Sunday 14 October 2012

A day’s birding at Rutland Water, Rutland - October 13, 2012


Dave and I went straight to Rutland Water today as there had been an Azorean Yellow-legged Gull seen yesterday on lagoon four.  However all we could find was two adult Yellow-legged Gulls, although the Azorean was reported at some time during the day.  There were circa twenty Golden Plover flew over lagoon four and a single Shelduck on the lagoon but otherwise it was quiet.

We went to shoveler hide on lagoon three were we located a female Red-crested Pochard and a Pintail and Sparrowhawk flew over nothing else of interest was found amongst the raft of wildfowl except for four Goldeneye, the first of the autumn.

There was a party of Lesser Redpoll that flew over lagoon three towards the reed bed and the area of woodland behind it.

As we walked to lapwing hide a party of Blue and Long-tailed Tits contained a single Chiffchaff.  When we arrived at lapwing hide there was very little as three fishing boats had come right down into south arm three so after a few minutes we went back to the Bird Watching Centre, seeing five Siskins near the second feeding station.  All we could find on lagoon one was a single Pintail and there was far fewer wildfowl than on previous visits so we decided to have an early lunch.

As we were leaving the hide we saw John Wright who had found the Azorean gull yesterday.  We spent a short while talking to him about the gull and he confirmed that it wasn’t there this morning but also that he had seen a juvenile male Red-breasted Merganser briefly on lagoon four and suspected that it might have gone onto the main water.

After lunch we went back to lapwing hide and whilst there were more birds, including seven Goldeneye, there was no sign of the Red-breasted Merganser.  From shoveler hide on lagoon three there was clearly far more wildfowl and particularly Tufted Duck.  Dave found an eclipse male Scaup and we located the Red-crested Pochard again but again there was no sign of the merganser.  There were now seven Pintail and four Goldeneye were still present.

On lagoon four we found four adult Yellow-legged Gulls and a second calendar year bird but there was still no sign of the Azorean Yellow-legged Gull.  We did find two Dunlin and three Ruff and there were at least 200 Golden Plovers that eventually settled on island one, where we also found a single Redshank.

We spent the final half hour of our visit in the centre were we saw the first female Goosander of the autumn and two Curlew.  We also had seven Little Egrets in flight two of which settled for a while on lagoon one whilst another dropped onto lagoon two.

We also found a micro moth Agonopterix arenella in shoveler hide.



Mistle Thrush in the Egleton car park


Drake Shoveler on lagoon three


Agonopterix arenella

An afternoon at Thornton Reservoir, Leicestershire - October 12, 2012


Dave and I had gone to Thornton Reservoir as there had been five Common Scoters present yesterday but there was no sign today and there was little else of note, three Buzzards and a Nuthatch being the best.

Wednesday 10 October 2012

A day’s birding at Rutland Water, Rutland - October 9, 2012


I was out on my own today and spent all of my time at Rutland Water.  I decided to walk to Lax Hill first calling at snipe and harrier hides before finally reaching Lax Hill and goldeneye hide.  Snipe and harrier hide failed to produce anything of note as did the walk to Lax Hill.  The light at goldeneye hide was very poor due to the bright sun but trend continued with very little, although the water level had clearly dropped.


Female Pheasant in the wet meadow


Melanistic female Pheasant in the wet meadow


Male Kestrel alongside the footpath to harrier hide


Female Mallard from harrier hide

I headed off towards heron hide and heard a Marsh Tit calling but could not locate it.  As I entered the field from Lax Hill I could see that there was very little in Heron Bay or south arm two and decided to go straight to the 360° on lagoon five.

When I entered the 360° hide on lagoon five there were clearly more birds on the lagoon than my last visit.  There were thirty-seven Egyptian Geese amongst which I located a single Shelduck.  I then noticed a Curlew on one of the islands and then found five more on a different island.  As I was walking away from the lagoon there was a large flock of Golden Plover overhead, which had probably been disturbed from lagoon five where there was some work being carried out today.  They circled for quite some time before some at least decided to land on lagoon five whilst others just dispersed.


Golden Plover over lagoon five


Golden Plover over lagoon five

When I reached the centre, there was a report of a Whooper Swan on lagoon one and a Red-crested Pochard in the north arm.  I went upstairs to the viewing area and soon found the single Whooper to the right.

After some lunch I went to the north arm where I soon found the female Red-crested Pochard feeding amongst a party of Coot.  There were also two Ruff and a single Green Sandpiper feeding on the recently exposed mud as the water level was falling.

I returned to the centre and walked to lapwing hide overlooking south arm three where I located a drake Scaup moulting out of eclipse plumage.  Other than a large party of Coot, several Tufted Duck and Great Crested Grebe there was little else so I went to shoveler hide on lagoon three calling at smew hide on route.  There appeared to be very little on lagoon two, which was not surprising as there was maintenance being carried out.  As I was looking for a party of Long-tailed Tits I could hear calling a Kingfisher flew up the tiny water course to the right of the hide.


