A Return To Rutland Water - on 1st September, 2016

If all goes according to plan, this post will contain fewer images than my previous long-winded post, and far fewer words!

On Thursday 1st September I had another afternoon out with pal, John, and as I'd missed my turn of duty the previous week (incapacitated by a bug!), and we'd not been to Rutland Water the previous week, it was time for me to make a visit.

We arrived at Lyndon to find Lyndon Manager, Paul Stammers, returning from the store room with top-ups for the refreshment shelves at The Visitor Centre. Paul told us that he'd not long ago seen the Long-tailed Duck  that has been at Rutland Water for a while, and it was by Teal Hide - the closest hide to The Centre. Paul accompanied John and I to Teal Hide, but five minutes of scanning didn't reveal the duck. We all three were having a good natter when I saw something out of the corner of my eye - the L-t Duck was right in front of the hide! By the time that the others turned to see it it had dived, but it was soon up again, albeit at a greater distance. It quickly made its way out of site to the east of the hide. This species is a rare winter visitor in this region, and virtually unheard of in the summer!

Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis) (male) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

At the other end of the rarity scale, this Black-headed Gull came sauntering by, shrieking as it did so!

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

We hung around for quite a while, hoping the duck would re-appear but eventually gave up and made for Shallow Water Hide, stopping at the other hides on the way, and also looking for dragons and damsels.

Common Blue damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) (in tandem) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

Common Blue damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) (in mating 'wheel') - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

I was delighted to see a male Brown Hawker come in and perch high up in a hawthorn tree. Brown Hawkers are not the easiest dragonflies to photograph, and males seem to be particularly difficult to find perched.

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

A Ruddy Darter was extremely obliging.

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

John and I spent some time trying to photograph a Hornet. I reckon that I've seen five times as many Hornets in UK in the past four weeks as I have in total in all the rest of my 70 years! This lousy image is the best that I could manage - I hope John fared better!

Hornet (Vespa crabro) (with insect prey) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

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

We arrived at Shallow Water Hide to find that the water really was shallow - shallower than I've seen it for a few years! It didn't amount to much more than a sea of mud and weed, with a stream running through it. Little of interest was seen and I entertained myself with trying for a flight shot or two.

Greylag Goose (Anser anser) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) (immature) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

With little going at Shallow Water Hide on we decided to make our way slowly back to Teal Hide to try and locate the L-t Duck, stopping to take a few photos along the way.

Speckled Wood (Parage aegeria) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

John had wandered on ahead of me when I happened to spot a trio of Migrant Hawkers high up on a branch. I called John back and he just arrived in time to take some shots before they departed one-by-one in quick succession. Here's a couple of images that I managed, but they were a bit distant!

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

Further on towards the Visitor Centre, a Red Admiral was basking on the path.

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

The Visitor Centre had been long closed by the time we reached it, so we continued on to Teal Hide. We didn't see the Long-tailed Duck again, but it was entertaining watching the Common Terns that were finding a bumper harvest of fish. The terns won't be around for much longer, before they migrate to the southern hemisphere.

Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

Soon it was time to go, so that we could spend the rest of the evening returning at leisure on our usual owling route - we'd blasted straight through to Rutland Water on the outward journey.

We stopped for our picnic evening meal by my Little Owl Site No.34, and this is where we saw our only owl of the day - what appears to be a well-advanced juvenile in the old nest opening, in the gathering gloom. It looks as if the adult birds have left this site, leaving at least one juvenile to fend for itself. It seems to occupy the entrance to the old nest cavity, but it looks as if access any further into the cavity is blocked by sticks left by the Jackdaws that took over the nest earlier in the year. The opening is too high up for us to access and clear, so we'll just have to wait and see what transpires, whilst trying to find where the adults have gone.

Little Owl (Athene noctua) (well-advanced juvenile?) - my LO Site No.34

Thus ended a most enjoyable afternoon and evening, with the real highlights for me being the Long-tailed Duck and the multiple Migrant Hawkers.

I'm not sure what my next post will be, but probably either a primarily 'birdy' post, or back to the dragons.

Thank you for dropping by!