A Visit To Rutland Water - on 10th October, 2018

It had been more than two months since my previous visit to Rutland Water, so a return was long overdue, and this seemed to be the day for it!

It was a sunny, but breezy, day with temperatures forecast to be around the 20°C mark. I took my usual owling route but only saw an owl, on its usual roost, at my Little Owl site No.23. It was looking rather tired.

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

Once at Rutland Water, having partaken of a Double Raspberry Magnum, I set off northwards on the path to the hides on lagoons 2, 3, and 4. 

I stopped by a gate that is favoured by Common Darter, but none were there. However, something made me take a closer look at a 'blob' half-way down the gate  - it turned out to be a well-camouflaged Grey Shoulder-knot moth.

Grey Shoulder-knot (Lithophane ornitopus) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

At Sharples Meadow, I took the hedgeside path past the seat in the corner, as this hedge can also be good for dragonflies. At the corner, I found myself being worryingly harassed by a Hornet. Having batted it away, a little further on, another had a go at me. Mentioning this later, in one of the hides, I was told that Hornets emit a pheromone when agitated, and that other Hornets pick up on this and are also drawn in to the 'attack'. 

I did find a few Common Darters along the hedgerow, after I'd got away from the Hornets.

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

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

I did see a Migrant Hawker dragonfly on my way to Crake Hide, and spent a while trying to photograph it, but to no avail.

On arrival a Crake Hide, I was somewhat surprised to find 14 Little Egrets and 5 Great Egrets in view. Unfortunately, the Great Egrets were rather distant, but here's a shot of some of the Little Egrets which, I hope, will help to convey something of the scene.

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

Photographing what are essentially white birds can be quite challenging, but I found the light on the water to be rather pleasing at times, and well worth the effort.

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

A Grey Heron provided some photo opportunities.

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

The Great Egrets stayed distant, and the only photos I took were of a bird that flew in to join them.

Great Egret (Ardea alba) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

I've always considered egrets to be some of the more elegant of birds, although I did take some shots a couple of years ago of a preening Great Egret that had ruffled feathers and a few kinks in its neck. However I'd never really taken note of the head-on appearance of a Little Egret. I took a few shots of this and I really do find them to be more than a little comical. What do you think?

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

At one point I took a break from Crake Hide, to have another attempt at the Migrant Hawker, but again I failed. I did, however, pop into Shoveler Hide, and took a few shots, between the reeds, of a Snipe.

Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

Returning to Crake Hide, I took a few more shots of the Little Egrets and, rather than leave you with the shots of them looking ridiculous, I'll show them in their normal majesty.

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

It was getting near time to go home and, on leaving Crake Hide, I had another attempt at the Migrant Hawker, which eventually disappeared. However, I found another by Shoveler Hide which looked as if it wanted to settle. The first couple of times it tried settling it was in impossible places for photography, but then it settled on a gate which, at least,  I could get at, even if it resulted in a less than pleasing shot.

Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

Fortunately it took off and flew around for a while, settling here and there, and eventually landed in a place that was still a bit high up, but photographable from a distance.

Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

Arriving at Sharples Meadow, a Comma Butterfly, in remarkably good condition, was on the blackberries.

Comma (Polygonia c-album) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

Further on I found another Migrant Hawker.

Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

- but I was interrupted by Hornets, again. The pheromones must have still been active!

Hornet (Vespa crabro) - Rutland Water, Egleton Reserve

The Visitor Centre was still open when I got there, so I popped in to inform them of the potential Hornet danger, and then set off homeward.

An owl was out again at my Site No.23, looking a little more awake this time, but no other owls were seen on the way home. 

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

Overall, it had been a most enjoyable day, with the only real disappointment being the realisation that the 5-owl spell of the Double Raspberry Magnum had been broken.

Thank you for dropping by. I'm not sure what my next blog post will feature.