A Return to Middleton Lakes - 18th April, 2023

Having made a very enjoyable first visit to the RSPB Middleton Lakes Reserve on 23rd February, I'd been looking for an opportunity to return, but had been hampered by commitments and weather - there's virtually nowhere to shelter at Middleton Lakes! This dat, however, looked promising with a good chance of sunshine, although the winds were forecast to be rather strong. 

I set off at around 10.30, arriving at around 11.15. I'd been relying on the availability of loos at Middleton Hall, next to the RSPB car park, but found that Middleton Hall was well and truly closed. I spoke to another group of people in the car park to enquire about alternatives, only to find that they were in the same boat as myself. I will say no more, other than that ad-hoc arrangements were made by all.

I set off along the long trail which leads to the lakes and soon had the pleasure of spotting a Holly Blue butterfly.

Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) (male) - Middleton Lakes

Some way down the track is an area with what is described as a bird kitchen where this sign is displayed, and there are logs etc. placed where people can put seed for the birds. I stopped here briefly but only photographed a Great Tit.

Great Tit (Parus major) - Middleton Lakes

By Pooh Stick Bridge, a birder coming the other way alerted me to a male Blackcap ahead. I found it almost immediately as it was continually singing loudly. Getting a photograph, however, was another matter entirely. Although it was probably less than ten metres away it was mostly obscured by intervening branches in a darlk place against a biright sky. This is the best that I could manage in the possibly five minutes before it departed.

Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) (male) - Middleton Lakes

Where people had put bird seed on the parapet of Fishers Mill Bridge, a Chaffinch was having its lunch. This one had a bad case of scaly legs - a common condition caused by  Fringilla papillomavirus. This condition can lead to lameness and loss of digits or worse.

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) (male) - Middleton Lakes

I arrived at Fishers Mill Pool to find an even more disturbing sight - a small island covered with dead and dying birds. As far as I could tell, these were all Black-headed Gull. Avian Flu was taking a terrible toll here. A section of this island is depicted below - it was only visible through the reeds in front.

Carnage at Middleton Lakes

There was, however, the uplifting sound of a booming Bittern.

From the west side of Jubilee Wetlands, a few Canada Geese were in a meadow amongst some white flower, of which I have no idea of their identity.

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) - Middleton Lakes

I had a rather unsuccesful attempt to photograph a passing Cormorant.

Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) - Middleton Lakes

Shortly after this, I got into conversation with a gentleman and his wife. He had bought the same camera body as me at about the same time. I picked up some useful tips from him and immediately applied these to my camera. I was then delighted when I managed to get a difficult shot of a near and low-flying swan, into the light and against a cluttered background. The result was not the best of shots, convinced me that the new setting was an improvement.

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) (immature) - Middleton Lakes

I had been seeing a few Orange Tip butterflies but, because of the strong wind, not managed to find one that settled. My luck changed on a sheltered patch beside the path that runs between Jubilee Wetlands North and North Pool.

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (male) - Middleton Lakes

Turning towards The Lookout, a pair Of Great Crested Grebe were in the water to the right of the path.

Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) - Middleton Lakes

I spent a short while in The Lookout, where there were plenty of birds visible, but mainly common fare and mainly at an unphotographable distance. I did photograph a pair of Gadwall from here, however.

Gadwall (Mareca strepera) (female) - Middleton Lakes

Gadwall (Mareca strepera) (male) - Middleton Lakes

Leaving The Lookout, one of the grebes was in a better position for photography.

Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) - Middleton Lakes

Heading down the east side of Jubilee Wetlands, adjacent to the River Thame, I found that it was much more sheltered from the wind here and a few butterflies were around. There were numerous Orange-tips - nearly all male.

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (male) - Middleton Lakes

There were also a few Speckled Wood around.

Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) - Middleton Lakes

I only saw one Peacock butterfly and this was holding a territory, having frequent skirmishes with intruding Orange-tips! 

Peacock (Aglais io) - Middleton Lakes

I then took the east-west path that runs between Jubilee Wetlands and Fishers Mill Pool. At the first blind, I sat and rested a while. Attempts to photograph gulls didn't amount to much. Here are a couple of shots.

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus - Middleton Lakes

Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) - Middleton Lakes

 I tried to get some shots of a rather distant Lapwing, but couldn't do better than this (heavily cropped).

Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) - Middleton Lakes

For whatever reason, I suddenly felt tempted to try the video facility on the Canon. It is a far more simple process on the Canon, than it was on the Nikon, which is why I never used it on the Nikon. I'm quite pleased with the results which were hand-held in a stiff wind - as you can hear if you have the sound up on your device.

I also took a few shots of a drake Shoveler.

Shoveler (Spatula clypeata) (male) - Middleton Lakes

Sufficiently rested, I headed eastward and stopped for a Coot.

 

Coot (Fulica atra) - Midleton Lakes

The real treat of the day came a little further along the path when a very loud song alerted me to the presence of a Sedge Warbler. I had not seen this species for several years, so was delighted when it briefly flew into the top of a bush close to me.

Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus) - Middleton Lakes

Before leaving this path I got a record shot of a female Orange-tip (the one without the orange tips to the wings).

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (female) - Middleton Lakes

Before reaching Fishers Mill Bridge, I was again struck by the volume of sound from the gulls on Fishers Mill Pool although the booming Bittern could be heard above the racket but, sadly, not in this clip.

At Fishers Mill Bridge, I was quite surprised, and amused, to find a drake Mallard on the bridge parapet, after the bird seed that had been placed on it.

