Monday 23 September 2013

A morning at Rutland Water, Rutland - September 22, 2013

Dave and I had gone to Rutland Water today to help with the monthly wildfowl count as several of the regular counters were absent.  We carried out the count in the western end of the north arm and the fishponds.

There were plenty of wildfowl in the north arm, mainly Wigeon and Tufted Duck but there were also smaller numbers of Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Egyptian Goose, Gadwall, Teal and Mallard.  There was also a single Pintail and the ten Barnacle Geese on the north shore.  As we approached the fishponds a large concentration of ducks, mainly Wigeon and Gadwall departed and so we had to estimate these.  There was still quite a few wildfowl present including Mute Swan; Canada Goose; Egyptian Goose; Teal; Mallard and Shoveler and there was also seventeen Pintail.  Three Little Egrets, a Green Sandpiper and Greenshank were also recorded and a Great Spotted Woodpecker was observed in the area of the fishponds.

Having completed the count we visited the Egleton Reserve and had four Little Egrets on lagoon one and a Hobby hawking over the lagoon.  A Black-necked Grebe was present on lagoon three and twelve Little Egrets were counted on lagoon two.  A Buzzard was also observed over lagoon three and a Green Woodpecker was heard calling nearby.  Lagoon four was very quiet with four Pintail being the best.

It would appear that most of the waders present recently had departed over the last few days.

No comments:

Post a Comment