With a good forecast Dave and
I decided to go to Rutland Water and went to the north arm first. We soon found the two Black-necked Grebe but
the Long-tailed Ducks as usual proved a little more elusive. Dave found the first-winter and I found the
adult female but they were not together today and it surprising how difficult
these birds can be to find. Just a
couple of the Barnacle Geese were in evidence today and there was also a couple
of Redshank on the shore and a nice male Goosander in the fishponds with a Red
Kite flying directly overhead. A Grey
Wagtail was observed on the roof of the cottage as we drove away.
Egyptian Goose over the north arm
Red Kite over the north arm
Red Kite over the north arm
After some lunch we made a
quick visit to the centre where we found the male Stonechat. We then walked to shoveler hide on lagoon
three where we found a single red-headed Smew our first of the winter and
counted ten male Pintail but the Bitterns did not venture out during our
visit. We returned to the centre and
found a male and four female Goosander and another male was visible on lagoon
two. There was another thirty Pintail
visible on lagoon one and a couple of Curlew and two Redshank were also
observed. A Water Rail also appeared
briefly to the left of the centre.
We decided to visit redshank
hide on lagoon two to see if the Water Vole I had seen earlier in the week
would oblige. We soon had our second
Water Rail of the day and it wasn’t too long before the Water Vole was observed. Today it provided more prolonged views as it
sourced roots of plants that were exposed following some recent work. It would climb up a steep bank to take the
roosts and then return to water level to devour them. It eventually dropped into the water and
disappeared. There were several parties
of Starling passing over and at one point a rather large flock appeared to get
quite excited and we picked up a Peregrine that was flying amongst them with a
captured bird in its talons as it flew off with it prize.
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