I went to Rutland Water today
and after signing in at the centre walked to the snipe hide overlooking the wet
meadow. There were two Green Sandpipers
on the pool and a female Gadwall was escorting nine young, which was my first
brood of the year. Four juvenile
Shelduck were still present on the lagoon but there was no sign of the adults
or the rest of the broods. Three
Buzzards were observed high over the Hambleton Peninsular being my only
sighting of the day. I continued to
harrier hide but there was little of interest so I continued towards Lax
Hill. As I entered the small spinney
along the footpath I could hear Long-tailed Tits calling and there was clearly
a feeding flock of birds in the tops of the trees. They proved difficult to see but I did manage
to a Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, a Garden Warbler and a Whitethroat, although there
were many more birds that I failed to get on.
Green Sandpiper on the wet meadow
Lapwing over lagoon six
Superb Peacock near harrier hide
When I arrived at goldeneye
hide it was pleasing to see that there were some muddy edges and I soon located
two Little Ringed Plovers, a Dunlin and a Green Sandpiper and eventually also
found two Common Sandpipers. There was
also a Little Egret feeding close by, which showed aggression to a second bird
when it tried to join it and eventually chased it off.
Grey Heron from goldeneye hide
Little Egret from goldeneye hide
Little Egrets from goldeneye hide
Little Egret from goldeneye hide
Adult winter Black-headed Gull from goldeneye hide
Common Tern from goldeneye hide
Having enjoyed my time in
goldeneye hide I continued to robin hide but there was no food in the feeders
although I did see a single Willow Warbler.
As I reached the gate leading down the heron bay I became aware of a
party of birds feeding in an oak and the surrounding bushes and found a
Nuthatch, Chiffchaff and Spotted Flycatcher.
The Spotted Flycatcher was my first at the water since May 2008 so was
actually a good record.
A Greenshank was heard calling
as I watch the feeding flock but it was not seen.
Nuthatch on Lax Hill
The two juvenile Osprey were
observed in Manton Bay but there was little else from either of the hides and
kingfisher hide overlooking lagoon eight fared no better.
I continued back to Shelduck
hide on lagoon five where there were three Curlew and two more juvenile Shelduck
but possibly due to the construction of the 360° hide
there was little else. I decided to
return to the car park for lunch.
Whilst I was having lunch and
Osprey was observed over lagoon one as it gained height and headed off towards
south arm three.
After lunch I walked to lagoon
three and as I reached shoveler hide an lady leaving the hide said a Bittern
had just dropped into the reed bed to the right of the hide. Nigel was in the hide and confirmed that a
Bittern had dropped into the reeds.
As I scanned the water I found
a female preening but it stopped almost immediately and swam left behind the
reeds and was not seen again. Another
couple entered the hide and we informed them about the Bittern and a few
minutes later he indicated that the Bittern was showing on the edge of the
reeds. It was perched on several reeds
right on the edge and provided some superb views for what must have been ten
minutes before it flew off to the large reed bed.
The three female Red-crested Pochard
were still on lagoon three and there was also a single Wigeon amongst the
Gadwall and Tufted Duck.
Bittern on lagoon three
Bittern on lagoon three
Bittern on lagoon three
Bittern on lagoon three
Bittern on lagoon three
My final call was sandpiper
hide o lagoon four where I found nine Little Egrets, fourteen Ringed Plovers,
six Dunlin, a Common Sandpiper, a Green Sandpiper, a Greenshank and a
Yellow-legged Gull.
I walked back to car park
without too much being seen and called at Eye Brook Reservoir on route
home. It was fairly quiet with
twenty-six Cormorants, a Yellow-legged Gull and a single Common Tern being the
highlights.
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