A day’s birding in Cambridgeshire & Leicestershire & Rutland - November 17, 2012

Dave, Roger and I set off for Oldeamere, Cambridgeshire where there had been an Great White Egret for the last two days and news before we arrived reported it still present.

When we arrived in the area there was no obvious sign although two birders informed us it was feeding in a ditch a little further along the road.  |As we drove by the ditch there appeared to be no sign, although I thought I had seen something white in the reeds on the right of the ditch.  Dave reversed and initially there appeared to be nothing obvious but after a few seconds the egret gradually began to appear.  We spent several minutes watching the bird feeding in the ditch but due to the narrowness of the road and know where obvious to park we set off for Eldernell.

We arrived in the car park at Eldernell and viewed the area from the small bridge.  We soon found a female-type Marsh Harrier and the Dave announced he had a Crane and we eventually saw two.  There was a second Crane and we eventually saw another distant Marsh Harrier and a Red Kite.

From Eldernell we went to Normanton at Rutland Water where we hoped to find Mandarin and have further views of the Great Northern Diver.  There was no sign of the Mandarin but the diver was seen rather distantly before we moved off to Lyndon. 

There was a Great Spotted Woodpecker on the feeders at Lyndon when we arrived and there was a constant movement of Blue and Great Tits.  These were then joined by several Chaffinches, a Greenfinch, two Goldfinch and two Tree Sparrows and a Coal Tit also made several visits.  A Little Egret flew and there were quite a few Cormorants resting on Lax Hill with several Goldeneyes on the water.  Four Siskin were also observed briefly.

We went to the Old Hall as the Long-tailed Duck had been yesterday but like Wednesday there was no sign despite six now looking for it.  There were a few wildfowl on the water and in the small bay but other than a few Goldeneye there was nothing of note.

The north produced the seven Barnacle Geese, fifteen Pintail, three Goosander, eight Little Egrets, the Black-necked Grebe and a second-winter Caspian Gull.

We finally went to the Bird Watching Centre on the Egleton reserve.  There was a Buzzard sat on the nest box at the back of the lagoon and seven more Pintail.  I then noticed what I thought were two Goosander drop in but soon realised that one was the female Red-breasted Merganser which then provided good views.  It was obviously a smaller bird than Goosander, which was even obvious in flight.

There were two more Little Egrets on the lagoon and Dave noticed three Curlew to the right and we eventually had seven feeding in the grass meadow.  We remained in the centre until 16:00 when it closed.

The Red Kite was observed from the A47 at TL057998 and the Buzzard A606 at SK973077.