I went to Thornton Reservoir
first today as there had been a pair of Garganey reported yesterday. There had been a good frost overnight but it
was quite sunny on arrival and remained so during my stay, although it was
quite treacherous under foot. I walked
along the eastern edge of the reservoir and on reaching the far end of the arm
had not seen the Garganey. I was looking
at the feeders in the wooded area at the end of the arm when Andy Smith arrived
informing he had just seen them and had observed me from the opposite bank
looking in the wrong direction. He had
apparently disturbed them along the west bank and they had flown a short
distance but he thought he knew where they had gone.
I walked back along the
eastern shore with him but there was no sign, although we did see a Water Rail
and heard a Treecreeper singing, which we eventually saw. I decided to walk along the opposite bank to
see if they had gone back into the reeds but had no joy. As I returned I stood talking to another
birder who was also looking for them when I noticed two birds flying in from
the direction I had just walked, they were the Garganey. Over the next thirty minutes everyone managed
to get reasonable views of both birds, although they were often hidden in the
reeds. Eventually they flew off and
landed again close to the western edge of the arm and disappeared from view.
It had taken quite some time
to find them but it had been worth it as they were my first summer visitor of
the year and the earliest I had recorded them on by fifteen days.
From Thornton I drove the
short distance to Swithland Reservoir where I soon found the reported eleven
Whooper Swans, which were my first for the reservoir. The female Velvet Scoter and a single
Peregrine were also seen and three Little Egrets were observed in trees on the
southern basin.
A very brief visit to Cropston
Reservoir failed to produce any Mandarin or anything else of note.
I decided to head-off to
Rutland Water and after lunch walked to Dickinson’s Bay where I soon found the
reported Slavonian and Black-necked Grebes.
It was nice seeing them swimming side by side showing both the
structural and plumage differences off rather well. A single Ringed Plover and two Redshank were
all I could find in the north arm and I couldn’t see the fifteen reported
Whooper Swans and assumed they must have departed.
After singing in at the centre
I had a quick look on lagoon one, which was partially frozen. There was little of note and fewer birds than
normal with seven Shelduck being the highlight.
Lagoon two produced two drake
and two red-headed Smew and a single drake Pintail. I moved onto shoveler hide on lagoon three
where I found two more male and three red-headed Smew, a single male Scaup and
my first local Black-tailed Godwit of the year and a single Little Egret was
roosting on one of the islands.
Colin Towe then joined me in
the hide and informed me that the Whooper Swans were still in the north arm and
that he had also seen the female Red-breasted Merganser. He then said there a Kingfisher but it had
gone before he finished his announcement.
I left him on shoveler hide and went to smew hide to see if the
Kingfisher was there but it wasn’t but I did have brief views of a nice Barn
Owl. There was also no sign of the
Kingfisher from buzzard hide so I walked back towards the centre with the
intention of going back to the north arm.
As I approached lagoon one I noticed a lot of swans towards the back of
the lagoon and although some were
Whooper Swans many were asleep and could not be specifically identified. I counted them several times and finally was
satisfied that there were twenty-three and whilst doing this others were
identified and were all Whoopers.
Having informed Tim Appleton
and Steve Lister who was watching them from mallard hide a went to the north
arm. I found the fifteen Whooper Swans
as soon as I got out of the car and it was difficult to see how I missed them
earlier. There was no sign of the Red-breasted Merganser but I did find three
more Ringed Plover and two Dunlin. On
having a final scan I thought the swans had gone and on rescanning found them
but it became clear why I probably mist them early today. Through the bins in the light they were
almost invisible with juts a few head contrasting with the grass bank and the
rest of the birds being almost invisible.
Clearly it was a trick of the light.
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