A day at Rutland Water, Rutland - July 30, 2013

I was out on my own today and went initially to the north arm at Rutland Water.  The water levels have now dropped considerably and there is plenty of suitable habitat for waders but there were not too many waders present.  There were two Oystercatchers, a Common Sandpiper and a Greenshank on the north shore and two Little Ringed Plovers and a Redshank on the south shore.  At least four Ospreys were observed over Burley Wood and a single Red Kite was also observed.

With nothing else I moved on to the Egleton Reserve and walked to shoveler hide on lagoon three but not before seeing a single Marsh Tit at the Egleton feeding station.  The water level here has risen a little but is still suitable for waders but again few were present with single Snipe, Green Sandpiper and Wood Sandpiper.  Wood Sandpipers are always nice to see and this was a nice juvenile.  There were a couple of Little Egrets and an Osprey was observed over lagoon four.  A single Yellow Wagtail was observed briefly and several Reed Warblers were visible intermittently just in front of the hide.

A look on lagoon four produced sixteen Ringed Plovers and eleven Dunlin and there was two adult and a single juvenile Oystercatcher present.  There was a single female Pintail, a Little Egret and at least nine Yellow-legged Gulls on the lagoon and I picked up a single first-summer Little Gull in flight before it landed amongst a party of gulls.  I informed Bob and whilst he was trying to see the Little Gull he spotted a Peregrine drinking on the lagoon.  There were several Buzzards observed to the north mainly over Burley Wood but two were observed a little further to the west towards Oakham.

I walked back to the car park before retuning again to shoveler hide on lagoon three.  The Snipe, Green Sandpiper and Wood Sandpiper were all still present and the two juvenile Shelduck were also observed along with an adult.  Two Red Kites and two Buzzards were also observed but there was no sign of the reported Bittern.

Marsh Tit at the Egleton feeding station

Comma

Juvenile Black-headed Gull over lagoon four

Adult male Ruff moulting into winter plumage on lagoon three

Reeve on lagoon three

Juvenile Grey Heron on lagoon three

Ken and I decided to go and have a look from Manton Bridge before going home and we were surprised to see how far the water had receded.  Despite the idea conditions for waders few were present with just two Little Ringed Plovers, two Common Sandpipers and six Green Sandpipers being present.  There were eight Little Egrets visible and the three juvenile and a adult Osprey were present on the nest and nearby perch.

Steve called to say he had found a Garganey on the wet meadow flash and so I returned to Egleton and walked to snipe hide.  Steve had just left the hide as I approached and confirmed it was still present.  I was surprised to see how many duck were on the flash but as I started to scan them they all took to flight.  I scanned the birds in flight see in numerous Gadwall, a few Teal and a single Shoveler but didn’t pick up the Garganey.  A few of the birds returned but they were all Gadwall and as most appeared to have come down on lagoon one I went to mallard hide.

I spent quite some time in mallard hide but couldn’t find the Garganey but did locate three Dunlin, a Ruff, a Snipe, a Common Sandpiper and a Green Sandpiper.  The Ruff looked like the male seen earlier on lagoon three and I assumed that it and the three Dunlin had been seen earlier on lagoons three and four.

I eventually called it a day and walked back to the car park and set off for home.