about another three quarters of an hour, the duck was making its way back towards me, dabbling as it did so.

 

Garganey (Anas querquedula) (male) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

All this time, it had been hugging the shoreline. Suddenly it struck out into open water towards me.

Garganey (Anas querquedula) (male) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

There was a patch of vegetation only about 30 metres away, and the Garganey joined a pair of Teal there. This gave me better opportunities.

Garganey (Anas querquedula) (male) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

Eventually, it moved further away to a tiny patch of 'land' which was above the waterline, where it emerged and started preening before going to sleep.

Garganey (Anas querquedula) (male) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

At this point I decided it was time to leave, stopping briefly at Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon 4. There was little to see and it started raining as I left the hide. By the time I got to the approach to Osprey Hide it had started chucking it down, so I took refuge in the hide. Fortunately, the worst had passed in around 15 minutes, so I hurried back to the car park, camera in bag, and grabbed a quick picnic before attending the event.

Tim Mackrill gave an excellent talk that evening. The first part was about his PhD thesis on Osprey Migration, and was extremely interesting and informative. We then had a break with refreshments, and this was followed by Tim explaining his plans for the future. He's got some wonderful prospects up his sleeve, and I have every confidence that all will come to fruition - much to the benefit of the planet!

It was around 22h00 before the proceedings came to an end, and I had a long journey home, so kept to the main roads in the interest of speed, getting home at around 23h30. 

Thanks to Tim Mackrill, this was another rewarding day. Brilliant, Tim!!!

I've managed to keep my promise of this being a significantly shorter post than my previous one - thank you for dropping by.

More Dragons - on Thursday 9th September, 2016

I was back on Osprey duty at Rutland Water on Thursday 9th September, and left home early to give me time to check up on the owls on my way there (none seen), and to enable a leisurely amble down to Waderscrape Hide, from which  we monitor the Ospreys and help the visitors.

Although sunny and warm, it was very windy, so I was not too hopeful of seeing dragonflies, let alone photographing any.

A quick visit to Teal Hide, in the hope of another view of the Long-tailed Duck, didn't come up with the goods so, having taken a shot of a Tufted Duck in beautifully blue water, I set off on my way to Waderscrape Hide for my shift.

Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) (female) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

I'd not gone far before I was seeing dragonflies - and more of them than usual were tending to perch. I suspect that this was due to the wind. An additional benefit was that they were perching low, so that they did not get blown about so much.

The first subject was a male Southern Hawker. It was extremely obliging, and was still there when I left. This is possibly as close as I've ever been to a dragonfly, and I was amazed to see the number of elements in the eye, which seemed far greater than, for example, a Common Darter.

Southern Hawker (Aeshna cyanea) (male) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

There were a few Common Darters around, but they weren't always easy to spot when settled, as you might be able to see from this next image.

Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) (female) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

I next came across a female Brown Hawker which settled low down. The shot was difficult, however, because of intervening foliage. Fortunately, I did manage to find one angle that gave me an uninterrupted view, and it stayed there! I see from my photos that it kept crossing its anal appendages.

Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis) (female) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

At one point, I was able to photograph a pair of Common Darter mating.

Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) (mating) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

I suddenly realised that I'd forgotten the time and was in danger of being late for my shift, so it was somewhat frustrating when I found two Migrant Hawkers together. I quickly grabbed some photos - first with the camera in landscape attitude, and then close-up in portrait attitude. Those in landscape weren't so good in clarity, whereas those in portrait were relatively crisp - but I found that, in my haste, I'd managed to clip the end of a wing off one of the dragons in every 'portrait' image!

Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) (male) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

I managed to arrive at the hide only one minute late (13h01), and was kindly forgiven my transgression! I was greeted with the news that our last Osprey, 33(11), had departed at 10h00 and had not been seen since, and was almost certainly now on his migration to West Africa. 

As things at the hide were very quiet, I took half an hour out to wander down to Shallow Water Hide. On the way there I found a Ruddy Darter on the path.

Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum) (male - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

Little of interest was seen from Shallow Water Hide with the only photos taken being of a distant Little Egret, and an even more distant Little Grebe.

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

On the way back to Waderscrape Hide, I took some shots of a Common Darter.

Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) (male) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

Further on, a damselfly caught my attention. I believed I was looking at a teneral, but it took a while for me to come to the conclusion that it was a teneral female Common Blue Damselfly. The orange wing 'nodes' and the stripe on the eyes confused me initially, but the 'spine' under segment 8 of the abdomen says 'Common Blue'.

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) (teneral female) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve.

Whilst I was away, John had received a call from base to say that if 33 had not returned by 16h00, and if we didn't have visitors in the hide, we could lock up and go home early. This proved to be the case, and so we set off back to the visitor centre. There were no photo opportunities on the way back.

As my wife and I were heading off on our 'Route 66' tour the next morning, I took the opportunity to get back home early, stopping off at some Little Owl sites on the way back. In the event, only one owl was seen.

Little Owl (Athene noctua) - my Site No.34

The only other remarkable sight was of a large number of Pheasant in the road which held me up for a while. These had, presumably, been recently released as 'cannon fodder' for the benefit of barbaric humans who still live in the 'dark ages'. Amongst these I saw three all-white birds (possibly there for the benefit of half-blind barbaric humans). I don't think these birds were albino as they had colouration in the eyes - probably just a melanistic aberration.

Sitting Target - near Lowesby

That's all for now. My next post will probably be on 'Route 66'.

Thank you for dropping by.