A day’s birding at Rutland Water, Rutland - April 9, 2013

I called at Robin-a-tip-toe today with the hope of perhaps a Wheatear of even a Ring Ouzel.  As I approached the area the mist increased and I could hardly see the top of the hill and decided fairly quickly to continue to Rutland Water.

At Rutland Water I went initially to the north arm but other than a couple of Oystercatcher and several Egyptian Geese there was little else.

I went to the Egleton Reserve and walked along the service road where I had a couple of Water Rail, three Tree Sparrows and a male and five Brambling.  I continued onto dunlin hide on lagoon four and found two more Oystercatcher and three Redshanks as well as sixteen Shelduck.  I more careful inspection revealed four Little Ringed Plovers and four Ringed Plovers and just as I was about to move on I noticed a single Dunlin on the island where the four Little Ringed Plovers were.  As I looked at it through the scope I noticed there were more ringed plover types and found eight Little Ringed Plovers and a single Ringed Plover.

There was a working party on lagoon three and the wildfowl numbers were quite low.  There were two Shelduck and I did find seven Snipe but decided to give smew hide a visit on lagoon two.  There was not very much of note on the lagoon but I managed to photograph a couple of Little Grebes.

Little Grebe from smew hide on lagoon two

Greylag Goose from smew hide on lagoon two

Greylag Goose from smew hide on lagoon two

The water levels are high everywhere at present and crake and lapwing hides failed to produce anything of real note but there were still reasonable numbers of Goldeneye present and again I managed some photos, this time of Great Crested Grebes.

Great Crested Grebe from lapwing hide

As I walked back to the centre there was a single Chiffchaff singing in the woodland behind lagoon two and I found a single female Siskin feeding on the ground with two Goldfinch.

After some lunch I walked towards snipe hide on the wet meadow hearing another two Chiffchaff on route and actually observing one of them.  The flash on the wet meadow held four male and three female Pintail and I found two Snipe feeding on the bank of the flash.  There was a single Little Egret on the wet meadow and four more roosting on lagoon one.  I also saw my first Buzzard of the day soaring high over Burley Wood.  I continued on to harrier hide but there was very little and I moved onto Fieldfare hide.  Other than a couple of Long-tailed Tits and a male Bullfinch there was little else.

Canada Geese over the wet meadow

Drake Teal over the wet meadow

Pintail hide overlooking lagoon six didn’t fare any better with just a couple of Shelduck and two Oystercatcher.

 I walked towards kingfisher hide on lagoon eight and scanned the lake and the Osprey nest in Manton Bay.  There was little on the lagoon but both of Osprey were on the nest.  I walked back to the 360° hide but other than another two more Oystercatcher and four Shelduck there appeared to be nothing else, although a party of c.25 Linnet was nice.

Oystercatcher on lagoon six

Black-headed Gull over lagoon five

Back at the car park Steve Lister informed me he had a Swallow through on lagoon three and others had reported four Sand Martins as well as the Bittern.

I decided to return to shoveler hide and spent about ninety minutes overlooking lagoon three.  There was no sign of any hirundine but I did have an Osprey and Sparrowhawk and a pair of Pintail flew over.  Five Shelduck also provided some entertainment as they were involved in a territorial dispute.

Chaffinch in the Egleton Meadows

Shelduck over lagoon three

Sparrowahwk over lagoon three

Pair of Pintail over lagoon three

Shelduck in territorial dispute on lagoon three

Shelduck in territorial dispute on lagoon three

Shelduck in territorial dispute on lagoon three

As I was walking back to the car park Steve rang and informed me he had a Mediterranean Gull on lagoon five.  This place fels just too big on occasions but as I reached the centre Tim appeared and gave me a left.

As we entered the hide Steve said you are just too late as the bird had gone on the far side of one of the islands and we couldn’t see it.  Tim suggested that we would be able to see it from the 360° hide but on entering the hide all the gulls were up and we dipped.

It had been rather a quiet day with still a lack of summer migrants and a noticeable exit of wildfowl, particularly Wigeon and Pochard.  There is a promise that the next few days will see a rise in temperature and hopefully an influx of migrants.