 

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) (male) - Middleton Lakes

Nothing of great interest was seen on the long walk back to the car park.

It had been a most enjoyable experience, in spite of the cold wind, and I look forward to returning. I am keen to know what the dragonfly/damselfly situation is here.

My next blog post will, as usual, probably be in about a week's time. In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature.

Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard

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.

A Turn Of Duty - on Thursday 11th May, 2017

This year I have taken a bit of a back seat as a volunteer on the Rutland Osprey Project. Rather than book up for a regular fortnightly afternoon turn of duty, I decided to hold off, and just offer to fill in when there were gaps in the roster. This would give me the opportunity to enjoy being present at different times of day.

On this occasion, pal John had been rostered for an evening shift (17h00 to 20h00) on his own and so I put my name down to be his sidekick for the evening. 

On the way to pick up John at 14h30, I passed by my Little Owl  Site No.02 and found the male owl roosting in the remains of the roof.

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

Having picked up John, we set off via our usual route. The first owl we saw was at my Site No.37. It took a while before we noticed that there were two birds there - only the second time we have seen a pair here, and we missed seeing the pair the first time until we looked at the photos!

Little Owls (Athene noctua) - my Site No.37

At my Site No.34, an owl was seen roosting at the foot of a hedge. It is reasonable to assume that this was the male of the pair here.

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

No further owls were seen before we reached Rutland Water. 

On arrival we checked in at the Visitor Centre and set off for Waderscrape Hide, where the Osprey monitoring takes place, and where we look after the visitors who come to see the Ospreys. The hide is a comfortable one, with good (but distant) views of the Osprey nest and there is a large screen which gives close-up views via a nest-cam.

On the way to the hide I photographed a couple of beetles, just to try and keep my hand in at macro-photography.

unidentified beetle species - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa serraticornis) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

We arrived at Waderscrape Hide to be told by the people that we were taking over from that Sedge Warblers had been showing well, as had Water Vole, and that the people on duty before them had also seen a Water Rail.

Immediately the Sedge Warblers made their presence known, and I found myself distracted from the Ospreys by these delightful little birds. I'm not sure if it was just the one bird that was wearing a bracelet, or if there had been a mass ringing session, as all my photos show a ringed bird!

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

Osprey action was a little limited on this occasion as the female Osprey was busy incubating eggs at that time and the male Osprey went off fishing just before our shift started. From memory, he was gone a good hour and a half. In spite of the fine weather our last visitor left after about an hour, so we amused ourselves by watching the other wildlife action. 

I can say, with confidence, that I saw more Water Vole action in that one shift than I have seen in total over the whole of my ten years as volunteer on the Osprey Project. There were at least four voles, and we saw two altercations between voles, one of which went on for a minute or two and seemed to be particularly violent. Sadly, I was not able to capture the punch-ups as the action was so fast and most of the time took place in the thick of the reed-bed, its progress being only visible by the crashing disturbance of the reeds which was accompanied by squeals. 

Here are a few images from the evening.

Water Vole (Arvicola amphibius) - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

When the male Osprey returned he took a fish to the 'T' perch that is close to the nest. He spent a long time consuming his share before dropping the remains of the fish into the water, leaving the female to go hungry. It seems that he had been making a bit of a habit of this lately - it would be interesting to know why!

I was hoping for some flight shot opportunities but the only birds to pass anything like close enough were a pair of Greylag Geese.

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

It was around 18h50 when a Water Rail suddenly appeared from the reeds and flew across in front of the hide. I was totally unprepared for the shot, and it was into the sun anyway. I was better prepared when a second bird appeared from the same place, but passed in front of the hide on foot, occasionally emerging from behind the reeds in front of the hide. 

Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus)  - Rutland Water, Lyndon Reserve

Although it had been sunny for much of the afternoon, the air had been rather misty, making distance viewing difficult. As the sun dropped the difficulty increased to the point that we could no longer see what was going on with the Ospreys through the 'scopes - it was just a blaze of bright light - so we finished our shift a few minutes early, there being no action to note.

On our way back to the car, John remarked that he felt cold - the significance of this was lost on me at the time, although I did think that he'd been acting a little disinterested during the evening. John rarely ever feels the cold. A call from John on the Saturday to say that he'd returned home on the Thursday to find he was running a temperature of 103 degrees F suddenly made sense of the situation.

As we approached my Little Owl Site No.41 I could see the silhouette of an owl poking out from the stump of what used to be the nest tree. I pulled up alongside and took ages to find the owl in the near dark conditions. It took me even longer to find it through the viewfinder and I don't think that John, who was on the owl's side of the car, ever did find it? 

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

It had been a super evening out, but I'm sorry to say that John is still not well, and is staying close to home. I hope that you're better soon, John.

FOOTNOTE

The day after we were on duty, the first of the Osprey chicks hatched out (12th May). A second chick hatched out the following day. Sadly, one of these two chicks died in the night of 14th May - possibly as a result of an accidental injury inflicted by the female Osprey. The third chick hatched on 16th May, and both remaining chicks were doing well. The fourth hatching was on 18th May, but but the chick didn't make it through the night. Four eggs is a relatively unusual situation, and raising all four was never going to be easy. The success rate at Rutland Water has been very good in the past, and whilst upsetting, this is not a major setback. If the remaining two chicks can be taken through to a successful fledging it will still be a positive result. We wish these tiny chicks a long and healthy future.