My first ever visit to Eyebrook Reservoir was on 27th
October 1984, to see a Pomarine Skua (an adult with tail spoons, no less!) that
had been there for several days. Nearly 30 years later, my Eyebrook list has
grown to 201, the latest addition being the site's first Cetti's Warbler which
I found in February this year.
But despite many visits over the years I'd never thought of
it as my 'patch' until recently. For a start it's not that close to home, being about 15 miles away, but perhaps more
importantly the attractions of nearby Rutland Water are too great to ignore. If
Rutland Water has a fault, though, it's that it's a bit too big to be
considered as a patch. It's certainly much too big for the 3km2
limit of Patchwork Challenge! Eyebrook, on the other hand, is exactly the right size to fit into that
area, with just enough left over to include some of the surrounding fields.
Once I realised that, it became obvious that it is in fact a
near perfect inland patch. It has a good variety of habitats, including open
water, grassland, muddy edges which become a decent expanse of mud at the
inflow when the water goes down, and mixed woodland in the form of 'the
Plantation', all surrounded by mostly arable farmland, with more hedges and
woods. The entire reservoir can be watched for free from the perimeter road,
and, largely because of the aforementioned Rutland Water, it's surprisingly
underwatched these days. Of course, plenty of birders do go to Eyebrook, but
I'm convinced it hasn't had the coverage it deserves in the last few years.
But it still manages to turn up good birds. In the last few
years alone Eyebrook has had Ring-necked Duck, Velvet Scoter, Gannet, Manx
Shearwater, Kentish Plover, Whiskered Tern and Yellow-browed Warbler. Past
glories include Squacco Heron, Killdeer (both sadly long before my time!),
Black-winged Pratincole, American Golden Plover, 2 Baird's Sandpipers, Spotted
Sandpiper, 3 Caspian Terns, a spring male Citrine Wagtail, and bizarrely a
Puffin for three days in June 1995! So the potential is obvious.
Even without the occasional rarity there is always plenty to
look at. Wildfowl and waders are the main attractions, of course, along with
terns on passage and passerines in the Plantation and around the reservoir
margins. At one time there was an excellent gull roost as well, with Iceland
and Glaucous virtually guaranteed annually, but this has unfortunately declined
recently as, for unknown reasons, gulls from the Corby tips now bypass Eyebrook
and roost at Rutland Water instead. But Med Gulls are still reasonably regular,
and white-wingers, Yellow-legged and Caspians are all still possible as daytime
'loafers'.
As long as the water level drops in spring and autumn to attract
some waders, and I can keep up the enthusiasm, I think 150 species might be
possible in a year. At the time of writing in late February I'm already up to
89, with several unexpected species including Merlin and Cetti's Warbler, so
I've made a good start.
Andy Mackay