Eclipse drake Scaup in south arm three

There were numerous duck on lagoon three mainly Gadwall and Tufted Duck but there was four Pintail and several Shoveler.

I could also hear a bird calling close to the hide that I suspected was a Water Rail, which was confirmed when it gave a more familiar call.  I moved to the other end of the hide and was able to get some very nice photos before I saw two of them move back into the reeds.




Water Rail from shoveler hide on lagoon three

My final call was to dunlin hide on lagoon four where evidence of the work carried out was clearly in evidence with most of the bird being on the western edge of the lagoon.  There were two adult Yellow-legged Gulls amongst the gulls resting in the normal area and at least some of the Golden Plovers had returned.  I then noticed three smaller waders in flight, which I thought would be Dunlin and was able to confirm that was what they were when they landed.

It had been a good day in some rather pleasant if a little cool autumn weather.

There was also quite a few Common Darter and I saw at least four Migrant Hawkers and there were also singles of Small White, Red Admiral, Painted Lady and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies.  The Painted Lady was my first and probably last of the year.


A day’s birding in Leicestershire & Rutland - October 6, 2012


Dave, Roger and I went to Eye Brook Reservoir first. 

As we approached the reservoir a Buzzard flew across the field with the old oak in it but there was no sign of the Little Owls.

The water level was still quite high and the emergent vegetation made it quite difficult to see birds.  There was a concentration of gulls at the inlet, which were mainly Black-headed Gull but also included several Common Gulls.  Amongst the gulls were quite a few Lapwings and we did locate at least three Snipe.  There were a few Wigeon, Teal and Mallard in the inlet and two Shoveler and five Pintail were also found a little further out.  Greylag and Canada Geese were also present with most feeding in the surrounding fields where we located a single Red Kite and two more Buzzards.  There were numerous Pheasants and we found four Red-legged Partridges but most of these birds will probably be shot in the next few weeks.  A party of circa twenty Golden Plover also flew over but headed off south.

There were seventeen Cormorants and two Little Grebes with plenty of Great Crested Grebes further down the reservoir where there was a raft of Coot and a few Tufted Duck.

Having exhausted Eye Brook Reservoir we moved off to the north arm at Rutland Water.

As we parked at the end of the road in the north arm, Dave immediately picked up the Black-necked Grebe but it soon disappeared and we were unable to find it again.  There were a few more birds in the north arm than last week and we found three Little Egrets and a Ruff feeding around the edges and it was apparent that the water level had dropped very slightly.  There were plenty of wildfowl that included Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard, Shelduck and Tufted Duck and there was also a few Great Crested Grebes and five Little Grebes were found amongst some emerging osier.  A single adult Yellow-legged Gull was also found perched on a buoy.

With little else we moved off to the Egleton Reserve and went to lagoon four where there had been a Little Stint yesterday.  We did find five Lesser Redpolls and two Chiffchaffs near the old badger hide as we walked to sandpiper hide.  When we arrived at sandpiper hide there was no sign of the stint but we did locate two Ringed Plovers three Dunlin and a single Ruff and there was c.180 Golden Plovers roosting on one of the islands.  The only other birds of note were five Pintail and another Yellow-legged Gull.

I had picked up a tern flying along the tree line on lagoon three and Dave then picked it over lagoon three so we moved off to shoveler hide.  There were two terns that were identified as an adult and juvenile Common Terns.  There was another five Pintail on the lagoon and there were a few Pochard amongst the Gadwall and Tufted Duck.  It was now lunch time but we called into redshank hide on lagoon two on the way back were we had a Hobby and a Red Kite over the poplars before they drifted off towards Lax Hill.

After lunch we decided to go to snipe hide that overlooks the wet meadow.  As we walked along the final stretch of the footpath twelve Whooper Swan flew over and looked as though they might come down on lagoon one.  We continued to the hide and found seven Curlew roosting on the edge of the small pool to the left of the hide but there was no sign of the Whooper Swans, although we learnt later they had come down on lagoon four.

We went on to the 360° hide but there was litter on lagoon five just a single Little Egret of note.
When we got back to the centre we had nice views of a female Marsh Harrier that quartered the wet meadow area, flushing three Snipe, before climbing high and appearing to go off to the east.  We also had further views of the Hobby and a Sparrowhawk was seen perched on a fence post.
We also saw two Red Admiral and a Small White butterflies and several Migrant Hawkers and Common Darters.


Male & female Wigeon on the wet meadow at Rutland Water


Tufted Duck over the north arm at Rutland Water


Female Marsh Harrier over lagoon one at Rutland Water


Curlew on the wet meadow at Rutland Water