A Morning at Rutland Water - on Saturday 27th May, 2017

On the bank holiday Saturday I was booked for a turn of monitoring duty from 09h00 until 13h00 on the Rutland Osprey Project. As it was expected to be rather busy with visitors, I was extremely grateful that someone volunteered to accompany me for the morning - thank you, Linda!

As it takes around half an hour (allowing for distractions) to get from the car park to the hide from which the monitoring takes place, I set off from home just before 06h30 so that I could take in some of the more promising parts of my usual owling route there.

I saw two Little Owls at my Site No.41, but didn't get any shots of them.

A Little Owl was seen at Site No.23, for the first time since January.

Little Owl (Athene noctua) - my Site No.23

Arriving at my LO Site No.34, I eventually spotted one of the owls further down the field, so turned the car round and drove back down the road to get a shot.

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

I had no further owl sightings before arriving at the Lyndon Visitor Centre, Rutland Water. Here I unloaded 'The Beast' before setting off. Let me introduce you to 'The Beast'.

'The Beast'

'The Beast', known to some as 'Rick's Lunch Box', has only recently been put into service, following a paint job. It consists of a modified fishing trolley, on which is mounted a recycled recycling box. The box, given to me by a kind friend, has been modified with a fixed internal padded compartment in the top and on one side (the near side in the photo) that my camera fits snugly in. The idea is that the camera can be quickly dropped in if it starts to rain. There is enough room in the bottom of the box for warm clothing, waterproof clothing, drinks, etc. My insulated picnic bag sits comfortably in the other side of the box next to the camera compartment. As I found on my visit to Whixall Moss, the box can also serve as a seat!

On my walk to Waderscrape Hide (from which we do the monitoring) I was keeping my eyes open for dragonflies. However, I was delighted to find a Small Copper butterfly in the field adjacent to the path. It stayed distant, so these are heavily cropped images taken with the lens at full 500mm zoom.

Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

I saw many Chimney Sweeper day-flying moths in the meadow beside the path. 

Chimney Sweeper (Odezia atrata) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

I had a bit of a surprise as I entered Tufted Duck hide. The hide was empty, but a shutter was open, and through it there was a close-up Yellow Wagtail. If the shutter had been closed, opening it would have frightened the bird away. It is not often that I see this species - let alone get so close!

Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava) (female) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

On reaching Waderscrape hide, it soon became apparent why I hadn't been seeing many damselflies - the Reed Buntings were snaffling them as soon as they emerged!

Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) (male) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

The female of the species was also showing frequently, if not 'showing well'.

Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) (male) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

Even more prominent than the Reed Buntings were the Sedge Warblers. In my last post which featured this species at Rutland Water, I stated that I was not sure whether I'd been photographing the same individual all the time, or whether there was a profusion of ringed Sedge Warblers. This caused me to keep my eyes open on this occasion, and I'm sad to report that it was almost impossible to find a passerine that hadn't been ringed. 

Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

Water Rail were seen a few times, but not photographed, and Water Vole was seen just the once by Linda - I only saw the wake afterwards!

The Ospreys were not very active, just taking the occasional joy flight around the bay, but staying very distant.

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) (male) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

In the event, a band of very heavy rain passed through, and visitor numbers were down on those expected, so we weren't kept quite so busy as expected. 

At the end of my shift I wandered back to the Visitor Centre, where I treated myself to an ice cream and took a couple of shots of the damselflies outside the centre, before setting off on my travels.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (male) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

I had a short spell at Ketton Quarry, but it had got windy and cloudy, so little was seen and I didn't stay long but headed homeward.

As I passed Site No.41, one of the Little Owls was out, in the remains of its nest tree.

Little Owl (Athene noctua) - my Site No.41

Thus ended a day with a very enjoyable shift at Rutland Water. Thank you, Linda, for your company on the shift.

I'm not sure what, and when, my next post will be, but suspect that dragonflies will feature again! 

Thank you for dropping by.