I was out with Dave and Roger
today and we initially went to Eye Brook Reservoir where it was still rather
quiet. The best were four Shelduck and
twelve Tree Sparrows and a single Red Kite and Buzzard.
We left Eye Brook Reservoir
and headed towards the dam at Rutland Water but called diverted around Pilton
in Rutland where there had been recent reports of Crossbill. There was no sign of any Crossbill but we did
have three Red Kites, a Goldcrest, a Treecreeper and a couple of Fieldfares.
When called at Normanton first
at Rutland Water where I flushed a female Mandarin or Wood Duck but we couldn’t
find it again and we saw insufficient to identify on the brief flight
views. We then went to the dam to look
for the Great Northern Diver, without success but I did find to adult
Kittiwake, which was a first at Rutland Water for Roger and a county year tick
for both him and Dave.
We then drove the north arm
near the Reserve Manager’s cottage but there was no sign of the female
Red-breasted Merganser reported yesterday.
Other than a number of Goldeneye and the odd Great Crested Grebe we were
unable to locate anything unusual on the water.
The two Barnacle Geese were still on the north shore as were two
Oystercatcher and a single Little Ringed Plover and two Buzzards were observed
over Burley Wood.
We decided to go to the Old
Hall as we would be sheltered from the northerly wind and perhaps there would a
Sand Martin or Swallow. There was no
sign of any migrants but Dave did find the female Long-tailed Duck and there
were five Oystercatchers on the shore with another two in a nearby field, with
all seven eventually finishing in the field.
A Green Woodpecker was calling frequently and we had some nice views of
an obliging Treecreeper.
Treecreeper near the Old Hall
We eventually moved off to the
Egleton Reserve having a Buzzard over Hambleton village and two Red Kites
displaying alongside Church Road, Egleton.
Red Kites over Church Road
It was 11:30 when we reached
the Egleton car park and so we decided to go to snipe hide on the wet meadow
before lunch.
On the walk along the farm
track we heard a Chiffchaff singing, which was my first bird I had heard
singing this year. There were two male
and a female Pintail on the wet meadow flash and two Little Egrets were seen to
land on lagoon one and a third appeared on the wet meadow. As we walked back along the trail to the Bird
Watching Centre Roger picked up a Chiffchaff close to the path and we had nice
but brief views before it moved off and a second was heard singing closer to
the centre.
After lunch we agreed to walk
to lagoon three where there had been three female Scaup yesterday.
Coot on the wet meadow
Dunnock at the Egleton feeding station
Blackbird at the Egleton feeding station
Long-tailed Tit at the Egleton feeding station
Greenfinch at the Egleton feeding station
We saw a couple of Water Rails
in one of the meadows and had a Jay fly across another was we walked to
shoveler hide on lagoon three. Other
birders had seen very little when we arrived in the hide but we soon found two
female Scaup and I eventually found the reported red-headed Smew. There were also eight Snipe present and two
Redshanks flew in and briefly stayed before flying off towards lagoon
four. Roger then cried Bittern and we
saw a bird fly right across the lagoon before dropping into the reeds on the
far side. This was an excellent April
record for the counties as they have normally departed before the end of
March. Are they interested in breeding
or had the cold weather delayed their departure, only time will tell.
Redshank on lagoon three
Common Gull over lagoon three
Female Gadwall bathing on lagoon three
Female Mallard on lagoon three
Male Mallard on lagoon three
We called at sandpiper hide on
lagoon four, which was packed, so we continued on to dunlin hide, which was
empty. We soon found at least three
Ringed Plover and eventually a Little Ringed Plover and four Dunlin but other
than twelve Shelduck there was little else on the lagoon.
We returned to the centre but
with just another three Shelduck and news of the Great Northern Diver in the
north arm went back to the north arm and hopefully the diver.
Arriving back in the north arm
we failed to find anything and decided to go cattle grid on the Hambleton Road
so we could see better in the arm. The
wind had dropped significantly now and the conditions were ideal for finding
the diver but there was still no sign.
Roger decided to walk on and after a few minutes called to say he ahd
the diver. He provided directions and
Malcolm, who had joined us, got on i but it dived and there was no further
sign. I called Roger who was still
seeing the bird between dives so we decide to join him, although he had also
lost it when we reached him.
We continued scanning the area
where Roger had last seen it and then Dave picked it some considerable distance
away to the left. I just got on it as it
dived again after which we saw it several times but it is surprising how far
they travel a how long they stay submerged between dives.
This was good end to our visit
to Rutland Water and we decided to call at the Tawny Owl site near Billesdon on
the way home. We drove by the owl and
parked in the area close to some barns and looked back down the road and the
Tawny Owl duly obliged. It had been an
excellent day’s birding with eighty-seven species recorded, with seventy-eight
at Rutland Water.
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