I was out with Roger today and
despite some initial debate about visiting Frampton Marsh we decided to stay
local.
We headed off initially to
Eyebrook Reservoir and stopped close to Blaston on route where we had few
winter thrushes and found a Willow Tit and a Treecreeper alongside a small
stream. This was the first time we had
seen Willow Tit at Blaston and was a welcome find considering the current state
of Willow Tits within the counties. We
continued on to Eyebrook Reservoir, seeing a Red Kite just the other side of
Blaston and on arrival at Eyebrook Reservoir found the two Little Owls in the
old oak. A stop at the bridge produced a
couple of Siskin and several Bullfinches, including a stunning male. The water level had dropped slightly and
although there were not too many Lapwings present, nineteen Dunlin was a
welcome sight as they have been very thin on the ground this winter. The two Ruddy Shelduck and a single Shelduck
were also observed and a Little Egret was roosting alongside the stream. Two Red Kites were drifting low over a
distant hedgerow and a Buzzard was observed perched in the same area. There were masses of ducks on the water but
the light made it very difficult to observe those to the south of Stoke Dry.
With the light being poor we
moved off to Edith Weston at Rutland Water in the hope of connecting with the
Green-winged Teal that has now been present for over a week. We saw a second Buzzard perched as we
approached Wing and after parking at Edith Weston and walking the short
distance to the sailing club bay we were soon scoping the drake Green-winged
Teal. There was a party of Canada Geese
on the shore and other wildfowl included a couple of Egyptian Geese and several
Wigeon, Teal, Mallard, Tufted Duck and Goldeneye. There was also a single Little Grebe, numerous
Lapwings on the pontoon and a single Redshank close to the Teal.
We walked back to the car and
then drove the short distance to the dam where we found a female Common Scoter
and a female Red-breasted Merganser. An
adult Yellow-legged Gull was also observed feeding on dead bird in the
water. We then drove to the north arm
and after finding the two Black-necked Grebes fairly quickly we spent a good
thirty minutes searching for the Long-tailed Ducks. Roger eventually found one some distance away
near the fisherman's’ car park. I was
pretty sure we eventually had both birds, although we were never able to find
them both at the same time. The ten
Barnacle Geese were present on the north shore and a single female Goosander
was in the fishponds.
After some lunch in the
Egleton car park we went straight to shoveler hide on lagoon three. Ken and Eric were already in the hide but had
not had any luck with either Smew or Bittern.
Roger then found two Smew right at the back of the lagoon and one was
clearly either a moulting non-breeding male or a first-winter male as it was
showing a significant amount of white in its plumage. There was also nine drake Pintail but despite
a lengthy stay the Bitterns remained out of sight.
We called at redshank hide on
route back to the car park as Roger and Ken had not yet seen a Water Vole at
Rutland Water. We initially saw a Water
Rail that was feeding on some decaying vegetation and as it had done on my two
previous visits the vole appeared but tonight it didn’t stay too long. I left Roger and Ken in the hide and went to
take a look on lagoon one before we departed.
As I scanned lagoon one I found dozen Pintail, three Curlews and a
Redshank and a Marsh Tit was heard calling. Roger and the Ken arrived but the vole had not
reappeared but we then had brief views of the Marsh Tit before we returned to
the car park.
We had seen seventy-seven
species today that included several scarce county species and my third sighting
of Water Vole in my last three visits.
It would appear that the voles are a bit like busses, not seeing any and
then three arrive in quick succession.
It had been a very good and enjoyable day’s birding.
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